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Abstract
AbstractAimMegafires are increasing in intensity and frequency globally. The impacts of megafires on biodiversity can be severe, so conservation managers must be able to respond rapidly to quantify their impacts, initiate recovery efforts and consider conservation options within and beyond the burned extent. We outline a framework that can be used to guide conservation responses to megafires, using the 1.5 million hectare 2019/2020 megafires in Victoria, Australia, as a case study.LocationVictoria, Australia.MethodsOur framework uses a suite of decision support tools, including species attribute databases, ~4,200 species distribution models and a spatially explicit conservation action planning tool to quantify the potential effects of megafires on biodiversity, and identify species‐specific and landscape‐scale conservation actions that can assist recovery.ResultsOur approach identified 346 species in Victoria that had >40% of their modelled habitat affected by the megafire, including 45 threatened species, and 102 species with >40% of their modelled habitat affected by high severity fire. We then identified 21 candidate recovery actions that are expected to assist the recovery of biodiversity. For relevant landscape‐scale actions, we identified locations within and adjacent to the megafire extent that are expected to deliver cost‐effective conservation gains.Main conclusionThe 2019/2020 megafires in south‐eastern Australia affected the habitat of many species and plant communities. Our framework identified a range of single‐species (e.g., supplementary feeding, translocation) and landscape‐scale actions (e.g., protection of refuges, invasive species management) that can help biodiversity recover from megafires. Conservation managers will be increasingly required to rapidly identify conservation actions that can help species recover from megafires, especially under a changing climate. Our approach brings together commonly used datasets (e.g., species distribution maps, trait databases, fire severity mapping) to help guide conservation responses and can be used to help biodiversity recover from future megafires across the world.
Highlights
IntroductionThe 21st century has been termed the age of the megafire—very large, severe wildfires (i.e., hundreds of thousands to millions of hectares) that demand considerable resources to suppress and recover from (Stephens et al, 2014)
The 21st century has been termed the age of the megafire—very large, severe wildfires that demand considerable resources to suppress and recover from (Stephens et al, 2014)
Many species thrive in fire-prone landscapes and are able to take advantage or recover from fires (Bowman et al, 2020; Fontaine & Kennedy, 2012; Nimmo et al, 2019); as megafires increase in frequency across the globe, the relationship between biodiversity and fire is changing (Kelly et al, 2020)
Summary
The 21st century has been termed the age of the megafire—very large, severe wildfires (i.e., hundreds of thousands to millions of hectares) that demand considerable resources to suppress and recover from (Stephens et al, 2014). Megafires are significant because their scale and severity can remove access to food and shelter for species across large swathes of habitat including patches that would normally act as fire refuges, increasing the likelihood of burning most of a species’ range. Such extensive fires present a clear extinction risk for species already imperilled, those with naturally narrow distributions, and those adapted to ecosystems without a history of regular fire (Ward et al, 2020). Megafires present conservation managers with an important challenge over the coming century (McKenzie et al, 2004)
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