After the Megafires: What Next for Australian Wildlife?

Brendan A Wintle; Sarah Legge; John C Z Woinarski

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2020.06.009

After the Megafires: What Next for Australian Wildlife?

Trends Ecol Evol. 2020 Sep;35(9):753-757. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.06.009. Epub 2020 Jul 14.

Authors

Brendan A Wintle¹, Sarah Legge², John C Z Woinarski³

Affiliations

¹ School of Bioscience, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia; Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
³ Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, NT 0909, Australia.

Abstract

The 2019-2020 megafires in Australia brought a tragic loss of human life and the most dramatic loss of habitat for threatened species and devastation of ecological communities in postcolonial history. What must be done now to keep impacted species from extinction? What can be done to avoid a repeat of the impacts of such devastating bushfires? Here, we describe hard-won lessons that may also be of global relevance.

MeSH terms

Animals
Animals, Wild*
Australia
Ecosystem
Endangered Species*
Humans