Flora, Fauna, Fire

Flora,

fauna,

Last summer’s bushfires hit an already drought-ravaged landscape. They were fuelled by strong winds and record-shattering temperatures.

No other disaster in living memory has caused such profound damage to Australia’s biodiversity. Some 471 plant, 213 invertebrate and 92 vertebrate species have been identified as needing urgent intervention. In some cases, 100% of a species’ distribution was burnt.

But amid the wreckage there are stories of adrenalin-fuelled wildlife rescues and ingenious conservation efforts.

For researchers and scientists who’ve spent their careers working to protect an endangered species, the carnage was devastating.

Months after the last fire was extinguished, satellite imagery shows the bush is growing back. Here’s what it looked like in the NSW South Coast on November 1 2019, before the worst of the fires.

After the flames subsided, scientists surveyed the devastated firegrounds, anxious about what they’d find.

But even by mid-2020, areas that were severely affected were already showing signs of vegetation recovery.

Australia is a land of fire, and plants and animals have learnt to adapt.
But under climate change, fires are becoming more frequent, severe and widespread. That means wildlife and landscapes may never fully recover.

By the time of the peak of the fires in each region, the destruction was clear.

Healthy vegetation

Disturbed vegetation

Vegetation Structure Perpendicular Index (VSPI) quantifies the disturbance caused by fire relative to health vegetation and its subsequent recovery to its normal state.

VSPI imagery courtesy Marta Yebra (ANU), Chris Rudiger (Monash) and James Hilton (CSIRO/Data61), with thanks to Aakash Chhabra.

Before and after: see how bushfire and rain turned the Macquarie perch's home to sludge
Lee Baumgartner, Katie Doyle, Luiz G M Silva, Luke Pearce, Nathan Ning

Our helicopter rescue may seem a lot of effort for a plain little bird, but it was worth it
Rohan Clarke, Katherine Selwood, Rowan Mott

After last summer's fires, the bell tolls for Australia’s endangered mountain bells
Kingsley Dixon

Australia roared into 2020 as a land on fire. The loss of life and property was devastating and so too was the damage to nature. By the end of the fire season 18.6 million hectares of land was destroyed.
So what's become of animal and plant survivors in the months since?

Flora, Fauna, Fire tells that story. In some charred landscapes, endangered plants and animals were miraculously spared. Elsewhere, flames left the land seared and silent, stripped of life.

Read of the scientists coaxing nature back to life. See satellite maps showing how the land has sprouted since the fires, and explore the animal, plant and invertebrate species now at greatest risk of extinction.

It will be years, if not decades, until we know how nature will mend after Australia's Black Summer. But here's the story so far.

In the days after the fires, scientists identified these 119 animal species that required urgent intervention.
Without it, extinction of the species was a real possibility.

Increasingly frequent fires threaten this shiny green carpenter bee - and the wildflowers it pollinates
Katja Hogendoorn, Remko Leijs, Richard V. Glatz

I'm searching firegrounds for surviving Kangaroo Island Micro-trapdoor spiders. 6 months on, I'm yet to find any
Jess Marsh

Heat-detecting drones are a cheaper, more efficient way to find koalas
Ryan R. Witt, Adam Roff, Chad T. Beranek, Lachlan G. Howell

Our field cameras melted in the bushfires. When we opened them, the results were startling
Benjamin Scheele, David Newell, Jodi Rowley, Michael McFadden

Total extent of 2019/20 bushfires*

Double trouble: this plucky little fish survived the bushfires, but there's worse to come
Mark Lintermans

A few months ago, science gave this rare lizard a name – and it may already be headed for extinction
Jodi Rowley

Total habitat of the 119 species identified as in need of immediate intervention following the fires

The mystery of the mouse that died of smoke inhalation, despite being nowhere near a fire
Andrew Peters

December 30 2019

May 5 2020

Photo: Darryl Whitaker/DELWP

Photo: Taronga Zoo

Photo: David Crossling/AAP

NSW South Coast

Photo: Tony Mitchell

Photo: State Government of Victoria/AAP

Photo: James Gourley/AAP

Photo: Marta Yebra, ANU

*Source: National Indicative Aggregated Fire Extent Database

Note: Vast fires burn each year in northern Australia. The southeast Australia fires were far hotter and more destructive.

