Threat classifications allow conservationists to categorize threatening processes faced by species of conservation concern, but lack of information on threat severity hampers efforts to establish the cost-effectiveness of conservation management actions. Actions and funds are often prioritized according to the prevalence of a threat; however, probability of success of threat management is little considered. Using data from three countries, New Zealand (NZ), Australia, and the United States, we identified which threats are more prevalent, more expensive to manage, and more likely to be successfully managed. In two of the countries, NZ and Australia, invasive species is the most prevalent, and costly threat, and actions to address it have the lowest probability of success. Thus, prioritizing actions based on prevalence rather than severity of threat may reduce efficiency. These findings provide general guidelines to agencies attempting to carry out cost-effective conservation of threatened species with limited resources.

中文翻译：

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威胁、成本和成功概率：告知保护选择

威胁分类允许保护主义者对保护关注的物种面临的威胁过程进行分类，但缺乏关于威胁严重性的信息阻碍了建立保护管理行动的成本效益的努力。行动和资金通常根据威胁的普遍程度进行优先排序；然而，很少考虑威胁管理成功的可能性。使用来自新西兰 (NZ)、澳大利亚和美国这三个国家的数据，我们确定了哪些威胁更普遍、管理成本更高且更有可能被成功管理。在新西兰和澳大利亚这两个国家中，入侵物种是最普遍且代价高昂的威胁，解决它的行动成功的可能性最低。因此，根据普遍性而不是威胁的严重程度确定行动的优先顺序可能会降低效率。这些发现为试图以有限资源对受威胁物种进行具有成本效益的保护的机构提供了一般指导。