Fire threatens species

UNPRECEDENTED mapping of Amazon Basin habitats shows a majority of species threatened with extinction suffered habitat loss due to fires over the past two decades, a study says.

Researchers used remote forest fire sensing data to model impact over time and compared the devastation with the estimated geographic ranges of more than 11,500 plant and 3000 vertebrate species. The results showed about 150,000 square kilometres of the Amazon rainforest have experienced fires since 2001, damaging the habitats of up to 85 per cent of the frail ecosystem’s threatened species.