Distribution, Biogeography and Characteristics of the Threatened and Data-Deficient Flora in the Southwest Australian Floristic Region

Abstract

The Southwest Australian Floristic Region (SWAFR) supports an exceptional number of threatened and data-deficient flora. In this study, we: (i) collated statistics on the number, listing criteria and tenure of occurrence of threatened and data-deficient flora; (ii) conducted spatial and biogeographic analyses to address questions concerning patterns of diversity of threatened and data-deficient flora relative to the whole flora and evolutionary and threat drivers; and (iii) examined whether threatened and data-deficient flora richness is evenly distributed across plant lineages. We found that although threatened and data-deficient flora occurred across the breadth of the SWAFR, high richness was concentrated in a limited number of locations, which were not always strongly aligned with areas of higher land transformation. Data-deficient flora demonstrated different spatial patterns of occurrence to threatened flora. Approximately 70% of the populations of threatened and data-deficient flora occurred outside of lands managed primarily for conservation. Both evolutionary history and contemporary threats contribute to the current status and distribution of diversity of the threatened and data-deficient flora, with evolutionary history playing a significant role in predisposing a portion of the flora to having population traits that result in those flora meeting IUCN Red List criteria, along with ecological traits that predispose some to specific novel threats. An understanding of the distribution of species and threats, flora traits, and how these traits mediate susceptibility to threats, offers one potential way forward for an initial assessment of which of the 1819 data-deficient flora may be most at risk of extinction.