Old Man Saltbush mortality following fire challenges the resilience of post‐mine rehabilitation in central Queensland, Australia

Landscape rehabilitation following mining is required to be resilient disturbance impacts such as fire, drought and disease. As companies undergo the process of certification mine closure, there are notable knowledge gaps on ecological risks associated with mature rehabilitated landscapes, based largely assumption that analogous reference communities. However, response fire across a range landscapes remains untested in particular limited understanding recovery traits plant species occur naturally or commonly seeded into rehabilitation. In August 2018, controlled was applied 37 hectares 12-year-old coal-mine central Queensland, Australia. We used combination (i) ground plot surveys (ii) drone imagery compare vegetation burnt woody unburnt controls prior to, for, two years fire. The survival most dominant shrub found site significantly impacted by Old Man Saltbush (Atriplex nummularia Lindl. subsp. nummularia) recorded significant post-fire mortality, recording an average reduction 89% stems per hectare site, while remained unchanged. data analysis supported high spatial temporal resolution imagery, classified using Random Forest machine-learning approach. Change these maps showed decline 82% density 92% foliage cover addition, mean canopy area individual shrubs reduced from pre-fire 11.3 4.8 m2 A proximity those individuals survived were located closer areas bare spoil, indicating discontinuous fuel loads can greatly improve survivability individuals. This study provides new evidence contested sensitivity Salt bush demonstrates risk future climate-driven extreme events may have resilience novel ecosystems.