Research and conservation initiatives for the vulnerable Purple-wood Wattle: a model for plant species conservation in Australia?

Research on rare and threatened plants is a major focus of conservation biology. We want to know why species are rare or declining, how best to arrest that decline and what is lost when species become locally extinct. Occasionally, understanding decline is straightforward - e.g. if the species is restricted to fertile soils that are desirable for cultivation. However, managing declining populations is more complex and requires knowledge of genetic diversity and interspecific interactions.