HONOLULU -- A new approach in using the federal Endangered Species Act may result in more Hawaii plants and animals making the endangered list.

The federal government wants to add 48 plants and animals that are found only on Kauai.

It is doing that by identifying the ecosystems where those species are found. Those ecosystems take up more than 27,000 acres of land on the Garden Isle systems the government said are threatened.

"It's because of the threats to those ecosystems that the species are imperiled, and so what we want to do now is focus on those ecosystems and focus on the threats, eliminating those threats, and bringing those species back," Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Deputy Field Supervisor Gina Schultz said.

There are 45 different plants, two birds and a Hawaiian fly on the proposed list.

If approved, the government may use the new approach to tackle endangered species habitats on other islands.

"This holistic approach will benefit the recovery of the listed species and also all the species within the native ecological community," U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said in a written statement.

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal.

Proposed List Of Species (common name, scientific name):

Painiu Astelia waialealae

Awikiwiki Canavalia napaliensis

Akoko Chamaesyce eleanoriae

Akoko Chamaesyce remyi var. kauaiensis

Akoko Chamaesyce remyi var. remyi

Papala Charpentiera densiflora

Haha Cyanea dolichopoda

Haha Cyanea eleeleensis

Haha Cyanea kolekoleensis

Haha Cyanea kuhihewa

Haiwale Cyrtandra oenobarba

Haiwale Cyrtandra paliku

No common name Diellia manni

i

No common name Doryopteris angelica

No common name Dryopteris crinalis var. podosorus

Naenae Dubuatia imbricata ssp. imbricata

Naenae Dubautia kalalauensis

Naenae Dubautia kenwoodii

Naenae Dubautia plantaginea ssp. magnifolia

Naenae Dubautia waialealae

Nohoanu Geranium kauaiense

No common name Keysseria erici

No common name Keysseria helenae

Kamakahala Labordia helleri

Kamakahala Labordia pumila

Lehua makanoe Lysimachia daphnoides

No common name Lysimachia iniki

No common name Lysimachia pendens

No common name Lysimachia scopulensis

No common name Lysimachia venosa

Alani Melicope degeneri

Alani Melicope paniculata

Alani Melicope puberula

Kolea Myrsine knudsenii

Kolea Myrsine mezii

No common name Phyllostegia renovans

Hoawa Pittosporum napaliense

pilo kea lau lii Platydesma rostrata

Loulu Pritchardia hardyi

Kopiko Psychotria grandiflora

Kopiko Psychotria hobdyi

No common name Schiedea attenuata

No common name Stenogyne kealiae

ohe ohe Tetraplasandra bisattenuata

ohe ohe Tetraplasandra flynnii

Akekee Loxops caeruleirostris

Akikiki Oreomystis bairdi

Hawaiian picture-wing fly Drosophila attigua