Frogs, fire and fungus

Presented by Eli Bieri

PhD Candidate, University of NSW.

Supervisors: Dr Jodi Rowley (AM, UNSW) and Dr Mark Ooi (UNSW)

Largely in response to the increased duration and intensity of droughts under climate change, the severity and scale of wildfires is predicted to increase worldwide. In 2019, drought-induced “mega fires” devastated parts of Australia. Climate modelling links the increase in frequency and intensity of mega fires to anthropogenic climate change; yet the long-term effects of these events lack data due to their novel nature. In order to gain a better understanding of how bushfires impact biodiversity, it is imperative that we study their effects in the years following unprecedented burns.

Due to recent mega fires and disease-driven amphibian declines, frogs in eastern Australia represent an excellent study system to investigate the interaction between bushfire and disease. Using a combination of citizen science and traditional survey methods, Eli is determining the direct impacts of bushfire, and whether the threat of disease is exacerbated or reduced in burnt areas. Effective conservation strategies require an understanding of how multiple threats interact. The results of this project will better inform land management and conservation decisions in Australia, while simultaneously providing a model to study the effects of fire and its interactions with disease on other taxa and continents.