Differential impacts of a wildfire and post-fire sedimentation event on platypus and fish populations in a Victorian upland river
M. Serena
A * , J. P. Lyon B , Z. D. Tonkin B , J. Lieschke B and G. A. Williams A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Australian Platypus Conservancy, Campbells Creek, Vic. 3451, Australia.
B Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Heidelberg, Vic. 3084, Australia.
Marine and Freshwater Research 74(1) 86-94 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF22201
Submitted: 16 February 2022 Accepted: 24 October 2022 Published: 17 November 2022
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Context: Wildfire can affect freshwater ecosystems in many ways, notably when post-fire rainfall washes ash and sediment into waterways.
Aims: We investigated species-specific effects of bushfire and subsequent channel sedimentation on the abundance of platypus and fish populations in the upper Buffalo River, Australia.
Methods: Pre- and post-fire population surveys were conducted using fyke nets.
Key results: There was no evidence that fish numbers declined because of direct fire effects. However, native two-spined blackfish and Macquarie perch numbers dropped dramatically following post-fire sedimentation, whereas non-native redfin perch increased, most likely as a result of migration from a nearby lake. Platypus captures were consistently recorded at all survey sites both before and after the fire and sediment inflows occurred, with many juveniles being recorded in the first post-fire breeding season.
Conclusions: The platypus’s greater resilience to post-fire sediment inflows than that of native fish presumably reflects its reliance on lungs rather than gills and its ability to take refuge in burrows. It also has a broad diet, flexible foraging behaviour, is highly vagile and typically stores enough fat to support fasting for up to 2–3 weeks.
Implications: Management of fire-affected aquatic ecosystems must consider species-specific responses of freshwater vertebrates to fire.
Keywords: Black Summer, bushfire impacts, channel sedimentation, fire ecology, fish mortality, Macquarie perch, platypus conservation, two-spined blackfish.
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