Wildfire smoke affects animals in unique ways: Smoke ecology

The morning air on a flower-freckled hillside in Western Massachusetts is usually filled with a magical volley of birdsong. An Eastern Wood-Pewee calls out, a goldfinch flits by, and a downy woodpecker taps away. For global change ecologist Olivia Sanderfoot, starting the day with birding is a cherished routine. However, she is acutely aware that for the local wildlife, mornings are not always idyllic. Over recent summers, this region has been repeatedly suffused with toxic smoke drifting in from distant wildfires burning across Canada.

This phenomenon has become an increasingly common problem, affecting areas far beyond the reach of actual flames. Climate change has caused fire seasons to start earlier, last longer, and burn larger expanses of land, resulting in a dramatic increase in smoke production. Because smoke can easily be carried by wind currents for hundreds or even thousands of miles, the affected footprint of a single smoke event vastly exceeds the physical footprint of the fire itself. This realization led Sanderfoot to ask a critical question: how do wild animals, particularly birds, cope with these massive influxes of pollution?

To answer this, Sanderfoot is working to establish an entirely new scientific discipline called smoke ecology. The primary goal of this emerging field is to systematically investigate how wildfire smoke perturbs wild ecosystems and individual creatures. Scientists want to determine the full extent of the damage and evaluate whether conservationists can take proactive steps to prevent or mitigate the worst harms.

Sanderfoot's personal curiosity about animal resilience sparked in 2018 while she was living in Seattle. Severe wildfires raging in Eastern Washington blanketed the city in a sickly yellow-gray haze that smelled intensely acrid. When the phenomenon repeated itself just two years later, causing her own eyes to burn from the pollution, she began to wonder about the local wildlife. She asked herself what animals were experiencing and whether they were managing to survive the toxic conditions.

Historically, scientific literature on the subject was sparse, consisting mostly of isolated anecdotes. Observers noted eerie silences in forests where birdsong suddenly ceased, or reported unusual influxes of famished and parched birds seeking refuge in backyards. Sanderfoot emphasizes that wildfire smoke is essentially a toxic soup of dangerous substances. Inhaling these pollutants is profoundly damaging to avian respiratory systems, but the danger goes beyond mere inhalation.

Smoke dramatically alters the environmental cues that wild animals rely upon to navigate their daily lives. Diminished visibility and altered scents disrupt foraging, migration, and parental care. To untangle these complex ecological impacts, Sanderfoot quickly realized that she needed to collaborate with researchers across multiple disciplines, uniting experts in conservation, atmospheric science, and animal behavior. As wildfire seasons continue to intensify globally, understanding the hidden toll of smoke has become a vital priority for protecting vulnerable wildlife populations and preserving fragile ecosystems for the future.