The 2022 Threatened Species Index (TSX) provides an update to the existing bird, mammal and plant indexes.
Figure 1: The Threatened Species Index 2022, showing trends up to 2019 across all species and separately for birds, mammals and plants.
Threatened Species Index 2022
The dataset
Species represented …………………………….……………………. 278 (up 24 in 2022)
Birds ……………………………………………………………… 70 species (up 3 in 2022)
Mammals ………………………………….…………………… 79 species (up 4 in 2022)
Plants ……………………………………………………….…129 species (up 17 in 2022)
EPBC listed species represented …………………………..……………………..…..… 228
National priority species represented …………………………………………….……..30
IUCN listed species represented (threatened) ……………………..………..…..….92
IUCN listed species represented (near-threatened) …………………….……..… 42
Total data sources ………………………………………………..…….. 230 (up 28 in 2022)
Total number of time-series …………………………………. 19,893 (up 625 in 2022)
Total number of sites …………………………………………………………..……….… 10,741
Key findings: Overall trends
- At the national scale, threatened and near-threatened species continue to trend downward, with an average decline of 55% in abundance since 1985 for the 278 species represented (Figure 1). Overall, the abundance of threatened and near-threatened species in the TSX database has declined by 3% per annum since 2000.
- Trends for birds are similar to the main index, with an average decline of 48% since 1985 across the 70 species represented (Figure 1). Since 2000, birds have declined by an average of 2.7% per annum.
- Trends for mammals are less severe. Across the 79 species for which the TSX has data, the average decline in abundance is 19% since 1985 (Figure 1). Since 2000, mammals have declined by 1.5% per annum but displayed a relatively stable trend since 2003.
- Across the 129 plants for which the TSX has suitable data, the average decline in abundance is 77% since 1985 (Figure 1). The decline since 2000 is steep and linear, averaging 3.25% per annum.
Additional Resources
