Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities

Monitoring is integral to all aspects of policy and management for threatened biodiversity. It is fundamental to assessing the conservation status and trends of listed species and ecological communities. Monitoring data can be used to diagnose the causes of decline, to measure management effectiveness, and to report on investment. It is also a valuable public engagement tool. Yet in Australia, monitoring threatened biodiversity is not always managed optimally.

Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities aims to improve the standard of monitoring for Australia’s threatened biodiversity. It gathers insights from some of the most experienced managers and scientists involved with monitoring programs for threatened species and ecological communities in Australia, and evaluates current monitoring programs, establishing a baseline against which the quality of future monitoring activity can be managed. Case studies provide examples of practical pathways to improve the quality of biodiversity monitoring, and guidelines to improve future programs are proposed.

This book will benefit scientists, conservation managers, policy makers, and those with an interest in threatened species monitoring and management.

About the Author

Sarah Legge is with the Australian National University and University of Queensland and is one of Australia's leading conservation ecologists and managers. Her previous books include Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities. David Lindenmayer is a Professor at The Australian National University. He has worked on the conservation of forests and their wildlife for more than 35 years. He has published 45 books and over 1100 scientific papers, and has broad interests in conservation biology, landscape ecology, vertebrate ecology, forest ecology and woodland conservation. He has received numerous awards and is a member of the Australian Academy of Science and an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow.