That problem has long been a concern in sites such as tanks farms, cribs, and other disturbed areas. The recent geographically extensive fire spreads this risk to a much larger area within the Hanford Reservation, including large areas that have not been disturbed in recent decades. T-IBI, as we will show below, is useful as a way to summarize complex information in a simple, yet quantitative framework. For this short presentation, we concentrate on the effects of fire as a disturbance at Hanford. Other factors that influence invertebrate responses to fire include intensity and timing of the burn.
Mobility is also important to recolonization success after a fire.
Our study shows that both trophic level and habit of invertebrates affect their recovery and recolonization ability after fire, making these groups reliable indicators of overall ecological condition. A few other taxa may also serve as good metrics when fire effects are being evaluated. Relative abundance of Hemiptera was also higher at burned sites. A primary strength of T-IBI is that it provides a biologically and statistically robust way to integrate these complex biological patterns. All old agricultural sites we sampled had lower T-IBIs than any of the burned sites.