Shutterstock/ Glenda Rees
David Lindenmayer, Australian National University; Benjamin Scheele, Australian National University; Elle Bowd, Australian National University, and Maldwyn John Evans, Australian National UniversityHumans are causing enormous damage to the Earth, and about one million plant and animal species are now at risk of extinction. Keeping track of what’s left is vital to conserving biodiversity.
Biodiversity monitoring helps document changes in animal and plant populations. It tells us whether interventions, such as controlling feral predators, are working. It also helps experts decide if a species is at risk of extinction.
However, long-term biodiversity monitoring can be expensive and time consuming – and it is chronically underfunded. This means monitoring is either not done at all, or only done in a small part of the range of a species.
Our new research shows these limitations can produce an inaccurate picture of how a species is faring. This is a problem for conservation efforts, and Australia’s new “nature repair market”. It’s also a problem for Australia’s unique and vulnerable biodiversity.
How monitoring works
Biodiversity monitoring involves looking for a plant or animal species, or traces of it, and recording what was found, as well as when and where.
Depending on the species, scientists...
