Over the Austral spring and summer of 2019/20 > 7 million ha of Eucalyptus forest and woodland, including some of Australia's most carbon dense ecosystems, were burnt on the east coast of Australia. We estimated bootstrapped mean CO₂ emissions of c. 0.67 Pg, with other available estimates ranging from 0.55 to 0.85 Pg. Eucalyptus forests are renowned for their ability to resist and recover from wildfire so it would be expected that emitted CO₂ will be reabsorbed. The combination of drought and frequent fires is likely reducing the capacity to recover from the fire so future Australian forests may store less carbon. Broadscale prescribed burning is a widely promoted approach to reduce uncontrolled wildfires, yet the benefits for the management of carbon stores are controversial. Prescribed burning can reduce carbon losses from subsequent wildfire, yet the “carbon costs” of it may equal or outweigh the “carbon benefits” in reduced wildfire emissions. Likewise, mechanical thinning of vegetation to reduce fuel loads also carries heavy carbon costs with uncertain carbon benefits. Research involving empirical measurements, modelling and a mix of large‐scale management intervention is urgently required to determine what interventions can maximise carbon storage in the face of climate change‐driven fires.

中文翻译：

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澳大利亚的森林，大火和碳储量减少的风险

在2019/20年度的春季和夏季，澳大利亚东海岸烧毁了超过700万公顷的桉树林和林地，其中包括澳大利亚一些碳密度最高的生态系统。我们估计了c的自举平均CO ₂排放量。0.67 Pg，其他可用估计范围为0.55至0.85 Pg。桉树林以其抵御野火和从野火中恢复的能力而闻名，因此可以预计释放出的CO ₂将被重新吸收。干旱和频繁的大火相结合可能会降低从大火中恢复的能力，因此未来的澳大利亚森林可能会减少碳储量。大规模的规定燃烧是减少不加控制的野火的一种广泛推广的方法，但是管理碳库的好处引起争议。规定的燃烧可以减少因随后的野火造成的碳损失，但其“碳成本”可能等于或大于减少野火排放中的“碳收益”。同样，为了减少燃料负荷而对植被进行机械性疏伐也会带来沉重的碳成本，而碳效益却不确定。涉及经验测量的研究，