After the Fire, Hope Springs Eternal: Movements and Body Condition of Hermann's Tortoises in a Devastated Landscape

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ABSTRACT Forest fires are becoming more intense and frequent, which has serious consequences for animal populations. Rapid assessment of the impact of fires on endangered species is essential for accurately guiding conservation efforts. The impacts of fire can be immediate, such as death from heat or smoke, or delayed, such as injury and habitat degradation. In burnt landscapes, survivors are largely deprived of shelter from extreme weather conditions and predators, as well as food resources and their usual geographical landmarks. However, survivors represent the greatest hope for repopulation. The lack of post‐fire monitoring data on individual behavior and physiology may mislead conservation decisions. Knowing how survivors adapt to degraded post‐fire habitats is critical, although implementing rigorous assessments is particularly challenging, especially for long‐lived species. In the summer of 2021, a forest fire in south‐eastern France devastated 5276 ha of Mediterranean habitats, causing high mortality rates (40% to 60%, depending on vegetation density and fuel availability) and numerous injuries in one of the last populations of the protected Hermann's tortoises ( Testudo hermanni hermanni ). Injured (after veterinary care) and unharmed survivors ( N = 25) were immediately monitored by radio tracking for 2 years. Control individuals ( N = 10) were monitored after the fire on a nearby unburnt control site, allowing a reliable assessment of delayed fire effects. Surprisingly, the survivors did not leave the devastated landscapes. The image of devastated landscapes with survivors apparently wandering over scorched earth is misleading; tortoises experimentally displaced to intact areas rapidly returned to their original ranges, and burnt‐area survivors selected high quality residual microhabitats and maintained body condition and movements comparable to control individuals in unburnt habitats.

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