Abstract for presentation at Biodiversity Extinction Crisis Conference - A Pacific Response

Throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, islands and island populations play a significant role in biodiversity conservation and wildlife management. Many endemic island taxa are of conservation concern and islands are widely used as a management tool. However, islands constitute unusual and unique environments that create multiple challenges for effective long-term biodiversity conservation. While islands may offer short-term protection from threatening processes, there are negative long-term consequences in being an island population. By their very nature island populations are vulnerable to extinction and are subject to a series of pressures that act to increase their extinction probability. Unique island environments may also drive rapid morphological change, resulting in distinct populations (often described as unique taxa e.g. subspecies) that are often of questionable conservation significance. This paper will explore these issues in light of recent studies of island populations of Australian marsupials and other taxa.