Journal article
Accounting for the neglected: Invertebrate species and the 2019–2020 Australian megafires
Global Ecology and Biogeography, Vol.31(10), pp.2120-2130
2022
Abstract
Aim
Invertebrates make up the vast majority of fauna species but are often overlooked in impact assessment and conservation response. The extent to which the 2019–2020 Australian megafires overlapped with the range of vertebrate species has been well documented; consequently, substantial resourcing has been directed towards their recovery. Here, we attempt to document the extent of overlap of these megafires with invertebrate species. In doing so, we seek to demonstrate that it is possible and worthwhile to assess the effect of a catastrophic event on a large number of poorly known species.
Location
Temperate and subtropical Australia.
Time period
2019–2020.
Major taxa
Australian invertebrates.
Methods
We adapted a published analytical pathway for the assessment of distributional fire overlap on vertebrate species. Overlaps with fire for 32,163 invertebrate taxa were determined using point records and polygons.
Results
We found that 13,581 invertebrate taxa had part of their range burnt in the 2019–2020 Australian megafires. Of these, 382 taxa had the whole of their known range burnt, and a further 405 taxa had 50–99.9% of their range burnt. Five examples are described.
Main conclusions
Poorly known groups of biodiversity can be impacted significantly by major disturbance events, but such impact is often overlooked. This oversight has the consequences of under-estimating the magnitude of impacts and the potential failure to direct conservation responses to those species most in need of them. Our analysis demonstrates that the 2019–2020 megafires burnt ≥50% of the known range of nearly 800 Australian invertebrate taxa, a tally far higher than for vertebrates (19 taxa). Assessment of the real impact (i.e., beyond simply overlap with fire) requires more consideration of susceptibility and/or post-fire survey and monitoring. The magnitude of overlap of the 2019–2020 megafires on invertebrate species justifies a conservation response that is less biased towards iconic vertebrate species.
Details
- Title
- Accounting for the neglected: Invertebrate species and the 2019–2020 Australian megafires
- Authors/Creators
- J.R. Marsh (Author/Creator) - Charles Darwin UniversityP. Bal (Author/Creator) - Charles Darwin UniversityH. Fraser (Author/Creator) - Charles Darwin UniversityK. Umbers (Author/Creator) - Western Sydney UniversityT. Latty (Author/Creator) - The University of SydneyA. Greenville (Author/Creator) - The University of SydneyL. Rumpff (Author/Creator) - The University of MelbourneJ.C.Z. Woinarski (Author/Creator) - Charles Darwin University
- Publication Details
- Global Ecology and Biogeography, Vol.31(10), pp.2120-2130
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
- Identifiers
- 991005542663007891
- Copyright
- © 2022 The Authors.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Harry Butler Institute
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.40 Forestry
- 3.40.1598 Wildfire Dynamics
- Web Of Science research areas
- Ecology
- Geography, Physical
- ESI research areas
- Environment/Ecology