Canberra, February 18 – Australia’s record-breaking heatwave in late January, with inland temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius, has caused severe damage to agriculture and wildlife, scientists warn.
Thousands of flying foxes died in South Australia, while mango growers in Western Australia reported that the fruit "boiled" on the trees, according to an article published on The Conversation website on Wednesday.
These increasingly extreme heatwaves now threaten crops, livestock, wildlife, and ecosystems, according to an article by Owen Atkin, director of the Agrifood Innovation Institute, Australian National University (ANU), and ANU ecology professor Adrienne Nicotra, with two co-authors.
Such intense and prolonged heatwaves are becoming more frequent and will persist for centuries even after global emissions reach net-zero, the authors said.
Sustained intense heat can degrade proteins inside plant and animal cells, cause cell membranes to rupture, and disrupt metabolic processes essential for survival, they said.
Australian farms are under threat. Heat causes wheat to photosynthesize less and damages pollen in cereal crops, leading to less fertile seeds, significant yield reductions, and mass die-offs of plants and animals, the article states.
"Sustained heat is most damaging when the heat lasts overnight," said the experts.
The authors called for more research to identify heat-tolerance traits in native species and to develop large-scale methods to cool landscapes and protect ecosystems, Xinhua news agency reported.
Meanwhile, the most catastrophic heatwave, which caused the death of 435 people, occurred between 1895 and 1896 and covered most of the country. In 2009, 432 people lost their lives during a heatwave in Victoria and South Australia.
Rising greenhouse gas emissions have increased average temperatures across Australia, leading to hotter summers, warmer autumns, and even unusually warm winters.