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Extent and effect of the 2019-20 Australian bushfires on upland peat swamps in the Blue Mountains, NSW
- Source :
- International Journal of Wildland Fire. 30:294
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- CSIRO Publishing, 2021.
-
Abstract
- The devastating bushfires of the 2019–20 summer are arguably the most costly natural disaster in Australian recorded history. What is little known is that these fires severely affected the temperate highland peat swamps on sandstone (THPSS), a form of upland wetland that occurs in the water supply catchments of Sydney in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and National Park. During the fires, 59% of THPSS was burnt and 72% of those by a high severity burn. Upland swamps at Newnes were the most affected, with 96% of swamps burnt and 84% of these experiencing a very high burn severity. We present an analysis of the spatial extent and severity of the bushfire on the THPSS and discuss some of the likely consequences on their geomorphological, hydrological and ecological structure, function and recovery potential.
- Subjects :
- geography
geography.geographical_feature_category
Peat
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Ecology
Fire regime
National park
0208 environmental biotechnology
Climate change
Forestry
Wetland
02 engineering and technology
01 natural sciences
Swamp
020801 environmental engineering
Temperate climate
Natural disaster
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10498001
- Volume :
- 30
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- International Journal of Wildland Fire
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........50ff5a223cdf2063d222a136c15e856b
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1071/wf20081