The Black Summer bushfires of 2020 killed or displaced nearly three billion animals. We saw pictures of injured koalas and wombats with burnt noses and singed fur.

But we haven’t heard about the bushfires’ devastation to our freshwater and river life. The water environments aren’t directly impacted by the fires but reap its aftereffects: when rain follows fire, heaps of ash moves into waterways. The ash and debris harms the aquatic eco-systems and animals by blocking sunlight and clogging gills.

Thayanne Barros, a PHD candidate of Environmental Science at UNSW, joined 2SER to explain more about aquatic life and what we can do to help.