Ward, MichelleTulloch, AyeshaRadford, James Q.Williams, BrookeReside, April E.Macdonald, Stewart L.Mayfield, Helen J.Maron, MartinePossingham, Hugh PVine, Samantha J.Lindenmayer, David BScheele, Benjamin2023-02-282397-334Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/286544Australia's 2019-2020 mega-fires were exacerbated by drought, anthropogenic climate change and existing land-use management. Here, using a combination of remotely sensed data and species distribution models, we found these fires burnt ~97,000 km2 of vegetation across southern and eastern Australia, which is considered habitat for 832 species of native vertebrate fauna. Seventy taxa had a substantial proportion (>30%) of habitat impacted; 21 of these were already listed as threatened with extinction. To avoid further species declines, Australia must urgently reassess the extinction vulnerability of fire-impacted species and assist the recovery of populations in both burnt and unburnt areas. Population recovery requires multipronged strategies aimed at ameliorating current and fire-induced threats, including proactively protecting unburnt habitats.A.I.T.T. is supported by an ARC DECRA Fellowship.application/pdfen-AU© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2020Impact of 2019-2020 mega-fires on Australian fauna habitat202010.1038/s41559-020-1251-12021-12-26