Australia has a famously poor record in species protection, a point reinforced by government data released this week that again confirmed it has the worldâs worst mammalian extinction rate. More than 10% of land mammals have been lost since European colonisation. The number of species of all types at risk is expected to have vaulted after last yearâs catastrophic bushfires, in which it is estimated nearly 3bn animals were killed or affected. The scientists who spoke to Guardian Australia stress that while there is rightly a focus on species loss, ecosystems â the complex webs of interdependent species within a specific environment â are harder to recover when they begin to decline.