Assessment of Endemic Lycian Salamanders Habitats Impactedby 2021 Mega Forest Fires in Turkey

The Lycian salamanders consist of seven allopatric endangered and endemic species restricted to Mediterranean Turkey and some adjacent Aegean islands. Mega forest fires occurred consecutively over a prolonged period of time in the distribution areas of six of the species in 2021, leading to habitat fragmentation and habitat loss. In this study, we find that a total of 751.9 hectares of Lycian salamander habitats were lost due to the mega-fires that occurred in summer 2021. Our results suggest that L. atifi is the most vulnerable with a loss of 285.84 hectares of habitat area, followed by L. flavimembris with 242.54 hectares, and L. antalyana with 124.16 hectares. L. fazilae is the species which suffered the least habitat loss, at 25.83 hectares. L. billae and L. luschani suffered habitat losses of 30.83 and 43.40 hectares respectively. When the transformation of morphological classes was examined, a significant decrease of all species was observed in the core areas which ensure spatial connectedness, and the edge magnitude, which was taken as an indicator of fragmentation, increased. Bridges providing connectedness were observed to have increased for some species. This indicates that while existing connections in habitats were fragmented due to the forest fires, potential connections may be formed after the forest fires. When the fragmentation values were examined according to the results of pattern analysis, the most notable marginal increase in fragmentation before and after the fires was found to have occurred in the habitat of L. atifi. In addition, we discuss recommendations for the sustainability of species populations in habitat restoration and forest management.