Adapting global biodiversity indicators to the national scale: A Red List Index for Australian birds

Szabo, Judit K., Butchart, Stuart H. M., Possingham, Hugh P. and Garnett, Stephen T. (2012) Adapting global biodiversity indicators to the national scale: A Red List Index for Australian birds. Biological Conservation, 148 1: 61-68.


Author Szabo, Judit K.
Butchart, Stuart H. M.
Possingham, Hugh P.
Garnett, Stephen T.
Title Adapting global biodiversity indicators to the national scale: A Red List Index for Australian birds
Journal name Biological Conservation  (ERA 2012 Listed)    (ERA 2010 Rank A)   Check publisher's open access policy
Publication date 2012-04
Sub-type Article
DOI 10.1016/j.biocon.2012.01.062
Volume number 148
Issue number 1
ISSN 0006-3207; 1873-2917
Start page 61
End page 68
Total pages 8
Place of publication Amsterdam, Netherlands
Publisher Elsevier
Collection year 2013
Language eng
Abstract The Red List Index (RLI), which uses information from the IUCN Red List to track trends in the projected overall extinction risk of sets of species, is among the indicators adopted by the world’s governments to assess performance under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. For greatest impact, such indicators need to be measured and used at a national scale as well as globally. We present the first application of the RLI based on assessments of extinction risk at the national scale using IUCN’s recommended methods, evaluating trends in the status of Australian birds for 1990–2010. We calculated RLIs based on the number of taxa in each Red List category and the number that changed categories between assessments in 1990, 2000 and 2010 as a result of genuine improvement or deterioration in status. A novel comparison between trends at the species and ultrataxon (subspecies or monotypic species) level showed that these were remarkably similar, suggesting that current global RLI trends at the species level may also be a useful surrogate for tracking losses in genetic diversity at this scale, for which no global measures currently exist. The RLI for Australia is declining faster than global rates when migratory shorebirds and seabirds are included, but not when changes resulting from threats in Australia alone are considered. The RLI of oceanic island taxa has declined faster than those on the continent or on continental islands. There were also differences in the performance of different jurisdictions within Australia.
Keyword Australia
Birds
IUCN Red List
Biodiversity trends
State of the environment
Threatened taxa
Q-Index Code C1
Q-Index Status Confirmed Code
Institutional Status UQ

Document type: Journal Article
Sub-type: Article
Collections: Official 2013 Collection
School of Biological Sciences Publications
 
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