In the fire-prone tropical savanna landscapes of northern South America, forest edge effects significantly shape tree structural integrity and functional traits, with implications for ecosystem resilience, carbon storage, and biodiversity. This study examines how the edge effect, intensified by fire, affects species dominance, forest structure, and functional trait distributions in this region. Using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs), we analyzed changes in species abundance and structural variables (biomass, basal area, tree height, and wood density), as well as leaf (leaf thickness, leaf moisture, leaf dry matter content (LDMC), and specific leaf area (SLA)) and stem (bark and stem thickness and stem-specific density) traits across edge-to-interior gradients. The key findings indicate significant reductions in tree height (F = 19.27, p < 0.01), basal area (F = 6.52, p < 0.01), and biomass (F = 5.44, p < 0.01) near the edges. Leaf moisture (F = 11.8, p < 0.01) and specific leaf area (SLA, F = 7.02, p < 0.01) increased at the edges, reflecting microenvironmental gradients, with heightened fire sensitivity seen in traits like bark thickness (F = 11.88, p < 0.01). Fire-affected areas displayed intensified adaptive trait shifts, suggesting a compounded resilience but potential functional convergence, limiting adaptive capacity under climate stressors. These findings emphasize the ecological significance of edge–fire interactions, advocating conservation strategies to enhance structural and trait diversity for ecosystem stability. Our study underscores the need for targeted management to bolster resilience and biodiversity within these dynamic landscapes as climate pressures intensify.

Fire plays a crucial role in shaping multiple ecological processes in native savannas. Still, the natural fire regime in the Neotropical savanna of South America is being altered by climate variability, resulting in reduced precipitation and increased mean temperatures. In recent years, an increase in the duration, intensity, frequency, and extent of wildfires in South American savannas has been reported. However, knowledge of the ecology of wildfires in the savanna landscapes and their impact on the habitats of large mammals is limited or non-existent. This study investigates the impact of wildfires on the suitability habitat for Tapirus terrestris in a native high plains native savanna landscape in the department of Vichada in eastern Colombia. We used the MaxEnt algorithm to model the ecological niche of the lowland tapir and then classify land covers into low, medium, and high probability of species occurrence. We then assessed the representativeness of the occurrence of wildfires and the frequency of detection of burned areas within the land covers classified into the suitability model of lowland tapir. Our results indicate that wildfires significantly affect high-suitability habitats such as forest and shrubland covers. The effects of fire on these land cover types would reduce the resource supply for lowland tapir and cause the displacement of individuals to new areas which could increase the exposure to threats such as hunting and pathogens from domestic animals. This research underscores the need for targeted conservation strategies to mitigate wildfire impacts and preserve critical habitats for vulnerable species.

The Orinoquía region of Colombia includes diverse ecosystems such as riparian forests and seasonal savannas, which play vital roles as biodiversity reservoirs. However, increased fire activity, driven by both natural and anthropogenic pressures, poses mounting threats to these ecosystems. Despite their importance, the effects of fire on faunal communities, especially in transitional habitats, are not well understood. Understanding biodiversity responses to fire across different recovery stages is essential for conservation planning. This study aimed to assess the effects of fire occurrence and recovery time on dung beetle communities as an indicator of ecosystem resilience. We analyzed taxonomic responses—including species richness, abundance, and Hill diversity indices (D₀, D₁, D₂)—as well as functional traits such as guild richness, biomass, and food relocation behavior, across riparian forest–savanna ecotones under varying fire histories. Our results indicate that recent fires (≤1 year) and high fire frequencies (4–5 events) negatively affect species diversity and abundance. Dominance by a few disturbance-tolerant species, such as Digitonthophagus gazella, was observed in burned savannas, while forest habitats supported both rare and dominant taxa. Despite taxonomic declines, functional redundancy was maintained, largely due to the prevalence of small-bodied species. However, we observed a general resilience effect in which core species contributed to postfire community reassembly. Functional redundancy was maintained, with small dung beetles dominating the biomass and guild composition. The conservation status of transitional habitats, particularly the forest–savanna ecotone, played a critical role in postfire dung beetle community restructuring. The presence of resilient assemblages highlights the importance of dung beetles in sustaining key ecosystem functions following fire events. These findings underscore the potential of dung beetles as bioindicators for postfire monitoring and emphasize the need for improved fire management strategies in sensitive ecosystems.

In Colombia’s Orinoco, wildfires have a profound impact on ecosystem dynamics, particularly affecting savannas and forest–savanna transitions. Human activities have disrupted the natural fire regime, leading to increased wildfire frequency due to changes in land use, deforestation, and climate change. Despite extensive research on fire monitoring and prediction, the quantification of fuel accumulation, a critical factor in fire incidence, remains inadequately explored. This study addresses this gap by quantifying dead organic material (detritus) accumulation and identifying influencing factors. Using Brown transects across forests with varying fire intensities, we assessed fuel loads and characterized variables related to detritus accumulation over time. Employing factor analysis, principal components analysis, and a generalized linear mixed model, we determined the effects of various factors. Our findings reveal significant variations in biomass accumulation patterns influenced by factors such as thickness, wet and dry mass, density, gravity, porosity, and moisture content. Additionally, a decrease in fuel load over time was attributed to increased precipitation from three La Niña events. These insights enable more accurate fire predictions and inform targeted forest management strategies for fire prevention and mitigation, thereby enhancing our understanding of fire ecology in the Orinoco basin and guiding effective conservation practices.

Changes in land use, climate, and socio-ecology drive altered fire regimes that in turn reshape global ecosystems. Rapid afforestation with commercial tree plantations is transforming fire-prone savannas and grasslands globally and particularly in tropical South America, yet its effects on fire dynamics remain poorly understood. Using hierarchical models, we analyzed trends in annual burned area within concentric buffers (1–6 km) around each of 44 plantation and 52 grassland sites in Colombia’s Orinoquia region—a savanna grassland forest mosaic undergoing major land-use transitions from the expansion of commercial tree plantations. Plantations reduced burned areas in two ways: order-of-magnitude increases in plantation area reduced burnt area by 15% and plantation sites reduced their burnt area by 2% each year; both results consistent with trees replacing more inflammable grassland vegetation. While the mechanisms behind divergent savanna/plantation fire dynamics remain unresolved and could involve active fuel management and fire response, increased canopy cover, or some combination thereof, this study provides spatially explicit, context-sensitive evidence on how land-use transitions interact with fire regimes with direct relevance for savannas and grasslands management and climate adaptation policy in South America.