Declining but not (yet) threatened: a challenge for avian conservation in Australia

ABSTRACT

Threatened species receive much attention in conservation science and practice. Species currently declining, but not yet listed as threatened, also deserve consideration to reduce their risk of sliding towards extinction and to maintain their functional roles in ecosystems. Information on declining bird species in Australia is available from four main sources: national databases, syntheses of historical change, regional monitoring programmes and summaries for guilds of species. Many species show evidence of decline; declines of species are occurring nation-wide, and they are ongoing. Trends for individual species vary geographically; they may be declining in part of their range but stable elsewhere. Common trajectories of population decline include: (a) a downward linear trend; (b) a marked downturn, sustained at a lower level; and (c) fluctuations through time associated with episodic events (e.g. drought) and incomplete recovery. Ongoing declines affect ecosystems through reduced species richness, homogenisation of bird communities, changes to interspecific interactions and ecosystem services, and contributing to extinction debt. Improving the conservation outlook for declining species requires systematic monitoring to know where, when and how much decline is occurring, together with protection of critical habitats and source populations, ambitious programmes of restoration, and identification and effective control of threats. Responding to declining species offers opportunities for community engagement, monitoring and action at a local and regional level. New ways are needed to incorporate such species in conservation planning and environmental regulation at a regional scale, to give them greater visibility and avoid local declines accumulating until taxa become nationally threatened.

POLICY HIGHLIGHTS

• Many bird species in Australia, not (yet) listed as threatened, are experiencing population decline and warrant greater attention in conservation planning and management.

• Patterns of change for individual species vary regionally, depending on past land-use and current pressures.

• Ongoing decline and loss of species has profound consequences for Australian ecosystems, including depleted and homogenised bird communities and reductions in the diverse ecosystem services that birds provide.

• New approaches are needed to provide formal recognition and appropriate management for declining species, particularly at a regional level, so they become more visible in environmental planning and can persist in regional landscapes.

KEYWORDS:

• Birds
• conservation status
• declining species
• extinction debt
• population trend
• threat listing

Acknowledgements

We warmly acknowledge all those who have contributed to monitoring programmes and analyses of monitoring data sets at national, regional and local scales. These provide an essential foundation for understanding the distribution and population trends of Australian bird species. We thank two reviewers for thoughtful comments on the ms.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.