Beyond bushfire severity: mapping the ecological impact of bushfires on the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area

Abstract

Bushfire severity mapping and analysis for Queensland’s Gondwana Rainforests World Heritage Area properties following wildfires in 2019/20 was found to under-predict the ecological impact within closed-canopy rainforests, biasing against the prioritisation of rainforest-dependent threatened fauna for assessment and the allocation of recovery resources. By incorporating the fire tolerance of vegetation communities mapped within the bushfire extent, bushfire severity can be extended to predict the potential ecological impact of each severity class on ecosystems, and priority species. Prioritising threatened species based on potential ecological impact rather than fire severity alone allows post-fire survey and monitoring to be better targeted to those species likely most severely impacted. It also allows resources and recovery actions to be directed towards those areas of greatest concern, which may not have suffered the worst bushfire severity.