Note: VSPI data has not been calibrated and is indicative only

Photo: Warren Frey/AAP

Last summer’s bushfires hit an already drought-ravaged landscape. They were fuelled by strong winds and record-shattering temperatures.

But amid the devastation there are stories of adrenalin-fuelled wildlife rescues and ingenious conservation efforts.

For researchers and scientists who’ve spent their careers working to protect an endangered species, the carnage was devastating.

Months after the last fire was extinguished, satellite imagery shows the bush is growing back. Here’s what it looked like in three of the key bushfire hotspots on November 1 2019, before the worst of the fires.

But even by mid-2020, areas that were severely affected were already showing signs of vegetation recovery.

After the flames subsided, scientists surveyed the devastated firegrounds, anxious about what they’d find.

Healthy vegetation

Disturbed vegetation

By the time of the peak of the fires in each region, the devastation was clear.

Vegetation Structure Perpendicular Index (VSPI) quantifies the disturbance caused by fire relative to health vegetation and its subsequent recovery to its normal state.

VSPI imagery courtesy Marta Yebra (ANU), Chris Rudiger (Monash) and James Hilton (CSIRO/Data61), with thanks to Aakash Chhabra.

In the days after the fires, scientists identified these 119 animal species that required urgent intervention.
Without it, extinction of the species was a real possibility.

East Gippsland

January 25 2020

June 18 2020

Australia roared into 2020 as a land on fire. The loss of life and property was devastating and so too was the damage to nature. By the end of the fire season 18.6 million hectares of land was destroyed. So what's become of animal and plant survivors in the months since?

Flora, Fauna, Fire tells that story. In some charred landscapes, endangered plants and animals were miraculously spared. Elsewhere, flames left the land seared and silent, stripped of life.

Read of the scientists coaxing nature back to life. See satellite maps showing how the land has sprouted since the fires, and explore the animal, plant and invertebrate species now at greatest risk of extinction.

It will be years, if not decades, until we know how nature will mend after Australia's Black Summer. But here's the story so far.

"The intensity, ferocity and speed of the fires meant nothing was spared. The former forest floor was literally a trail of death and destruction – dead and charred kangaroos, wallabies, deer, possums and birds were everywhere."

Written and edited by Nicole Hasham.

Species profiles edited by Anthea Batsakis. Interactive by Wes Mountain.

Additional editing and assistance by Sunanda Creagh, Ben Clarke and Michael Lund

VSPI imagery provided by Chris Rudiger and Marta Yebra, with assistance from Aakash Chhabra.

The priority species list was instigated by the Bushfire Recovery Expert Panel, set up to support the Australian Government’s bushfire response.

This series forms part of a project supported by a grant from the Ross Trust.

"Late last year, bushfires are thought to have ripped through more than half the Kaputar rock skink’s habitat. We don’t yet know what this means for its survival, but the outlook is not good."

"Emergency helicopter rescues aren't usually part of a day's work for conservation scientists. But for eastern bristlebirds, a potential disaster loomed."

"Sadly, all the known western populations of this enigmatic spider were destroyed. I am yet to find any survivors in the fire ground, but it is early days."

"To see our efforts - and more importantly, most of the long-term unburnt habitat these bees rely on - destroyed by the 2020 fire was utterly devastating."

"We’ve been developing the use of heat-detecting drones to find koalas at night. This efficient method will save on costs. It will also help better assess koala numbers."

"After 45 minutes we'd collected 68 healthy stocky galaxias. Woohoo! Further downstream we collected 74 more. By now, fire burned along the stream edge."

"I looked through the microscope at the insides of a dead smoky mouse, and could barely believe my eyes. Thousands of tiny smoke particles lined its lungs."

"Though the fires have retreated, the once thriving populations of mountain bells are reduced to blackened stems. It is indescribably sad to see."