The 2019-20 bushfire season impacted a range of ecosystems across Australia, including several coastal vegetation types that have not been subject to burning historically. In the Clyde River estuary of southern New South Wales (NSW), mangrove species Avicennia marina and Aegiceras corniculatum were burnt in the Black Summer bushfires. The slow recovery of these poorly fire adapted species reflects the lasting impacts of the event. This study aimed to quantify the ongoing processes, patterns, and capabilities of post-fire mangrove regeneration for both species in the Clyde River estuary. Assessments of fire-affected mangroves were undertaken through field data collection and analysis of remotely sensed aerial imagery. Long term study site Chinamans Point exhibited limited resprouting of severely impacted A. marina, for the third year of monitoring. At Mays Road and Buckenbowra entrance, change detection analyses suggested only 19 – 28% of the total defoliated mangroves exhibited regr
The Black Summer Bushfires of 2019-2020, was the worst bushfire season on record for New South Wales, with 5.5 million hectares of land burnt. These fires were so extreme that many areas never before affected by fires were impacted. This included mangrove communities, previously believed to be too moist to catch fire. Little is known about the response of mangroves to bushfires and very few studies have been undertaken to investigate this topic. This event provided a rare opportunity to study fire-affected mangroves and how they respond to fire events in the short-term. This study assessed the recovery and regeneration of Avicennia marina and Aegiceras corniculatum at Chinamans Point, Batemans Bay, 27-30 months post-fire disturbance. A combination of field-based mangrove and soil sampling approaches, as well as laboratory and geospatial analysis was undertaken of the four bays of fire-affected mangroves. Vegetation and Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS surveys showed that epicormic regrowt