Research on species recovery, reintroduction, and conservation disproportionally focusses on birds and mammals. Typically, less attention is given to hyper-diverse but ecologically important groups such as plants and invertebrates. In this study, we focussed on a continent with one of the world’s highest proportions of endemic plant species (Australia) comparing the number of extinction risk assessments relative to birds and mammals. Specifically, we generated a checklist of Australian endemic vascular plants and used three resources which differ in styles and scope to collate information on how many have an extinction risk assessment – the ThreatSearch database, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, (EPBC Act). Between 76 and 93% of endemic Australian plants examined lack an extinction risk assessment based on data from our three sources. We also compared the proportions of endemic plants assessed relative to birds and mammals. Of all endemic plant taxa examined, only 6.8% have been assessed under the EPBC Act, compared with 9.4% of birds and 28.9% of mammals. Similarly, only 8.8% of endemic plants have been assessed for the IUCN Red List, compared with 29.1% of birds and 61.1% of mammals, whereas all birds and mammals have been examined in National Action Plans. This represents a significant underestimation of the actual proportion of Australian endemic plants that are likely to satisfy extinction-risk criteria for listing as threatened. This shortfall in risk assessments for plants is a matter of international significance for conservation given Australia’s high rate of plant endemism. A change in policy and approach to assessing extinction risk is needed to ensure adequate assessment effort across different taxonomic groups.

中文翻译：

---

植物灭绝风险评估的不足

物种恢复、重新引入和保护的研究不成比例地集中在鸟类和哺乳动物上。通常，对高度多样化但具有生态重要性的群体（例如植物和无脊椎动物）给予的关注较少。在这项研究中，我们重点研究了世界上特有植物物种比例最高的大陆之一（澳大利亚），比较了与鸟类和哺乳动物相关的灭绝风险评估的数量。具体来说，我们生成了一份澳大利亚特有维管植物清单，并使用了三种风格和范围不同的资源来整理关于有多少物种进行灭绝风险评估的信息——威胁搜索数据库、国际自然保护联盟 (IUCN) 红色名录和1999 年环境保护和生物多样性保护法案，（EPBC 法案）。根据我们三个来源的数据，76% 到 93% 的澳大利亚特有植物缺乏灭绝风险评估。我们还比较了地方植物相对于鸟类和哺乳动物的比例。在检查的所有地方性植物分类群中，只有 6.8% 已根据 EPBC 法案进行了评估，而鸟类和哺乳动物的这一比例为 9.4% 和 28.9%。同样，只有 8.8% 的特有植物被 IUCN 红色名录评估，而鸟类和哺乳动物的这一比例为 29.1% 和 61.1%，而所有鸟类和哺乳动物都已在国家行动计划中进行了检查。这表示严重低估了可能满足列入受威胁名单的灭绝风险标准的澳大利亚特有植物的实际比例。鉴于澳大利亚的植物特有率很高，这种植物风险评估的不足对保护具有国际意义。需要改变评估灭绝风险的政策和方法，以确保对不同分类群体进行充分的评估。