The literature says that Invasive species – plants, animals and pathogens – are among the most serious threats to global biodiversity and the highest ranked threat for Australian animals and plants.
Do we really know what constitutes an invasive species? Can we monitor their abundance trends and forecast likely impacts under future environmental conditions and land use changes? Can we mitigate risks to threatened species?
It is likely that in the future there will be more species that are threatened with extinction in their native range and have better chances of survival in a new range. Is our management of threatened and endangered species creating ‘invasive species’?
The IUCN Red List, the most comprehensive list of threatened species worldwide, is based on an explicit, scientifically strict framework, as is Australia’s Threatened Species Index. By contrast, the information on Invasive Species relies on observation and expert opinion and less on quantitative assessment. Rigorous monitoring would seem to be essential for the mitigation of biodiversity loss by invasive species, or are we simply heading towards globalisation of species distribution?
Our webinar speakers tackle these questions from different perspectives – ecoacoustics is emerging as a cost effective method for monitoring some invasive fauna, and perhaps simultaneously shedding light on threatened species; using a common vocabulary for invasive plants is a first steps toward a more rigorous monitoring system; and based on the threatened species index, how difficult will it be to produce an invasive species index for Australia?
Speakers
- Professor Lin Schwarzkopf (James Cook University)
- Irene Martin-Fores (TERN Surveillance, University of Adelaide)
- Tayla Lawrie (TERN Threatened Species Index, University of Queensland)