Hunter Griffey conducting a snake mortality survey at Searles Prairie in Benton County, AR.
Author: Hunter Griffey | Major: Environmental, Soil, and Water Science | Semester: Spring 2024
Fire is mysterious, creating diversity by causing disturbance and destruction. This mysteriousness is part of what inspired me, Hunter Griffey, to research it. I’m an undergraduate majoring in Environmental, Soil, and Water Science, and I have been working with Dr. Willson from the Biological Sciences department over the past year. The Willson lab is primarily focused on understanding population and community dynamics in reptiles and amphibians, and how those dynamics are influenced by anthropogenic factors, such as land-use change, land management, and invasive species.
One land management policy we are investigating is prescribed fire. In pre-European North American grasslands, fire was a vital disturbance that prevented woody plants from encroaching and taking over open areas. However, these wildfires have been suppressed to protect people and their property after European arrival. Prescribed fire is a way for land managers to implement a controlled disturbance into natural areas. While prescribed fire is critical for maintaining natural prairies, the fire also causes direct mortality of wildlife. To understand this mortality, the Willson lab has been collecting data on snake mortality after prescribed fires at several restored prairies. Our goal is to understand what factors drive snake mortality in prescribed fire by correlating snake mortality in a given fire with weather characteristics immediately before and after the fire. Additionally, we are sampling fire temperature and fuel load across prairie mounds to see how they influence fire characteristics. Our research will help guide land management decisions on when and how to implement prescribed fire in a way that minimizes harm to reptiles.
I am incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to work on this project. While taking Principles of Biology with John Shadwick, I developed an intense interest in the field of ecology due to its complex interactions and ability to guide conservation. I mentioned this to John, who told me to reach out to Dr. Willson. Prior to meeting with Dr. Willson, I had little idea how research worked, let alone what I wanted my project to be. During our first meeting, we discussed a variety of options, but landed on creating a project using snake fire mortality data that had been collected over the previous nine years. I loved the opportunity to study fire, as I was a firefighter prior to starting research.
Prescribed fire is an incredibly complex topic. A multitude of factors affect how intense a prescribed fire is. This intensity is thought to be one of the driving factors of wildlife mortality in prescribed fire. Thus, I have had the opportunity to delve into the literature to inform the design and implementation of my project. While I had basic knowledge of the execution and purpose of prescribed fire, I did not understand the extensive use of prescribed fire by native americans, nor did I fully appreciate the difficulty of emulating natural fire with prescribed fire. Besides learning about my research topic, I am also learning how to adapt to adversity and changing plans. I attempted a test deployment of pyrometers in January, and I was unfortunately met with a cascade of problems. A combination of being unavailable due to family obligations and a string of rains after the deployment but prior to the fire led to a complete failure of the deployed pyrometers. However, this was exactly why a test deployment was necessary, as several valuable lessons were learned. To fix these past errors, I am going to adjust my placement protocol to make the pyrometers easier to find and protect after deployment, as well as adjusting my schedule so that I can assure my own availability to prevent rain damage to the tiles.
As I previously mentioned, this project was started long before I joined the lab. Over 125 hours of surveying has been done by a wide cast of people. Additionally, Dr. Willson has been a constant supporter and guide as I have tackled this project, along with Ethan Royal, a past Phd student who has returned as a postdoc. Dr. Willson and Ethan’s guidance has immensely improved both my project and my abilities as a researcher. This first semester has been largely preparation for the upcoming fall fire season. I am excitedly anticipating the opportunity to put all of our preparation to work next semester. In the meantime, I am working in the greater yellowstone ecosystem as a loon field biologist (which is where I am writing this blog post from). After I close out my undergraduate degree, I hope to continue work in conservation, eventually returning to academia to complete a graduate degree.