Australia-first research reveals staggering loss of threatened plants over 20 years

Date: 16, Dec, 2020
Author(s):   Tulloch, A., Bayraktarov, E., Possingham, H., Dielenberg, J., Silcock, J., Jackson, M.V., Butt, N.
Publisher: The Conservation

When it comes to threatened species, charismatic animals usually get the most attention. But many of Australia’s plants are also in grave danger of extinction, and in many cases, the problem is getting worse.

New Australia-first research shows the population sizes of our threatened plants fell by almost three-quarters, on average, between 1995 and 2017. The findings were drawn from Australia’s 2020 Threatened Species Index, which combines data from almost 600 sites.

This massive data-crunching exercise shows that a lot more effort is needed if we want to prevent plant extinctions.