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‘Deathly silent’: Ecologist describes Australian wildfires’ devastating aftermath

Out-of-control blazes have killed a billion wild animals. Those remaining will struggle to survive in a scorched landscape, Michael Clarke tells Nature.
  1. Dyani Lewis
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Australia is in the grip of its worst wildfire season on record. The human death toll stands at 27, and some 2,000 homes have been destroyed across more than 10 million hectares of land — an area larger than Portugal. An estimated 1 billion wild mammals, birds and reptiles have perished.

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Nature 577, 304 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00043-2

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 13 January 2020: An earlier version of this article stated that Clarke visited an unburnt patch of the Mellee in 2003, and referred to Glossy Black Cockatoo habitats on King Island. In fact, the visit took place in 2007, and the cockatoo habitats are on Kangaroo Island.

References

  1. Beer, T., Gill, A. M. & Moore, P. H. R. in Greenhouse: Planning for Climatic Change (ed. Pearman, G. I.) 421–427 (CSIRO, 1988).

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