Evolutionary implications of trait-fire mismatches for animals

What are the evolutionary implications of changes in fire regimes for animals?

Luke Kelly and colleagues explore this in their new paper in Global Change Biology.

They build on a recent plant-focused application of the phenotype–environment mismatch concept, extending it to animals to understand the evolutionary and ecological consequences of altered fire regimes.

Mismatches are primarily studied in the context of climate-driven changes, but trait–fire mismatches require dedicated investigation given fire’s global reach, rapid and difficult-to-predict shifts, and extensive direct and indirect impacts on animals.

This new framing brings into focus the role of fitness, variation in traits within species, and selection in shaping evolutionary responses to fire.

By applying this phenotypic approach to animals, Luke and team hope to provide a framework for investigating fire-related changes across a wide range of taxa and traits.

You can read this collaboration between The University of Melbourne, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain, and University of California, Los Angeles, right here.

Featured image: House wren: Cephas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 

Figure 1. Trait–fire mismatching. Panel A: Conceptual overview of how trait–fire mismatches are defined and measured. Panel B: Illustrative examples where changes in fire patterns may reduce animal fitness (See: Krieg 2025; Potash et al. 2020; Santos et al. 2025). In each case, modified fire regimes—shifts in the timing, spatial attributes, or magnitude of fire—are hypothesized to impose selection pressures. The evolutionary potential of fire-related traits is represented by idealized phenotypes in transition and signals the possibility of adaptive change. Photo credits: House wren: Cephas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Eastern fox squirrel: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Midwest Region, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Gall of the Boheman weevil: Jean Carlos Santos. From Kelly et al. 2025 Global Change Biology.