Some like it burnt: species differences in small mammal assemblage in a Mediterranean-basin nearly 3 years after a major fire

The Habitat Accommodation Model (HAM) predicts wildlife community recovery based on vegetation structure. However, studies on HAM in the Mediterranean basin are scarce. Here, we described the assemblage of small mammals in a Mediterranean area ~3 years after a fire, specifically examining three functional small mammalian categories: ground-foraging insectivorous, ground-foraging herbivorous/granivorous and arboreal-foraging species. The study was conducted in Monte Pisano (Italy), where a September 2018 fire burned about 12 km2. A stratified random sampling was adopted, basing on burnt status and forest type. In each site, during late spring-summer 2021, hair-tube sampling was conducted, and collected hair were species-attributed. Distance-based redundancy analysis (db- RDA) explored assemblage composition, and single-species occupancy models tested hypotheses for the identified species. Crocidura spp. and Apodemus spp. abundances were not significantly associated with any factor tested. Abundances of house mouse Mus domesticus and Savi’s pine vole Microtus savii were higher in the burnt area. Garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus had higher abundance in pine forest, whereas red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris was more abundant in chestnut forest. The overall greater abundance of ground-foraging herbivorous/granivorous in the burnt area, characterised by a dense undergrowth, could be related to anti-predatory strategies and food opportunities. Insectivorous could be in a recolonisation phase that would hide their earlier absence. Arboreal-foraging species were associated with forest type, regardless of burnt status. The HAM was overall confirmed also in Mediterranean basin ecosystems, probably due to their temperate climate. This may facilitate predictions about post-fire animal successions, which will be even more crucial in future.