Up to a thousand species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction due to dryland salinity.

According to Dr Greg Keighery of West Australia's Department of Conservation and Land Management, not enough attention has been paid to salinity as a threat to the continent's biodiversity.

"We have had horrifying estimates of what salinity will mean to agricultural production and the pollution of river systems," says Dr Keighery. "We are only beginning to appreciate the possible consequences of dryland salinity on the plants and animals which share our agricultural zones."

Dr Keighery will discuss the topic of biodiversity and salinity at the second seminar in the series organised by the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research as part of National Biodiversity Month.

A panel including Kevin Goss and Leith Boully of the Murray Darling Commission, Philippa Walsh from the World Wide Fund for Nature and Anwen Lovett from the National Farmers' Federation will lead a discussion in which the audience will be invited to take part.

Dr Keighery is Program Leader of the Biological Survey of the Agricultural Zone in Western Australia. This four year study, involving researchers from CALM and the WA museum, will be attempting to survey and identify plants, wetland birds and invertebrates, frogs, reptiles, mammals, spiders, centipedes and scorpions.

"We've already found that the plant biodiversity of the agricultural zone is far higher than was previously thought," says Dr Keighery. "We've documented almost a thousand species of flowering plants in one region (Lake Muir/Unicup reserves)."

The Agricultural Zone of Western Australia has never before been systematically surveyed for its living creatures.

"An additional problem is that of the four thousand species of vascular plants which occur in the Agricultural zone, nearly half live in the lower parts of the landscape, such as river valleys, which are particularly vulnerable to salinisation," says Dr Keighery. "Many of these don't occur anywhere outside the zone, and these are in real danger of becoming extinct."

Dr Keighery says that the biological survey team plans to identify six to ten natural biodiversity 'recovery catchments' by 2001.

"These special areas will target very highly bio-diverse and especially threatened areas. They will be carefully managed so as to reduce the threat of saliniy," says Dr Keighery.

"These are only a small part of the fight against salinity in Western Australia," says Dr Keighery. "This will rely on the whole community, city and country, being involved in Western Australlia's Salinity Strategy."

More information:

Dr Greg Keighery, CALM 02-6246 5113 (12 Sept)
08-9405 5142 (b)08-9381 4062 (h), gregk@calm.wa.gov.au

Jane Kahler, CSIRO Plant Industry 02 6246 5077, 0419 494 137, Jane.Kahler@pi.csiro.au

* A Report on the current state of the Biological Survey of the Agricultural Zone will be available the seminar or from Dr Keighery.

* Summaries of each seminar are available on the internet each Friday after the event at http://www.cpbr.gov.au/biodiversity2000

Upcoming Seminars:

September 20 - Biodiversity Credits: creating markets for ecosystem service
September 27 - Invasive Species