Signs of resilience in resprouting Eucalyptus forests, but areas of concern: 1 year of post-fire recovery from Australia’s Black Summer of 2019–2020
Rebecca K. Gibson A * and Samuel Hislop B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Science, Economics and Insights Division, Department of Planning and Environment, Alstonville, NSW, Australia
B Forest Science, Department of Primary Industries, Sydney, NSW, Australia
* Correspondence to: Rebecca.Gibson@environment.nsw.gov.au
International Journal of Wildland Fire 31(5) 545-557 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF21089
Submitted: 27 June 2021 Accepted: 22 March 2022 Published: 28 April 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF.
Abstract
Early and ongoing monitoring of post-fire recovery dynamics is critical for understanding the ecological resilience of forests. The unprecedented scale of Australia’s Black Summer of 2019–2020 poses a significant challenge for post-fire recovery monitoring. Remote sensing is the only practical way to undertake broad-scale analysis of post-fire recovery dynamics. We used Sentinel 2 satellite imagery to compare pre-fire and 1-year post-fire Normalised Burn Ratio (NBR) values. A strong positive trend in the return of vegetation was indicated where post-fire values met or exceeded 80% of the pre-fire NBR value. Our assessment highlighted locations where early recovery responses were divergent from trends in the surrounding areas. Overall, there was a strong spectral recovery across the 2019–2020 south-east Australia fire extent, with more than 50% of the total burned area showing greater than 80% spectral recovery after 1 year. However, several areas where ecosystem resilience may be threatened were identified, including fire-sensitive ecosystems and severely drought-impacted regions. Our results demonstrated biogeographic variation in the effect of fire severity on post-fire spectral recovery, with little effect of severity on spectral recovery observed in the north-east, but much stronger effects in the south. Our study highlights further research for prioritisation as part of adaptive land management programs.
Keywords: Australia, Black Summer, fire severity, NBR, post-fire recovery, remote sensing, resilience, resprouters.
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