Single-species sampling in Tasmania: an inefficient approach to invertebrate conservation?

In recent years the distributions of a number of geographically restricted Tasmanian invertebrates have been carefully mapped by single-species sampling (SSS). We review 29 such projects targeted at 16 species. The average return of new locality records was only one per 1.3 person-days in the field. In almost all cases the SSS was aimed at improving the knowledge base for invertebrate conservation, and the principal end users of the results have been land managers, not biologists. It is suggested that more of the limited resources available for intensive fieldwork be directed to sampling functional groups of taxa, rather than single species, in areas prioritised by need for land management advice.