Superb Lyrebird nesting habitat and the 2019 megafires in Australia

An animal’s habitat offers food and protection necessary for survival and reproduction and consequently impacts individual fitness. In birds, understanding nest site selection is critical to understanding a species’ ecology and developing effective conservation management actions. The Superb Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) is one of many endemic species extensively impacted by Australia’s unprecedented 2019-20 megafires. Over a period of 5 months, an estimated 43% of the entire range of this slow-breeding species was burnt, with the biggest impact on the central subspecies M. n. novaehollandiae (55%). 4 months prior to these megafires, we conducted a field study of nest site habitat selection in the Superb Lyrebird within the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (15,400 km2): a key stronghold of the central subspecies of the Superb Lyrebird. We found that at the local scale, lyrebird nest sites were more likely to be found in habitats characterized by dense canopy trees and rich..., ,