Aim The term ‘megafire’ is increasingly used to describe large fires worldwide. We proposed a size‐based definition of megafire—fires exceeding 10,000 ha arising from single or multiple related ignition events. A recent perspective in Global Ecology and Biogeography argues against a size‐based definition of megafire and suggest that the term is too emotive for scientific use. We highlight that many scientific terms originate f...

Background ‘Megafire’ is an emerging concept commonly used to describe fires that are extreme in terms of size, behaviour, and/or impacts, but the term’s meaning remains ambiguous. Approach We sought to resolve ambiguity surrounding the meaning of ‘megafire’ by conducting a structured review of the use and definition of the term in several languages in the peer‐reviewed scientific literature. We collated definitions and descri...

Extreme weather events, such as drought, have marked impacts on biotic communities. In many regions, a predicted increase in occurrence of such events will be imposed on landscapes already heavily modified by human land use. There is an urgency, therefore, to understand the way in which the effects of such events may be exacerbated, or moderated, by different patterns of landscape change. We used empirical data on woodland‐dep...

Aim We examined the century‐long post‐fire responses of reptiles to (1) determine the time‐scales over which fauna – fire relationships occur, (2) assess the capacity of a conceptual model to predict faunal response to fire, and (3) investigate the degree to which models of fauna – fire relationships can predict species occurrence and are transferable across space. Location A 104,000 km 2 area in the semi‐arid Murray Mallee re...