I couldn't find the publication myself (though I now see others have posted it in other threads [0]) so I emailed Professor Dickson to get his input. In the me

I couldn't find the publication myself (though I now see others have posted it in other threads [0]) so I emailed Professor Dickson to get his input. In the meantime I looked for some studies, and found two that are interesting and include some background on the subject. The Responses of Mammals to La Niña (El Niño Southern Oscillation)–Associated Rainfall, Predation, and Wildfire in Central Australia [1] > The responses of vertebrates to wildfires are complex, reflecting the varying food and shelter requirements of different species, their exposure to predation, and other factors. Vertebrates that shelter above the ground and are not particularly mobile are often killed directly by fire (Chew et al. 1959; Newsome et al. 1975; Silveira et al. 1999; Simons 1991). Conversely, species capable of extensive movements such as large predators and birds frequently escape the flames and may increase in abundance after wildfire when food resources become available (Loyn 1997; Newsome et al. 1975).,Burrowing herbivores and omnivores are likely to survive fires and, depending on predation, may increase in abundance after postfire flushes of vegetation (Newsome et al. 1975). Postwild-fire decreases in the abundance of some species have been attributed to a lack of food resources and increased exposure to predation (Groves and Steenhof 1988; Lawrence 1966; Newsome et al. 1975, 1983). Immediate and short‐term responses of bird and mammal assemblages to a subalpine wildfire in the Snowy Mountains, Australia [2] > Over 35 days in January–February 2003, wildfires burnt across much of the subalpine/alpine landscape of south‐eastern Australia, including about 70% of the land above 1500 m in the Snowy Mountains. At the time of the fire, studies of two subalpine faunal assemblages were being undertaken. The opportunity to resurvey the assemblages was taken in order to examine the immediate impact of fire in an environment where it is uncommon but predicted to occur increasingly with global warming. A study area in the Whites River Valley, where the number of bird species was counted monthly from 1996 to 2003, and weekly in late winter–spring from 2000 to 2003, was burnt in one fire. As well as the expected decrease in the number of individual birds, the fire resulted in an immediate decrease in the number of bird species, unlike in previously studied montane forest, with only the regularly wintering species plus the olive whistler and the ground‐feeding flame robin remaining. During the post‐winter avian immigration, few regular spring migrants appeared on burnt sites despite their nearby presence on the unburnt side of the valley. Five of six small mammal trapping grids were burnt. As with fires at lower altitudes, there was an immediate reduction in mammal numbers on burnt grids following the fire, but in addition, one species, Mastacomys fuscus, declined further in the ensuing 2 months both on burnt and unburnt sites. Numbers of Antechinus swainsonii and Rattus fuscipes stabilized until autumn/winter when there was a further decline due to the unavailability of subnivean space to allow winter foraging, allied with a concentration of fox predation on areas still carrying populations of small mammals. [0] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318029981_Impacts_of_Landclearing_the_impacts_of_the_approved_clearing_of_native_vegetation_on_Australian_wildlife_in_New_South_Wales https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318029981_Impacts_o... [1] https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/86/4/689/876336 https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/86/4/689/876336 [2] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2006.01629.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1442-9993....