Publications

An overview of the conservation of Non-marine Invertebrates in Australia has recently been published by the Endangered Species Program of Environment Australia. It is the first comprehensive national overview of invertebrates for any country. It aims to guide future management of this intriguing yet important group of species and their habitats and also, to increase our appreciation of the integral role that invertebrates have within ecological communities.

The overview highlights the diversity and significance of invertebrates in Australia, and their importance as key indicators about the state of the environment. In particular, the overview emphasises the critical role of invertebrates in the functioning of ecological communities, and refers to some fascinating interactions between invertebrates, plants and their environments. It also acknowledges that although some invertebrates are obvious and well known, many others are cryptic, little known and often overlooked.

Importantly, the overview provides a discussion of different approaches to conserving invertebrates and identifies key threats to their conservation. It presents information obtained from many sources which necessitated considerable consultation and effort over five years. The enormity of this task reflects the diversity of Australia’s invertebrate fauna, with approximately 100,000 described invertebrate species and possibly 200,000 undescribed species, compared with 6,000 species of vertebrates in Australia.