Wildfire patterns are changing, and resource managers are concerned about potential threats to fishes. Predicting fish responses can be challenging because wildfires affect aquatic ecosystems via multiple pathways. Researchers used a dynamic food web simulation to look at how different fire severities may influence short- and long-term responses of periphyton, aquatic invertebrate, and fish biomass to wildfires in headwater streams of western Pacific Northwest forests. In many cases, wildfire increased periphyton—algae and other small organisms that cling to submerged surfaces—invertebrate, and fish biomass over short and long time periods. However, the magnitude and duration of the responses varied with fire severity and time since fire. Potential wildfire effects on water temperature, canopy cover, shade along streams, and water turbidity had a large impact on food webs. These results highlight how whole-ecosystem approaches like food web simulations based on real-world data can be used for exploring the impacts of fire and other disturbances on fishes. 

Roon, D.A., Bellmore, J.R., Benjamin, J.R., Robinne, F., Flitcroft, R.L., Compton, J.E., Ebersole, J.L., Dunham, J.B., and Bladon, K.D., 2025, Linking fire, food webs, and fish in stream ecosystems: Ecosystems, v. 28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-024-00955-4