Implications of altered fire regimes for birds of dry sclerophyll forest under climate change

Michael J. M. Franklin; Richard E. Major; Ross A. Bradstock

doi:10.1071/PC23019

REVIEW (Open Access)

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Implications of altered fire regimes for birds of dry sclerophyll forest under climate change

Michael J. M. Franklin

^A ^B ^* , Richard E. Major

^C and Ross A. Bradstock ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.

^B Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Richmond, NSW 2753, Australia.

^C Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, 1 William Street, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: m.franklin@westernsydney.edu.au

Handling Editor: Dr Rochelle Steven

Pacific Conservation Biology 30, PC23019 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC23019

Submitted: 22 April 2023 Accepted: 10 September 2023 Published: 26 September 2023

© 2024 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

Climate change is driving increases in forest fire activity around the world. Consequently, recent and future research into the implications for affected biota, and its translation into policy and management, is of vital importance for the conservation of forest biodiversity. The dry sclerophyll forests of south-eastern Australia are affected by changing fire regimes, including having recently been extensively burnt. In this review, we synthesise contemporary research into the responses of dry sclerophyll forest birds to fire regimes, with a focus on contrasts in levels of time since fire, fire severity, fire frequency, and their interactions. We identify and discuss high-priority knowledge gaps and management issues in this domain. Recent studies have gained insights into the complexity of the effects of fire on birds by, for example, showing how avian fire responses are influenced by climate variability. In dry sclerophyll forests, most species that responded to time since fire were less likely to occur where it was short. There were mixed positive and negative responses to increasing fire severity and/or frequency among species in these forest bird assemblages. Given that quantification of the risk of extinction of rare and uncommon birds under increased fire activity is challenging, options for investigating their fire response are proposed. Availability of habitat for birds that flourish where fire is recent, severe and/or regular is unlikely to decline given current trends. We present a management approach that conceptualises large blocks of biologically connected forest with longer fire ages, but otherwise differing fire histories, as biodiversity reservoirs.

Keywords: avian ecology, climate change, dry sclerophyll forest, fire frequency, fire regime, fire severity, rare species, time since fire.

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