This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: There's no tree like the humble eucalypt. Eucalypts play a pivotal role in forests, cycling nutrients, storing carbon and providing hollows and shelter for animals, including the elusive yellow-bellied glider (Petaurus australis) and aptly named glossy black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami).
In particular, large, old eucalypts are critically important for thriving ecosystems. Eucalypt forests across the country have been ravaged by fire in recent years. In early 2019, fires in Tasmania killed many of Australia's largest known eucalypts.
A short time later, the Black Summer wildfires of 2019–20 burned roughly 7 million hectares (17.3 million acres) of eucalypt forests across eastern Australia. Our latest research examined eucalypt forests burned by the 2019–20 wildfires. Our findings suggest large, old trees growing in wet forests were most affected.
Our other research shows species growing at the dry edge of their natural range are most at risk of being wiped out by future severe fires. More than 800 known species of eucalypts are found across Australia, from the arid deserts of Central Australia to Victoria's high country. There are few environments to which they haven't adapted.
Following fire, many species can resprout by growing new leaves. A tree's "resprouting response" depends on several factors, including stem size, bark type, prior fire damage and fire severity. However, existing resprouting classifications for eucalypts don't account for these factors.
This means some populations or individuals of "resprouting" species might not recover in the expected way. For example, they may have greater rates of tree mortality than expected and rely on new seedlings for the forest to recover. What's more, scientists don't fully understand how eucalypts cope with fire if they are at the limit of their "climatic range." Consider a tree growing at the extreme low-rainfall edge of its distribution.
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