‘We shouldn’t be surprised’: bushfires in Victoria push threatened species to the brink | Endangered species

As tinderbox conditions continue to hamper wildlife assessment and recovery efforts, bushfires in Victoria have burned vital habitat for bird and animal species including eastern bristlebirds and dingoes.

There are fears that some plant species may become extinct.

Prof Don Driscoll, a terrestrial ecologist at Deakin University, said he was particularly concerned about the population of endangered eastern bristle birds in the state. – Shy songbirds with cinnamon-brown plumage – after fires near Mallacoota burned nearly 60% of their habitat At Howe Flat.

Driscoll said the state’s population is less than 200 and those who survived the flames will now be exposed. “This is particularly concerning because these ground-dwelling birds navigate dense vegetation and rely on it for protection from predators.”

Six years ago authorities launched a rescue operation to capture 14 birds, fearing the species was at risk of extinction due to wild summer fires. Driscoll said there was no urgent mission this time.

The state’s environment ministry said active fires prevented it from sending specialist staff to assess the situation. Once the area is declared safe, the department will determine accurate numbers of birds affected and work to reduce threats, such as controlling foxes and cats.

“Whilst this is a worrying situation for the eastern bristlebird population, we have recently achieved promising recovery results, including the establishment of a recently translocated population at Wilsons Promontory to help manage extinction risks from such bushfire events,” said the department’s chief biodiversity officer, James Todd.

Bushfires in Victoria in January destroyed more than 435,000 hectares of land as back-to-back heatwaves took the fire danger to extremes and wiped out thousands of flying foxes in the worst mass mortality event since the black summer.

Wildlife Victoria said a major animal loss was likely given the severity and scale of the fires.

“The impact of wildfires on wildlife can be catastrophic. Native animals are often unable to escape fires and are highly vulnerable to death, dehydration, disorientation, burns, injury and loss of food and habitat,” said CEO Lisa Palma.

The charity continued to receive reports of affected animals, particularly kangaroos, koalas and wallabies, following a record number of calls at the peak – more than 1,100 in a single day. Assistance was provided where possible, but many fire areas were unsafe for rescuers and volunteers to enter.

Victoria’s environment department has sent wildlife teams to many fire sites to search for and assess affected animals, but the full picture of the devastation is yet to emerge.

Driscoll said all animals are affected by fires, with mammals particularly vulnerable: the chief writer nature paper It details the impacts of the 2019-20 fires on biodiversity.

“They can’t fly away like most birds. They’re too big to hide in small crevices like some frogs, reptiles and insects,” he said. Animals that shelter in tree holes, including greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders, are particularly at risk, he said.

Ecologist Prof from Deakin University. Euan Ritchie said animals that survived the heat and flames could still suffer or perish due to greater exposure to foxes and cats, reduced food supply and the destruction of hollow trees.

He said Victoria was the cleanest state in the country, which compounded the effects of other threats.

Fires in the state’s northwest have destroyed the 60,000-hectare Wyperfeld national park, an important habitat for the Wilkerr (dingo) and critical nesting trees for endangered flame-crested cockatoos.

Ritchie said investigators did not yet know the full extent of the damage and were waiting until fire areas were declared safe to collect monitoring equipment, but at least one animal from the adult population of fewer than 80 dingoes was thought to have died.

“As part of the recovery efforts, Parks Victoria worked with the Barengi Gadjin Land Council to install temporary water points at sites within Wyperfeld national park,” Todd said. “Water points will help wildlife in areas where water is scarce and will deter animals from crossing onto private property to find water.”

Some threatened plants may have disappeared completely.

Prof David Cantrill, chief botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, heard serious concerns about the endangered southern shepherd’s purse, a small native plant with spoon-shaped leaves and “beautiful white flowers”, after fires near Harcourt burned Mount Alexander, home to the last remaining wild plants.

Another large fire near Mount Lawson involved a fenced plant reserve containing several state-listed species, including the endangered dusky bush pea and gray rice flower, as well as the only known population of the critically endangered summer leek orchid.

Botanists remain hopeful that some orchid tubers may have survived in the soil, “provided it’s not too hot and the soil isn’t burned too deeply,” Cantrill said.

“We will be able to make evaluations towards the fall, when expected rainfall and improved conditions may lead to germination and resprouting,” Cantrill said. “Our botanists will then step in to assess damage to populations and secure seeds and plant cuttings to propagate as replacement populations.”

Fires are becoming more severe, widespread and frequent due to human-caused climate change, Driscoll said. In addition to acting faster on climate change, he said states like Victoria also need a “rapid attack” capability, meaning they need to quickly detect when fires start and invest in enough equipment and people to control and extinguish fires before they escalate.

He said some areas, such as rainforests and humid regions, should be marked for special protection, similar to the way Wollemi pines were saved during the dark summer months in New South Wales.

Dr D., a research fellow at FLARE Wildlife Research at the University of Melbourne. Tom Fairman said the state needs a comprehensive strategy to protect priority ecosystems as wildfires become more frequent and severe. He said elements of the natural landscape were already lost as the fires burned and were then burned again.

“We shouldn’t be surprised when a fire breaks out and some of these ecosystems start collapsing.”