Abstract: The occurrence of intense wildfires has increased in recent years, particularly in areas plagued by drought. This increase in the frequency of wildfires has provided ecologists the unique opportunity to investigate species survivorship and direct mortality among various taxa, but less is known about how wildfires affect organismal behavior. Particularly, the ability to locate resources required for survival, growth, and reproduction, such as food, may be diminished as a consequence of wildlife. Many rodents and other granivorous animals are seed dispersers which are important for forest health and range. They rely on their ability to detect seeds in various soil types for consumption. By changing the soil composition, wildfires have the potential to impact the ability for rodents and other granivores to detect and consume seeds, which may indirectly and negatively impact forest regeneration. This experiment tested the effects of burned soil on the ability for rodents to detect seed. In hardwood dominated forest at Blandy Experimental Farm in Boyce, VA, we randomly set foraging trays with 3g of sunflower seed in 1L of soil (i.e. top-soil or sand) from four different conditions: 1) unburned top-soil, 2) unburned sand, 3) burned top-soil, and 4) burned sand. Animals were allowed to forage ad libitum for approximately 12 hours overnight before foraging trays were collected and seed was re-weighed to calculate the GUD) from each treatment and control.There was no significant difference between burn state, and no significant difference between soil type. This data can be applied to fire ecology management techniques to improve the techniques used to manage for native land.
