Biodiversity impacts of the 2019–2020 Australian megafires
Creators: name: Driscoll, Don A
name: Macdonald, Kristina J
name: Gibson, Rebecca K
name: Doherty, Tim S
name: Nimmo, Dale G
name: Nolan, Rachael H
name: Ritchie, Euan G
name: Williamson, Grant J
name: Heard, Geoffrey W
name: Tasker, Elizabeth M
name: Bilney, Rohan
name: Porch, Nick
name: Collett, Rachael A
name: Crates, Ross A
name: Hewitt, Alison C
name: Pendall, Elise
name: Boer, Matthias M
name: Gates, Jody
name: Boulton, Rebecca L
name: Mclean, Christopher M
name: Groffen, Heidi
name: Maisey, Alex
name: Beranek, Chad T
name: Ryan, Shelby A
name: Callen, Alex
name: Hamer, Andrew J
name: Stauber, Andrew
name: Daly, Garry J
name: Gould, John
name: Klop-Toker, Kaya L
name: Mahony, Michael J
name: Kelly, Oliver W
name: Wallace, Samantha L
name: Stock, Sarah E
name: Weston, Christopher J
name: Volkova, Liubov
name: Black, Dennis
name: Gibb, Heloise
name: Grubb, Joshua
name: McGeoch, Melodie A
name: Murphy, Nicholas
name: Lee, Joshua S
name: Dickman, Chris R
name: Neldner, Victor J
name: Ngugi, Michael R
name: Miritis, Vivianna
name: Köhler, Frank
name: Perri, Marc
name: Denham, Andrew J
name: DE Mackenzie, Berin
name: Reid, Chris AM
name: Rayment, Julia T
name: Arriaga-Jiménez, Alfonsina
name: Hewins, Michael W
name: Hicks, Andrew
name: Melbourne, Brett A
name: Davies, Kendi F
name: Bitters, Matthew E
name: Linley, Grant D
name: Greenville, Aaron C
name: Webb, Jonathan K
name: Roberts, Bridget
name: Letnic, Mike
name: Price, Owen F
name: Walker, Zachary
name: Murray, Brad R
name: Verhoeven, Elise M
name: Thomsen, Alexandria M
name: Keith, David
name: Lemmon, Jedda S
name: Ooi, Mark KJ
name: Allen, Vanessa L
name: Decker, Orsolya
name: Green, Peter
name: Moussalli, Adnan
name: Foon, Junn K
name: Bryant, David B
name: Walker, Ken L
name: Bruce, Matthew J
name: Madani, George
name: Tscharke, Jeremy L
name: Wagner, Benjamin
name: Nitschke, Craig R
name: Gosper, Carl R
name: Yates, Colin J
name: Dillon, Rebecca
name: Barrett, Sarah
name: Spencer, Emma E
name: Wardle, Glenda M
name: Newsome, Thomas M
name: Pulsford, Stephanie A
name: Singh, Anu
name: Roff, Adam
name: Marsh, Karen J
name: Mcdonald, Kye
name: Howell, Lachlan G
name: Lane, Murraya R
name: Cristescu, Romane H
name: Witt, Ryan R
name: Cook, Emma J
name: Grant, Felicity
name: Law, Bradley S
name: Seddon, Julian
name: Berris, Karleah K
name: Shofner, Ryan M
name: Barth, Mike
name: Welz, Torran
name: Foster, Alison
name: Hancock, David
name: Beitzel, Matthew
name: Tan, Laura XL
name: Waddell, Nathan A
name: Fallow, Pamela M
name: Schweickle, Laura
name: Le Breton, Tom D
name: Dunne, Craig
name: Green, Mikayla
name: Gilpin, Amy-Marie
name: Cook, James M
name: Power, Sally A
name: Hogendoorn, Katja
name: Brawata, Renee
name: Jolly, Chris J
name: Tozer, Mark
name: Reiter, Noushka
name: Phillips, Ryan D
Publisher: name: La Trobe
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 4102
subject: Ecological applications
classificationCode: 4101
subject: Climate change impacts and adaptation
classificationCode: 4104
subject: Environmental management
classificationCode: 41
subject: Environmental sciences

description: 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. Collated data include responses of more than 2,000 taxa, providing an unparalleled opportunity to quantify how megafires affect biodiversity. We reveal that the largest effects on plants and animals were in areas with frequent or recent past fires and within extensively burnt areas. Areas burnt at high severity, outside protected areas or under extreme drought also had larger effects. The effects included declines and increases after fire, with the largest responses in rainforests and by mammals. Our results implicate species interactions, dispersal and extent of in situ survival as mechanisms underlying fire responses. Building wildfire resilience into these ecosystems depends on reducing fire recurrence, including with rapid wildfire suppression in areas frequently burnt. Defending wet ecosystems, expanding protected areas and considering localized drought could also contribute. While these countermeasures can help mitigate the impacts of more frequent megafires, reversing anthropogenic climate change remains the urgent broad-scale solution.