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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Variable persistence of an iconic arboreal mammal through the Black Summer wildfires
Forest ecology and management, Vol.570, 122224
15/10/2024
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Source: InCites
Abstract
Wildfires are predicted to increase in frequency and severity with climate change but detailed understanding of their influence on forest wildlife is lacking for many species. Wildfires vary in their extent and severity among landscapes, limiting generalisations about impacts from a single wildfire. We investigated post-wildfire persistence in the threatened exudivorous yellow-bellied glider (Petaurus australis) in south-eastern Australia. The widespread occurrence of wildfires in the ‘Black Summer’ of 2019–20 enabled populations in three landscapes (90–160 km apart) to be studied. This species has a slow life history (one young per year and >1 year to mature) so post-fire recovery is predicted to be slow. We conducted repeat surveys over 3 years post-fire in each landscape at 25–29 sites that were occupied pre-wildfire. All survey sites were burnt in two landscapes but only 40 % were burnt in the third. We estimated declines in occupancy of 13 %, 40 % and 66 % in burnt forest. The factors driving the variation in decline appear to be a combination of fire severity and the abundance of very large (≥80 cm) hollow (i.e. cavity) -bearing trees that serve as den sites. The implications of this study are that the impacts of wildfires on populations of tree-hollow dependent species can be expected to vary in different landscapes as a consequence of fire severity, rainfall deficit and logging history. Our study suggests the importance of ensuring populations are conserved across a wide geographic gradient, and the value of very large hollow-bearing trees rather than simply the number of any hollow-bearing trees.
Details
- Title
- Variable persistence of an iconic arboreal mammal through the Black Summer wildfires
- Creators
- Ross L. Goldingay - Southern Cross UniversityRohan J. Bilney - Forestry Corporation of NSWCraig Dunne - Forestry Corporation of NSW
- Publication Details
- Forest ecology and management, Vol.570, 122224
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- Grant note
We thank Justin Williams for comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. This work was conducted under approvals from the Southern Cross University Animal Care & Ethics Committee (ARA 20/26, 21/20, 22/20, 23/32) , a research permit (RES100042) from Forest Corporation of NSW and a scientific permit (SL100330) from the NSW Dept of Planning & Environment. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. This research did not receive any specific funding. The post-fire surveys in this study were quite challenging due to covid-19 restrictions and access constraints associated with above-average rainfall. We thank two anonymous reviewers for suggestions that improved this paper.
- Identifiers
- 991013217412602368
- Copyright
- Crown Copyright © 2024 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license, (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article