The 2019-2020 megafires in Australia brought a tragic loss of human life and the most dramatic loss of habitat for threatened species and devastation of ecological communities in postcolonial history. What must be done now to keep impacted species from extinction? What can be done to avoid a repeat of the impacts of such devastating bushfires? Here, we describe hard-won lessons that may also be of global relevance.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2020.06.009 | DOI Listing |
Mov Ecol
December 2024
Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
Background: Wildfires can have complex effects on wildlife populations. Understanding how post-fire conditions affect the movement ecology of threatened species can assist in better conservation and management, including informing the release of rescued and rehabilitated animals. The 2019-2020 megafires in Australia resulted in thousands of animals coming into care due to injury or concerns over habitat degradation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcol Appl
November 2024
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Koalas are an iconic, endangered, Australian marsupial. Disease, habitat destruction, and catastrophic mega-fires have reduced koalas to remnant patches of their former range. With increased likelihood of extreme weather events and ongoing habitat clearing across Australia, koala populations are vulnerable to further declines and isolation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNature
November 2024
Centre for Future Landscapes, School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.
With large wildfires becoming more frequent, we must rapidly learn how megafires impact biodiversity to prioritize mitigation and improve policy. A key challenge is to discover how interactions among fire-regime components, drought and land tenure shape wildfire impacts. The globally unprecedented 2019-2020 Australian megafires burnt more than 10 million hectares, prompting major investment in biodiversity monitoring.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
April 2024
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia.
Human actions are causing widespread increases in fire size, frequency, and severity in diverse ecosystems globally. This alteration of fire regimes is considered a threat to numerous animal species, but empirical evidence of how fire regimes are shifting within both threatened species' ranges and protected areas is scarce, particularly at large spatial and temporal scales. We used a big data approach to quantify multidecadal changes in fire regimes in southern Australia from 1980 to 2021, spanning 415 reserves (21.
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