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Impact of 2019–2020 mega-fires on Australian fauna habitat

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 4, pages 1321–1326 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Australia’s 2019–2020 mega-fires were exacerbated by drought, anthropogenic climate change and existing land-use management. Here, using a combination of remotely sensed data and species distribution models, we found these fires burnt ~97,000 km2 of vegetation across southern and eastern Australia, which is considered habitat for 832 species of native vertebrate fauna. Seventy taxa had a substantial proportion (>30%) of habitat impacted; 21 of these were already listed as threatened with extinction. To avoid further species declines, Australia must urgently reassess the extinction vulnerability of fire-impacted species and assist the recovery of populations in both burnt and unburnt areas. Population recovery requires multipronged strategies aimed at ameliorating current and fire-induced threats, including proactively protecting unburnt habitats.

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Fig. 1: Vertebrate fauna habitat burned during the 2019–2020 mega-fires.
Fig. 2: Proportional impact of the 2019–2020 mega-fires on the habitats of 832 species.

Data availability

All datasets used in this analysis are available via the citations identified in the Methods. The raw data used to create Figs. 1 and 2 are available in Supplementary Table 1 and in figshare with the identifier https://figshare.com/s/62ef92b49704bb139333.

Code availability

The code used in this study is freely available at https://figshare.com/s/d9140d7c22e5ebbf2e03.

Change history

  • 10 August 2020

    The Data availability and Code availability statements have been amended to update the links where the data and code are deposited, respectively. The second sentence of the Data availability statement now reads: ‘The raw data used to create Figs. 1 and 2 are available in Supplementary Table 1 and in figshare with the identifier https://figshare.com/s/62ef92b49704bb139333.’ The Code availability statement now reads ‘The code used in this study is freely available at https://figshare.com/s/d9140d7c22e5ebbf2e03.’

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Legge and C. Pavey for their critical comments on an early version of the manuscript and the Commonwealth Government for providing both species and fire datasets. A.I.T.T. is supported by an ARC DECRA Fellowship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Michelle Ward, Brooke A. Williams, April E. Reside, Helen J. Mayfield, Martine Maron, Hugh P. Possingham, Emily J. Massingham, Jeremy S. Simmonds, Laura J. Sonter & James E. M. Watson

  2. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Michelle Ward, Ayesha I. T. Tulloch, Brooke A. Williams, April E. Reside, Helen J. Mayfield, Martine Maron, Jeremy S. Simmonds, Laura J. Sonter & James E. M. Watson

  3. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia

    Ayesha I. T. Tulloch & Aaron C. Greenville

  4. Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia

    James Q. Radford

  5. Research Centre for Future Landscapes, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia

    James Q. Radford

  6. College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    Stewart L. Macdonald

  7. The Nature Conservancy, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Hugh P. Possingham

  8. Birdlife Australia, Carlton, Victoria, Australia

    Samantha J. Vine & James L. O’Connor

  9. Threatened Species Recovery Hub, Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

    John C. Z. Woinarski & Stephen T. Garnett

  10. Centre for Applied Water Science, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Mark Lintermans

  11. Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Ben C. Scheele & David B. Lindenmayer

  12. CSIRO, Land and Water, Dutton Park, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Josie Carwardine

  13. School of Environmental Science, Institute for Land, Water, and Society, Charles Sturt University, Albury, New South Wales, Australia

    Dale G. Nimmo

  14. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Robert M. Kooyman

  15. Wildlife Conservation Society, Global Conservation Program, New York, NY, USA

    James E. M. Watson

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  1. Michelle Ward
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Contributions

J.E.M.W. conceived the idea. M.W., J.E.M.W., A.I.T.T., J.Q.R., B.A.W., A.E.R., S.L.M., H.J.M., M.M., H.P.P., S.J.V., J.L.O., E.J.M., A.C.G. and L.J.S. designed the research. A.E.R. and S.L.M. extracted non-threatened species data. M.W. and B.A.W. assembled and revised the database and analysed the data. M.W., A.I.T.T., J.Q.R., B.A.W., A.E.R., S.L.M., H.J.M., M.M., H.P.P., S.J.V., J.L.O., E.J.M., A.C.G., J.C.Z.W., S.T.G., M.L., B.C.S., J.C., D.G.N., D.B.L., R.M.K., J.S.S., L.J.S. and J.E.M.W. wrote and edited the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michelle Ward.

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Supplementary information

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Table 1

This file contains all taxa impacted by the 2019–2020 mega-fires, including their approximate habitat loss, approximate proportional habitat loss and approximate habitat remaining.

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Ward, M., Tulloch, A.I.T., Radford, J.Q. et al. Impact of 2019–2020 mega-fires on Australian fauna habitat. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 1321–1326 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1251-1

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