| Hill fire in Hong Kong is mainly caused by a combination of weather and human activities. Fire is a major threat to terrestrial animal communities especially in shrublands and woodlands which have a rich faunal diversity. Since research done on hill fire ecology in southern China, especially on faunal colonization after fire, is very scarce, this research attempted to investigate the recovery of fauna after fire disturbance, and the difference in recovery between natural regeneration and artificial planting. Besides, the effects of litter and physical parameters on fauna community as well as the effect of fire on soil microbial community structure were studied.;The recolonization of ground-dwelling invertebrates was relatively slow in the study area, while proactive planting has been successful because they have considerably accelerated the return of fauna at the fire-affected sites. Ground-dwelling invertebrate communities appeared to be less resilient to fire in subtropical environment; the ant composition in the experimental plots needed 12 years to recover.;The composition of the ground-dwelling communities differed among study sites and was correlated with vegetation structure and time since last fire. They showed the trends in the development of invertebrate community composition in association with habitat development. Abundance, species/family richness, evenness, diversity of birds and ground-dwelling invertebrates, and biomass of total invertebrates were lower on the burned site than the reference site even 2 years after fire, implying that fire had longer-term impacts on the faunal communities. Ants such as Pheidole spp., Tapinoma sp. 1, beetles such as Staphylinidae, Scolytidae, and spiders such as Clubionidae, Lycosidae, as well as the abundance biomass comparison (ABC plot) can be chosen to reflect the situation or the recovery process and succession of the fire-affected sites.;The establishment of fauna in proactive planting is vital if ecosystem functions are to be reestablished and restorations to be sustained in the long term. In general the invertebrate data suggest that restoration plantings facilitated the reestablishment of indigenous invertebrate species and invertebrate community changed with time. Proactive plantings created better conditions for ground-dwelling invertebrates after fire, and exotic species with faster growth rate seem to be better than the natives. In exotic plantations, lower decomposition rate of litter provided by the lower microbial population together with higher productivity of exotic species of plants caused a higher litter depth, which provided more microhabitats for ground-dwelling and litter-dwelling invertebrates than the native plantations.;Correct species selection in proactive planting is essential to facilitate and determine the early stages of plant succession. The present study suggests that initial floristic composition is significant in proactive plantings and exotic species with fast growth rate is an effective planting species for invertebrate recolonization. Although plant cover is of importance to developing fauna, the provision of adequate floristic and structural diversity and the presence of logs and litter are important for the full range of native invertebrate recolonization. |
