Despite this they are still registered separately on the national threatened species list; the Djoongari as vulnerable, the Gould’s mouse as extinct.<\/p>\n
New environment laws may help or hinder<\/a><\/p>\n Ambiguous language in draft national environment laws means acting on scientific facts or not will come down to ministerial discretion.<\/p>\n Under national environment law, extinct species have no legal protection.<\/p>\n Fortunately the Djoongari can benefit from federal government funding and recovery planning because it was listed as vulnerable under its original species name Pseudomys fieldi before it was discovered it was Gould’s mouse.<\/p>\n But three species of plants recently rediscovered in WA and Queensland aren’t so lucky.<\/p>\n Even though they are alive, they’ve been thrust into a zombie-like legal limbo because they are officially recorded as extinct at a national level.<\/p>\n Plant conservation ecologist Chantelle Doyle said this was a big legal gap and was amazed it even existed.<\/p>\n “You would assume that when something’s extinct, if it’s rediscovered it automatically gets listed as threatened so it can get resources for protection or research,” she said.<\/p>\n “But actually it doesn’t get anything \u2026 species that are extinct actually are like a non-entity.”<\/p>\n Dr Doyle, a research associate at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), said the situation could be even worse if a rediscovered species was also still listed as extinct at a state level.<\/p>\n “So if there’s a threatened species [in that area] or an endangered species there and it is not listed as protected, [the land] could be just cleared or developed with nobody checking,” she said.<\/p>\n But, she added, these species could be protected with just a few tweaks to federal and state environmental legislation.<\/p>\n Return of the living dead<\/p>\n Threatened species can be at listed as vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered or extinct at one or both the national and state levels.<\/p>\n “Extinct” species which are rediscovered are usually removed from a state extinction list before the same thing happens at a national level.<\/p>\n But under this system there can be a lag in the removal off the national list, as has been the case for Gould’s mouse and three species of plants.<\/p>\n The rediscovery of the Esperance dog weed was detailed in 2018 research but the plant is still on the national extinction list.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Esperance dog weed (Opercularia acolytantha), for example, was taken off Western Australia’s extinction list in 2017 but remains on the national list.<\/p>\n It’s the same situation for Hymenophyllum whitei, a fern that relies on clouds that form around mountains, which was removed from Queensland’s extinction list in 2019 and reclassified as critically endangered.<\/p>\n In both cases neither the WA or Queensland state government had made a submission to change the federal status of the plants when contacted by ABC Science.<\/p>\n Both state governments are now looking into national listing updates for the two species.<\/p>\n Myriocephalus nudus has a hollow stem and looks similar to a native daisy, but without the petals. (iNaturalist: Kate Brown<\/a>, Myriocephalus nudus<\/a>, CC BY-NC 4.0<\/a>)<\/p>\n A third plant, Myriocephalus nudus, a WA herb similar to an Australian daisy, was rediscovered in 2022 but is currently being assessed at a state-level for an official status change.<\/p>\n There are currently no submissions to take Gould’s mouse off the Australian extinction list.<\/p>\n And while the national environment minister has the power to change the extinction status of a species, this hasn’t happened.<\/p>\n Gould’s mouse was thought to be a separate species to the Djoongari until a 2021 study.\u00a0 (Wikimedia Commons: Henry Constantine Richter)<\/p>\n Different governments, same problem<\/p>\n Dr Doyle was the lead author of a study published this year in Austral Ecology<\/a> that found delays in recognising rediscovered species was also an issue for the New South Wales’ state level extinction list.<\/p>\n Delays that potentially had bigger consequences.<\/p>\n The study highlighted the case of a type of saltbush, Atriplex acutiloba, that co-authors Frank Hemmings and David Elridge found last year at Fowlers Gap, NSW.<\/p>\n The species occurs in several Australian states but is recorded as extinct in NSW.<\/p>\n “We found that it had been rediscovered three times before, but there had never been any record or communication or changes to the listing,” Dr Doyle said.<\/p>\n Atriplex acutiloba, a type of saltbush, was thought extinct in NSW but its rediscovery prompted concerns about legal loopholes for protecting different species. (iNaturalist: Thomas Mesaglio<\/a>, Atriplex acutiloba<\/a>, CC BY 4.0<\/a>)<\/p>\n The three prior rediscoveries had occurred over the preceding six years.<\/p>\n Mr Hemmings, curator of UNSW’s John T. Waterhouse Herbarium, said the species was short-lived and speculated it may only pop up after heavy rain events.<\/p>\n “It seems like it occurs actually fairly commonly when it does occur in NSW and then it’s kind of gone from an area for who knows how long,” he said.<\/p>\n A.acutiloba is still listed as extinct in NSW as the study authors work on a submission to the NSW government for a different listing status.<\/p>\n Dr Doyle said while this plant was found in remote areas, delays to listings of other species from pressures like development could see them destroyed legally.<\/p>\n Legal solutions to extinction loopholes<\/p>\n Dr Doyle and her study co-authors have two suggestions for state and federal governments to close the legal limbo for rediscovered species.<\/p>\n One is to make it so species listed as extinct are actually still considered threatened species that should be protected.<\/p>\n The other is to copy legislation used in Western Australia.<\/p>\n “When something is rediscovered it’s immediately listed as threatened again under their [WA] conservation legislation,” Dr Doyle said.<\/p>\n This means a species retains threatened status unless the state’s environment minister deems it shouldn’t.<\/p>\n ABC Science asked Environment Minister Murray Watt’s office if the federal government would consider changing national legislation to more swiftly to recognise rediscovered species.<\/p>\n The query was referred to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water for a response.<\/p>\n “Consultation on EPBC Act reforms is ongoing with the final form and scope of the reform package being a decision of government,” a department spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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