Australia's threatened species
Box 3 | Australia's biodiversity
Biodiversity (short for biological diversity) is generally described at three levels – genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity.
Australia has been declared one of the world's top 12 'megadiverse' countries. These countries carry so much of the planet’s biological richness that they have a special responsibility. Unfortunately, the other 11 countries do not have the degree of development, specialist knowledge and national wealth that we do. Australia is therefore the only megadiverse country in a position to study and conserve its diversity effectively.
However, we have a fairly small human population in a large country with many species, so it will take a long time before we know what is here. Many aspects of our biodiversity are not well appreciated by the public. For example, Australia is incredibly rich in ants, reptiles, lichens and fungi. It has been observed that one small, wooded hill in Canberra contains more ant species than exist in the whole of Great Britain.
Australia has many unique species
Because of our continent's long isolation from other land masses, many species of our flora and fauna are not found anywhere else. (The island of New Guinea is the only other place that shares many of our indigenous species because it was joined to Australia until recently.) When a species is present only in one region or country and nowhere else it is said to be endemic to that place.
Australia has a very high rate of endemism. Marsupials and monotremes (eg, kangaroos and platypus) are amongst the most well known endemic species. Although 70 species of marsupial occur in South America, Australia has the largest number in the world, with about 144 species. Monotremes are even more special, occurring only in Australia and Papua New Guinea.
The most biologically diverse regions of Australia are the tropical rainforest – which accounts for only a tiny fraction of the continent’s area – and the Great Barrier Reef system. Both of these are almost entirely in Queensland, which therefore carries an immense responsibility in terms of global biodiversity.
Boxes
Box 1. The hidden species at risk
Box 2. The aliens
Box 4. The mathematics of reserve systems
Box 5. Survival of the cutest?
Related sites
A strategy to secure Australia’s biodiversity (Decision Point, July 2009)
Biodiversity: the most fundamental issue (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts)
Australia's
biodiversity contribution to the search for new drugs (Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities)
What is biodiversity? (The Australian Museum)
Australia's Biodiversity Crisis (Australian Wildlife Conservancy)
Page updated January 2012.