Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney, 2052, NSW, Australia.
Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney, 2052, NSW, Australia.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jul 10;777:146137. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146137. Epub 2021 Mar 1.
The strong inter-dependence between terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, mediated by the character of vegetation and landscapes, can have significant impacts to freshwater species. A changing climate towards hotter and drier climates is already increasing fire frequencies and severity around the world. The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is an iconic freshwater Australia species, facing increasing threats since European colonisation and with a distribution which coincides with fire prone areas. While some evidence suggest platypuses are resilience to fires, the combination of severe wildfires and reduced water availability may significantly impact platypus populations. In this short communication we investigated the effects of fire on platypus populations in two rivers, following an extreme drought, comparing burnt and unburnt in adjacent river catchments, with similar habitat and geomorphology. Findings suggests significantly low platypus numbers in burned sites compared to those on the unburnt river, as well as to known densities across the species' range. Whether the fires directly impacted platypuses remains undetermined but the timing of the fires as well as an extreme drought likely impacted recruitment as we did not record any juveniles on both rivers. Platypuses are increasingly under threat from direct and indirect human developments across much of their range and increased frequency and severity of fires and droughts will further strain the viability of platypus populations, particularly in small streams more likely to dry out. Improving the resilience of platypus populations and their freshwater environments to both droughts and fires needs to become a priority.
陆地和淡水生态系统之间的强烈相互依存关系，受植被和景观特征的影响，可能对淡水物种产生重大影响。气候向更热、更干燥的方向变化已经在全球范围内增加了火灾的频率和严重程度。鸭嘴兽（Ornithorhynchus anatinus）是澳大利亚具有代表性的淡水物种，自欧洲殖民以来，面临着越来越多的威胁，其分布范围与易发生火灾的地区重合。虽然有一些证据表明鸭嘴兽具有抗火能力，但严重的野火和可用水量减少的结合可能会对鸭嘴兽种群产生重大影响。在这个简短的通讯中，我们调查了在经历了一次极端干旱之后，两场大火对两条河流中鸭嘴兽种群的影响，比较了相邻河流流域中燃烧区和未燃烧区的情况，这些区域具有相似的栖息地和地貌。研究结果表明，与未燃烧的河流相比，燃烧区的鸭嘴兽数量明显减少，也低于该物种分布范围内的已知密度。火灾是否直接影响了鸭嘴兽还不确定，但火灾发生的时间以及极端干旱很可能影响了繁殖，因为我们在两条河流上都没有记录到任何幼崽。在其分布范围内，鸭嘴兽越来越受到直接和间接人类活动的威胁，而且火灾和干旱的频率和严重程度的增加将进一步削弱鸭嘴兽种群的生存能力，特别是在更有可能干涸的小河流中。提高鸭嘴兽种群及其淡水环境对干旱和火灾的适应能力需要成为优先事项。
