Table 1 Definitions and summary statistics for predictor, response and study characteristic variables. The main values for study design, survey method, survey metric, fire type and climate type represent the number of studies in that group and the values in parentheses are the number of individual cases

Study design

Classified as either BACI (before-after, control impact), Before-After (BA), Control-Impact (CI), or Impact only (I)

BACI:

BA:

CI:

I:

3 (14)

2 (6)

2 (6)

9 (18)

2 (13)

3 (10)

6 (28)

4 (9)

Survey method

The survey method of the original study, classified as either camera traps, GPS tracking, or sign surveys (scats and tracks)

Cameras:

GPS:

Sign:

9 (27)

3 (8)

4 (9)

8 (30)

1 (18)

5 (12)

Survey metric

The survey metric (response variable) of the original study, classified as either species activity (often synonymised with relative abundance, occurrence or occupancy), or habitat selection (HS)

Activity:

HS:

12 (35)

4 (9)

13 (42)

1 (18)

Fire type

Classified as either planned burn, wildfire, or mixed (study areas were burnt by a combination of planned burns and wildfire)

Planned burn:

Wildfire:

Mixed:

6 (17)

8 (23)

2 (4)

5 (14)

5 (21)

4 (25)

Climate type

Classified as either arid (including semi-arid), temperate (including one sub-alpine study), or tropical

Arid:

Temperate:

Tropical:

6 (11)

5 (20)

5 (13)

5 (10)

9 (50)

0 (0)

Min_TSF

The youngest fire age of the fire treatment for each comparison. E.g., the value is 12 months for 1–3 years post-fire

Median:

Range:

9.5 mo

0–480 mo

12 mo

0–420 mo

Max_TSF^a

The oldest fire age of the fire treatment for each comparison. E.g., the value is 36 months for 1–3 years post-fire

Median:

Range:

18 mo

0.5–156 mo

30 mo

2–430 mo

Response

Changes in cat or fox activity in response to fire were classified as either positive (increased activity in the fire treatment), negative (decreased activity in the fire treatment), or neutral (no difference)

Positive:

Negative:

Neutral:

11 cases

8 cases

25 cases

14 cases

7 cases

39 cases