Bushfires and climate change are destroying animal habitats; can they be saved?

The bushfires sweep through and it's not long before small green buds shoot out from forests of charred trees.

And while that's true for many plant species, some native animals are struggling to survive the frequency and intensity of Australia's natural disasters.

There is strong evidence the magnitude and destructiveness of Australian bushfires would have been impossible without climate change.

The average annual area burned by bushfires in Australia increased 800 per cent in 32 years, according to the CSIRO.

"I've been involved in the trans-location plan for the eastern bristlebird," La Trobe University zoology emeritus professor Michael Clarke told ACM.

"It's a conspicuously dull, little, brown bird with a wonderful voice and a shy personality," he said.

Colonies of these birds have struggled to survive the intensity and frequency of natural disasters in Australia.

The bird lives along Australia's east coast, with only one Victorian population surviving near Mallacoota, Professor Clarke said.

"There was a plan to try and establish, what we call, insurance populations along its former range in Victoria," he said.

The plan involved moving birds from NSW to populate eight appropriate habitats along Victoria's coastline.

"Seven of the eight got hit by the next bushfire," he said.

"Animals have all kinds of nifty adaptations, but if the disturbances come too often and too hard they simply don't have time to recover," he said.

Animals rely on vegetation for food and protection from predators, so survivors of the blaze are forced to seek refuge in unburnt areas.

"They only reoccur on the landscape by repopulating from a part that wasn't burnt," Professor Clarke said.

"The animals are waiting on the bush to recover before they re-colonise," he said.

But if the area of destruction is too large, animals struggle to return home.

"You end up with little isolated islands of suitable habitat," he said.

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The increased intensity of bushfires means these unburnt natural sanctuaries are diminishing.

Before the 2019-2020 fires, ecologists relied on fires stopping at rainforests and wet gullies, Professor Clarke said.

"We're in really strange territory, trying to work out which animals will recover," he said.

When Professor Clarke began working in fauna recovery 20 years ago, the existing assumption was animals recovered from bushfires alongside plants.

It was assumed that if ecologists could cater for the needs of the plants, and have infrequent disturbances, animals will repopulate naturally.

"But animals need more than just flowers from the plant," he said.

"Lots of Australian animals require hollow logs to breed, take shelter in or nest in," Professor Clarke said.

"Those logs might take decades, or centuries, to build up so the animals can breed again," he said.

Professor Clarke said Australians should be aware of how much work is required to ensure future generations can see "these landscapes with the inhabitants they should have".

These species can be protected by controlling weeds and pests, particularly in the safe havens that are untouched by bushfire.

The larger the unburnt zones, the easier it will be to connect pathways and allow surviving animals to repopulate their habitats.

"It's not that we don't know how to save these species."

"It's having the political will to do it - that's the real challenge," he said.