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

We will provide an overview of the development of a bioregional approach to biodiversity assessment and management that uses trait-based plant functional groups as the basis for multi-species recovery planning. Multi-variate methods were used to extract and test emergent groups among the threatened (mostly rainforest) flora of the Border Ranges area. Additional information fields related to species life history and distributional data were added to develop a Biodiversity Assessment Tool in spreadsheet format. Tests of phylogenetic independence were undertaken and showed that phylogeny significantly affects the clustering of character states for nearly all the traits studied. Data rich samples were used to test the methods in one (rainforest) community type, and several species from one of the emergent groups were chosen from that sample to provide an example of the function of the biodiversity assessment tool. Relating emergent trait-based plant functional groups to habitat was found to be the most informative approach for the development of management recommendations and recovery planning related to landscape scale threat / risk categories.