Fig. 1

Locations of the 23 National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) included along the Gulf of Mexico (USA). Gray areas represent the study area, red areas represent NWRs with fire histories that were included in the study, and yellow triangles indicate the center of the Gulf Coast Joint Venture Initiative Area or center of the US Geological Survey Biological Planning Unit, where weather data were collected across the study area (1 = Laguna Madre Initiative Area; 2 = Texas Mid-Coast Initiative Area; 3 = Chenier Plain Initiative Area; 4 = Mississippi River Coastal Wetlands Initiative Area; 5 = Coastal Mississippi-Alabama Initiative Area; 6 = Florida Big Bend BPU; 7 = Tampa Bay BPU). For specific NWR names, see the “Methods” section