Fire and the Florida sandhill herpetofaunal community: with special attention to responses of Cnemidophorus sexlineatus

A system of drift fences and pitfall traps was used over a 2-yr period to monitor the herpetofaunal community on four plots of land (1 ha each) maintained on different burn schedules. Experimental plots were burned every year (lE), every 2 yr (2E), or every 7 yr (7E); the control plot (CE) has not burned for 20 yr. A total of 1236 amphibians and reptiles of 27 species were captured during 1983 and 1984. Severe cold in December 1983 may have caused a large decline in herpetofauna in 1984; over two-thirds of the animals were captured in the first year of the study. Both Shannon-Weiner and Simpson's diversity indexes indicated that plot 2E had the lowest diversity each year. The greatest diversity was found on 1E or 7E. The 2-yr fire periodicity produced a dense layer of grasses and herbaceous plants that was not readily occupied by sandhill herpetofauna. The most abundant reptile was the six-lined racerunner, Cnemidophorus sexlineatus, which comprised about 33% of all captures. The highest density of racerunners was found on 1E, while lizards on 7E showed the greatest philopatric tendencies (especially in 1983, the year 7E was burned). The results indicated that burning increased diversity and abundance of amphibians and reptiles over control plots, and some fire periodicities were better than others for maintaining high diversity.