Australian Plants, Animals under extinction threat,*

SYDNEY, Sept 12 (AFP) Sep 12, 2007

More than 200 animals and plants in Australia's remote northern outback
are at risk of extinction despite being in so-called "wilderness" areas,
a wildlife expert said Wednesday.

Scientist John Woinarski, who has spent two decades studying flora and
fauna in the sparsely inhabited deserts and tropical wetlands of the
Northern Territory, said some species had already become extinct.

"There are a whole lot of others which are really close to the edge," he
told AFP.

Animals at risk include the white-spotted northern quoll, a small
cat-like marsupial; the black-footed rock wallaby; the common brushtail
possum; and several species of bandicoot, a rat-like marsupial,
Woinarski said.

"The loss of species covers the whole gamut from fish, frogs, snails and
butterflies, and birds and mammals, so it's across the spectrum,

"Even in the most remote part of the territory, what most people would
regard as wilderness, there's substantial biodiversity decline.

"It's strange because there's long been the perception in the
conservation community that the more wild and remote and untouched an
area is, the more chance it has. But that's not the case in the territory."

Woinarski last week launched "Lost from our Landscape," which he
co-authored, a book providing a detailed profile of the 203 threatened
plants and animals in the territory.

He said problems for wildlife stemmed from Aboriginal communities being
forced off the land, a process which began with the colonisation of
Australia by the British more than 200 years ago.

The indigenous inhabitants had created a long-term ecological
equilibrium but when they were removed that balance was unsettled and
foreign species of plants and animals moved in unhindered, he said.

The Northern Territory has problems with introduced animals such as
foxes, feral camels, donkeys and buffalo as well as poisonous cane toads
and exotic ants, cats and grasses.

And because it is so large, people have taken the territory for granted.

"Because it is perceived to be so vast there's an attitude you can clear
relatively large areas without exceeding some threshold or tipping
point," Woinarski said. "But that's not the case."