RT Journal Article
T1 Short-term effects of wildfire on Canary Islands’ endemic lizards
A1 Santos, Xavier
A1 Ayllón, Enrique
A1 Ayres, César
A1 Barja, Isabel
A1 Belliure, Josabel
A1 López-Darias, Marta
A1 Martínez-Silvestre, Albert
A1 Pausas, Juli G.
A1 Puig-Gironés, Roger
A1 Rato, Catarina
A1 Megia Palma, Rodrigo Manuel
AB The Macaronesia bioregion is experiencing an increase in the intensity and magnitude of fires. However, the impact that this new fire regime may have on the endemic fauna and flora of many islands, such as those of the Canary archipelago, is unknown. In this study, we analyzed the short‐term response of the Gallot’s lizard, Gallotia galloti, to a fire that occurred in the northwestern part of La Palma in the summer of 2023. We carried out 189 linear transects in burned and unburned pine forest and summit scrub plots in June, July, and September 2024, hence, about one year after the fire. We observed a total of 333 lizards, and a Generalized Linear Mixed Model did not detect differences in lizard abundances between burned and unburned pine plots. The presence of juvenile lizards in the burned areas evidences the survival of the eggs after the fire. However, we also found a significant reduction of hatchling lizards in burned areas in September 2024, i.e. the second generation hatched after the fire, indicating that short‐term postfire habitat can compromise the viability of the populations. These results suggest that the Gallot’s lizard can persist in the face of fire in the short term, although postfire harsh conditions could hinder its resilience in the mid‐term.
PB Asociación Herpetológica Española
SN 2255-1468
YR 2025
FD 2025-04
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/125401
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/125401
LA eng
NO Santos, X., Ayllón, E., Ayres, C., Barja, I., Belliure, J., López-Darias, M., Martínez-Silvestre, A., Pausas, J. G., Puig-Gironès, R., Rato, C., & Megía-Palma, R. (2025). Short-term effects of wildfire on Canary Islands’ endemic lizards. Basic and Applied Herpetology. https://doi.org/10.11160/bah.301
NO El Cabildo de La Palma has financed this project and has provided the corre‐sponding authorization to carry out the fieldwork (A/EST ‐ 032/2024, dated April 16, 2024).
NO Cabildo Insular de La Palma
DS Docta Complutense
RD 18 dic 2025