Why Do Extinctions Matter? Mourning the Loss of Indigenous Flora in the Southwest of Western Australia

Abstract

The expansion of human populations and the demands of technological growth have placed global pressures on wild communities of organisms. Accelerating declines in habitat and the pollution of air and water have led to an extinction crisis unprecedented in the history of three billion years of life on Earth. Biodiversity 'hotspots' such as the Southwest corner of Western Australia are particularly susceptible to the kinds of pressures and transformations ecological systems are undergoing worldwide.