澳大利亚新南威尔士大学Allen Vanessa L.课题组，报道了2019-2020年澳大利亚特大火灾对生物多样性的影响。相关论文于2024年11月13日发表在《自然》杂志上。

随着大型野火变得越来越频繁，研究人员必须迅速了解特大火灾如何影响生物多样性，从而优先考虑缓解措施并改进政策。一个关键的挑战是发现火情成分、干旱和土地权属之间的相互作用如何影响野火的影响。2019-2020年澳大利亚前所未有的特大火灾烧毁了超过10万平方米的土地，促使对生物多样性监测进行重大投资。

研究人员整理的数据包括2000多个分类群的反应，提供了一个无与伦比的机会来量化特大火灾如何影响生物多样性。研究人员发现，对植物和动物的最大影响是在过去经常发生火灾或最近发生火灾的地区，以及在广泛燃烧的地区。严重烧毁地区、保护区外或极端干旱地区的影响也更大。

影响包括火灾后的下降和增加，热带雨林和哺乳动物的反应最大。他们的结果显示物种相互作用、分散和就地生存程度是火灾反应的机制。在这些生态系统中建立野火抵御能力取决于减少火灾的复发，包括在经常燃烧的地区迅速扑灭野火。保护潮湿的生态系统、扩大保护区和考虑局部干旱也可能有所贡献。虽然这些对策可以帮助减轻更频繁的特大火灾的影响，但扭转人为气候变化仍然是迫切的大规模解决方案。

附：英文原文

Title: Biodiversity impacts of the 2019–2020 Australian megafires

Author: Driscoll, Don A., Macdonald, Kristina J., Gibson, Rebecca K., Doherty, Tim S., Nimmo, Dale G., Nolan, Rachael H., Ritchie, Euan G., Williamson, Grant J., Heard, Geoffrey W., Tasker, Elizabeth M., Bilney, Rohan, Porch, Nick, Collett, Rachael A., Crates, Ross A., Hewitt, Alison C., Pendall, Elise, Boer, Matthias M., Gates, Jody, Boulton, Rebecca L., Mclean, Christopher M., Groffen, Heidi, Maisey, Alex C., Beranek, Chad T., Ryan, Shelby A., Callen, Alex, Hamer, Andrew J., Stauber, Andrew, Daly, Garry J., Gould, John, Klop-Toker, Kaya L., Mahony, Michael J., Kelly, Oliver W., Wallace, Samantha L., Stock, Sarah E., Weston, Christopher J., Volkova, Liubov, Black, Dennis, Gibb, Heloise, Grubb, Joshua J., McGeoch, Melodie A., Murphy, Nick P., Lee, Joshua S., Dickman, Chris R., Neldner, Victor J., Ngugi, Michael R., Miritis, Vivianna, Khler, Frank, Perri, Marc, Denham, Andrew J., Mackenzie, Berin D. E., Reid, Chris A. M., Rayment, Julia T., Arriaga-Jimnez, Alfonsina, Hewins, Michael W., Hicks, Andrew, Melbourne, Brett A., Davies, Kendi F., Bitters, Matthew E., Linley, Grant D., Greenville, Aaron C., Webb, Jonathan K., Roberts, Bridget, Letnic, Mike, Price, Owen F., Walker, Zac C., Murray, Brad R., Verhoeven, Elise M., Thomsen, Alexandria M., Keith, David, Lemmon, Jedda S., Ooi, Mark K. J., Allen, Vanessa L.

Issue&Volume: 2024-11-13

Abstract: With large wildfires becoming more frequent1,2, we must rapidly learn how megafires impact biodiversity to prioritize mitigation and improve policy. A key challenge is to discover how interactions among fire-regime components, drought and land tenure shape wildfire impacts. The globally unprecedented3,4 2019–2020 Australian megafires burnt more than 10million hectares5, prompting major investment in biodiversity monitoring. Collated data include responses of more than 2,000 taxa, providing an unparalleled opportunity to quantify how megafires affect biodiversity. We reveal that the largest effects on plants and animals were in areas with frequent or recent past fires and within extensively burnt areas. Areas burnt at high severity, outside protected areas or under extreme drought also had larger effects. The effects included declines and increases after fire, with the largest responses in rainforests and by mammals. Our results implicate species interactions, dispersal and extent of in situ survival as mechanisms underlying fire responses. Building wildfire resilience into these ecosystems depends on reducing fire recurrence, including with rapid wildfire suppression in areas frequently burnt. Defending wet ecosystems, expanding protected areas and considering localized drought could also contribute. While these countermeasures can help mitigate the impacts of more frequent megafires, reversing anthropogenic climate change remains the urgent broad-scale solution.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08174-6

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08174-6