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Animal population decline and recovery after severe fire: Relating ecological and life history traits with expert estimates of population impacts from the Australian 2019-20 megafires
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Animal population decline and recovery after severe fire: Relating ecological and life history traits with expert estimates of population impacts from the Australian 2019-20 megafires

Michele Ensbey, Sarah Legge, Chris J. Jolly, Stephen T. Garnett, Rachael Gallagher, Mark Lintermans, Dale G. Nimmo, Libby Rumpff, Ben C. Scheele, Nick S. Whiterod, …
Biological conservation, Vol.283, 110021
07/2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110021
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Animal population decline and recovery after severe fire: Relating ecological and life history traits with expert estimates of population impacts from the Australian 2019-20 megafires7.67 MBDownloadView
Published (Version of record)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0,  Open Access
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Animal population decline and recovery after severe fire: Relating ecological and life history traits with expert estimates of population impacts from the Australian 2019-20 megafiresView
Published (Version of record)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0,  Open

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Abstract

Expert elicitation Fire response Invertebrates Megafire Species traits Vertebrates Wildfire
Catastrophic megafires can increase extinction risks; identifying species priorities for management and policy support is critical for preparing and responding to future fires. However, empirical data on population loss and recovery post-fire, especially megafire, are limited and taxonomically biased. These gaps could be bridged if species' morphological, behavioural, ecological and life history traits indicated their fire responses. Using expert elicitation that estimated population changes following the 2019–20 Australian megafires for 142 terrestrial and aquatic animal species (from every vertebrate class, one invertebrate group), we examined whether expert estimates of fire-related mortality, mortality in the year post-fire, and recovery trajectories over 10 years/three generations post-fire, were related to species traits. Expert estimates for fire-related mortality were lower for species that could potentially flee or shelter from fire, and that associated with fire-prone habitats. Post-fire mortality estimates were linked to diet, diet specialisation, home range size, and susceptibility to introduced herbivores that damage or compete for resources. Longer-term population recovery estimates were linked to diet/habitat specialisation, susceptibility to introduced species; species with slower life histories and shorter subadult dispersal distances also had lower recovery estimates. Across animal groups, experts estimated that recovery was poorest for species with pre-fire population decline and more threatened conservation status. Sustained management is likely needed to recover species with habitat and diet specialisations, slower life histories, pre-existing declines and threatened conservation statuses. This study shows that traits could help inform management priorities before and after future megafires, but further empirical data on animal fire response is essential.

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