Today at #ESAus20 we will hear about early impacts of the Black Summer fires

I'll tweet the talks in a thread below #fireecology

Rachael Gallagher found 67% of Australia's 26,000 plant species experienced fire in 2019-2020 season; 20 spp had their entire range burnt

She has prioritised 486 spp for management incl cascading effects of co-occurring hazards

see https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/bushfire-recovery/priority-plants

#fireecology #ESAus20

David Keith reports ecosystem COLLAPSE of peatland ecosystems in swamps subjected to long-wall mining. Unmined swamps are resilient to fire effects

This highlights that we must manage our ecological threats to mitigate the impact of co-occurring threats

#fireecology #ESAus20

Paul Donatiu @QldFBC spoke about the 2019-20 fire season the in Border Ranges

Preliminary surveys looked at post-fire regeneration of rainforest plants (they don't burn very often)

+new record of the endangered Pink Underwing Moth: first for Lamington NP

#fireecology #ESAus20

Justin Mallee reports on Nightcap Range

Significant structural changes in rainforest sites that were burnt: from floristically diverse understorey to more simple, but scope for regen

Detailed fire impacts & monitoring for Nightcap Oak and Peach myrtle

#fireecology #ESAus2020

Berin MacKenzie reports on Wollemi Pines

- they shed entire branches (not leaves)
- basal charring 1-2m (+ significant wounds)
- taller trees >10m survive as they have some unscorched canopy
- prolific basal coppicing + seedlings!

#fireecology #ESAus20

Nicholas Wilson used bayesian regression models to measure carbon stock losses from the Currowan fire, NSW south coast

Previously logged sites lost more carbon that unlogged sites due to removal of coarse woody debris

see paper https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118701

#fireecology #ESAus20

Romane Cristescu is using @USCDetectionDog and thermal imagery UAVs to detect koalas in areas of SEQ & NENSW impacted by 2019-20 fires

She's looking at effects of fire severity, population viability analyses and measuring koala health through their scats

#fireecology #ESAus20

Katarina Mikac's quoll work in Monga NP turned into a fire project thanks to the 2019-20 Currowan fire

They'll soon have enough data to answer some useful questions (e.g. recovery, activity patterns and diet analysis)

#fireecology #ESAus20

The endangered broad headed snake shelters underground during heatwaves which is a useful fire survival strategy

Jonothan Webb highlights that humans moving rocks are still their biggest threat (rock removal circled in green)

#fireecology #ESAus20

Some key #ESAus20 #fireecology points:

Fire impacts are strongly affected by co-occurring ecological presssures; we need to manage them simultaneously

Our biota show resilience to fire, but are susceptible to frequent, high severity fire. As always fire regime context is key