CANBERRA, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- More than 14,000 invertebrate species lost habitat during Australia's 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, a report has found.

The National Environmental Science Program (NESP) on Wednesday published research that found significantly more invertebrates than vertebrates were affected by the fires, but popular animals such as koalas received the most attention.

Researchers were able to compile adequate data for 32,164 of Australia's invertebrate species.

Of those analyzed, 14,159 had at least some habitat destroyed by the fires, with 1,209 losing either 50 percent of their known range to fires of any severity or 30 percent to fires of high severity.

The 2019-20 bushfire season was one of the worst in Australian history. Hundreds of fires across the country burnt an estimated 18.6 million hectares of land, killing at least 34 people and billions of animals.

At least one species, the Banksia montana mealybug native to Western Australia, is considered likely extinct as a result of the fires.

"If you look at the most affected animals by the fires, about 95 percent of them are invertebrates," John Woinarski, a conservation biologist from Charles Darwin University and co-author of the NESP report, told the Guardian Australia. "And it has had very little public attention."

The study recommended that the federal government should increase the number of invertebrates on the list of nationally threatened species from 63 to 123.

Jess Marsh, an invertebrate researcher based on Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia, said the 60 recommended for listing were "just the ones we know about", meaning more could be added as data becomes available.

"A lot of species that are likely the most vulnerable wouldn't be eligible because there's not enough data," she said.

"Invertebrates have been overlooked and have not been valued from public opinion all the way up to decision-makers. That needs to change," she said. "We need to find a way forward for including invertebrates in conservation planning." Enditem

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