An expert has warned of problems for incoming harvests following the fire's possible eradication of the region's chief pollinators.
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Every year across the Riverina and the nation, bees - both native and introduced species - perform an almost invisible mystery in helping crops begin their germination.
While it is still too early to know the real cost of the fire, Charles Sturt University entomologist Dr Paul Weston believes the nation's bee populations could be heading toward dire times.
"We don't know how big the impact has been in some areas, because we haven't been able to get back into the areas to assess them," Dr Weston said.
Although a complete survey is yet to be conducted, Dr Weston said it is highly likely the native green carpenter bee has been completely lost from Kangaroo Island.
"We do expect that those native bees have been wiped out, and the main concern is the loss of vegetation for them on the island," Dr Weston said.
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While native bees do not fly in abundance in the Riverina, Dr Weston indicated a suspicion that the introduced European bees would be struggling in the fire-affected parts of the Snowy Mountains.
"In this area, honey bees a mostly managed by people, but I do know there are hives in the Tumbarumba area that have lost their colonies," he said.
"These can be replaced, but it will take time to get those populations back, and I suspect the supply will be insufficient for a while."
Even if they have not been affected directly by the fires, many crops will struggle to yield this year due to the lack of bees pollinating them.
"Almonds, for example, are completely dependent on bees. Without honey bees there are basically zero almonds," Dr Weston said.
While some colonies of native bees may have avoided destruction from fire, they may still be at a loss without a food source to rely on.
"The biggest impact will be those [species] that rely on gum trees that have been lost," Dr West on said.
"A big problem is the flowers we've lost too, that's their main food. Gum trees take a long time to re-flower, though I have heard that the wattle has started to come back.
"It will depend on which trees have been impacted."
Even those colonies and hives that have not been destroyed by fire may have been impacted by the extended periods of poor air quality during the worst of the fires.
"Depending on how concentrated the smoke is, it can have a bad effect on bees," Dr Weston said.
"Smoke can be a mild relaxant for bees. Keepers often puff some smoke into the hives before opening them, and it does calm them.
"But when the smoke is intense, it's alarming for them and causes them to actually abandon the hive.
"So even if they've not been burnt, the fires can have a bad effect on them."
Moving forward with recovery efforts in the wake of the fires, Dr Weston said it would be important to build an understanding of which populations have been lost and where.
"The first step is going to be in assessing and monitoring the impacts on specific species," he said.
"In the long term, the challenge will be rebuilding the habitat, where do we start? There are also habitat priorities we have to take into consideration. Who do we help first, the koalas or the bee [for example]?
"Anything that can be done now to regenerate the vegetation needs to be done. It'll take a lot of work, it's a massive job but it has started already."