Satellite image of wildfires in Australia in November 2019. (Credit: NASA Earth Observatory)
Two dozen people and an estimated 480 million animals have been killed in Australia during unprecedented early-season bushfires that have scorched 18 million acres, destroyed thousands of homes and shrouded cities in thick smoke. CU Boulder experts are available to discuss the impacts on endangered wildlife, human health and air quality.
Wildlife impacts:
Brett Melbourne, an associate professor in the Department of听Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, grew up in Southeast Australia and is co-principal investigator for one of the longest-term ecological studies in the world there. Melbourne is an expert in Australian biodiversity and can discuss the potential impacts of the fire on the continent鈥檚 many endangered species.
鈥淓ven if these animals survive the fire, they now face the challenge of living in an extremely different environment and not being able to find food. Just the size and scale of this is so unprecedented, it is almost certain some species will go extinct.鈥� Contact: brett.melbourne@colorado.edu
Wildfire smoke and health:
Colleen Reid, assistant professor in the Department of Geography, studies how climate change affects human health, including how air pollution from wildfire smoke influences respiratory health. Contact: colleen.reid@colorado.edu
Air quality:
is the associate director for science at the (CIRES). She鈥檚 an atmospheric scientist who studies wildfires and the impacts of their emissions on air quality and climate. Contact: christine.wiedinmyer@colorado.edu
On social consequences:
Lori Peek is director of the and studies children, low-income families, and other potentially vulnerable populations in the aftermath of disaster. She traveled to Australia after the deadly 2009 Bushfires that killed 173 people. Contact: lori.peek@colorado.edu (after Jan. 11).