scholarly journals Assessing the global conservation status of the rock rose Helianthemum caput-felis

Oryx ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Sulis ◽  
Gianluigi Bacchetta ◽  
Donatella Cogoni ◽  
Domenico Gargano ◽  
Giuseppe Fenu
Keyword(s):  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Red List ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Red Lists ◽  
Global Conservation ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Starting Point

AbstractThe assessment of the conservation status of a species is the first step in developing a conservation strategy. IUCN Red Lists assessments are an important starting point for conservation actions and the most commonly applied method for assessing the extinction risk of a species. In this study, the global conservation status of the rock rose Helianthemum caput-felis Boiss. (Cistaceae), a perennial Mediterranean plant, was evaluated using the Red List criteria. The distribution of the species was determined by monitoring historical localities and all other suitable sites along the western Mediterranean coasts for 6 years. For each confirmed locality, the ecological and population parameters and the main threats were recorded; these data were used in a quantitative analysis of the species' extinction risk. Our findings indicate there have been several recent extinctions, and there is a continuing decline in the species' area of occurrence, habitat quality and number of reproductive plants. The main threats are related to human activities. Extinction models indicate a probability of quasi-extinction risk of c. 30% in five generations or c. 45% in three generations, with the species likely to become extinct in seven currently known localities within the next 10 years. Application of the Red List criteria indicates H. caput-felis should be categorized as Endangered. This study confirms that legal protection and passive conservation measures are insufficient to guarantee the persistence of a plant species. Active conservation and management actions are needed to protect this and other threatened species of the Mediterranean Basin.

scholarly journals Conservation of terrestrial invertebrates: a review of IUCN and regional Red Lists for Myriapoda

ZooKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 930 ◽  
pp. 221-229
Author(s):  
Manoela Karam-Gemael ◽  
Peter Decker ◽  
Pavel Stoev ◽  
Marinez I. Marques ◽  
Amazonas Chagas Jr
Keyword(s):  
Threatened Species ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Current Conservation ◽  
Terrestrial Invertebrates ◽  
Red Lists ◽  
Limit Protection ◽  
Regional Red Lists

Red Listing of Threatened species is recognized as the most objective approach for evaluating extinction risk of living organisms which can be applied at global or national scales. Invertebrates account for nearly 97% of all animals on the planet but are insufficiently represented in the IUCN Red Lists at both scales. To analyze the occurrence of species present in regional Red Lists, accounts of 48 different countries and regions all over the world were consulted and all data about myriapods (Myriapoda) ever assessed in Red Lists at any level assembled. Myriapod species assessments were found in eleven regional Red Lists; however, no overlap between the species included in the global IUCN Red List and the regional ones was established. This means that myriapod species considered threatened at regional level may not be eligible for international funding specific for protection of native threatened species (more than US$ 25 million were available in the last decade) as most financial instruments tend to support only threatened species included in the IUCN Red List. As the lack of financial resources may limit protection for species in risk of extinction, it is urgent to increase the possibilities of getting financial support for implementation of measures for their protection. A Red List of all Myriapoda species recorded in Red Lists at national or local (596) and global (210) scales totaling 806 species is presented. This list shows for the first time an overview of the current conservation status of Myriapoda species. Here, the urgent need of establishing a Myriapoda Specialist Group in the Species Survival Commission of IUCN is also stressed.

Chasing the phantom: biogeography and conservation of Vipera latastei-monticola in the Maghreb (North Africa)

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inês Freitas ◽  
Soumia Fahd ◽  
Guillermo Velo-Antón ◽  
Fernando Martínez-Freiría
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Niche Modelling ◽  
Habitat Transformation ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Suitable Space ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The Maghreb region (North Africa) constitutes a major component of the Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot. During the last centuries, a consistent human population growth has led to an unprecedented rate of habitat transformation and loss in the region and thus, threatening its biodiversity. The Western Mediterranean viper Vipera latastei-monticola inhabits humid and subhumid areas in the main mountain ranges of the Maghreb, facing such threatening factors; however, its elusive character and rarity hindered data collection for distinct biological purposes. Here, we study the biogeographical patterns and conservation status of the Maghrebian V. latastei-monticola resulting from recent sampling campaigns in Morocco and Tunisia. We update species distribution, and integrate phylogeographic and ecological niche modelling analyses at both species and lineage level to identify suitable areas, and to evaluate the impact of anthropogenic transformation and level of protection of their suitable space. We identified four highly divergent mitochondrial lineages, including a new lineage endemic to the Western High Atlas, with allopatric distributions and restricted to mountain ranges, supporting the role of mountains as past climatic refugia. Despite the remoteness of suitable areas, we report widespread habitat degradation and identify the low effectiveness of the current protected areas system in preserving the species and lineages range. Our study shows the urgent need to apply management actions for the long-term conservation of this vulnerable species and suggests a revaluation of the specific status of V. monticola, as these populations likely represent an ecotype of V. latastei.

scholarly journals Conservation Status of Marine Biodiversity in Oceania: An Analysis of Marine Species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth A. Polidoro ◽  
Cristiane T. Elfes ◽  
Jonnell C. Sanciangco ◽  
Helen Pippard ◽  
Kent E. Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Threatened Species ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Conservation Priorities ◽  
Conservation Action

Given the economic and cultural dependence on the marine environment in Oceania and a rapidly expanding human population, many marine species populations are in decline and may be vulnerable to extinction from a number of local and regional threats. IUCN Red List assessments, a widely used system for quantifying threats to species and assessing species extinction risk, have been completed for 1190 marine species in Oceania to date, including all known species of corals, mangroves, seagrasses, sea snakes, marine mammals, sea birds, sea turtles, sharks, and rays present in Oceania, plus all species in five important perciform fish groups. Many of the species in these groups are threatened by the modification or destruction of coastal habitats, overfishing from direct or indirect exploitation, pollution, and other ecological or environmental changes associated with climate change. Spatial analyses of threatened species highlight priority areas for both site- and species-specific conservation action. Although increased knowledge and use of newly available IUCN Red List assessments for marine species can greatly improve conservation priorities for marine species in Oceania, many important fish groups are still in urgent need of assessment.

scholarly journals Increasing accuracy: The advantage of using open access species occurrence database in the Red List assessment

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iyan Robiansyah ◽  
Wita Wardani
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Herbarium Specimens ◽  
Species Occurrence ◽  
Extent Of Occurrence ◽  
Area Of Occupancy

Abstract. Robiansyah I, Wardani W. 2020. Increasing accuracy: The advantage of using open access species occurrence database in the Red List assessment. Biodiversitas 21: 3658-3664. IUCN Red List is the most widely used instrument to assess and advise the extinction risk of a species. One of the criteria used in IUCN Red List is geographical range of the species assessed (criterion B) in the form of extent of occurrence (EOO) and/or area of occupancy (AOO). While this criterion is presumed to be the easiest to be completed as it is based mainly on species occurrence data, there are some assessments that failed to maximize freely available databases. Here, we reassessed the conservation status of Cibotium arachnoideum, a tree fern distributed in Sumatra and Borneo. This species was previously assessed by Praptosuwiryo (2020, Biodiversitas 21 (4): 1379-1384) which classified the species as Endangered (EN) under criteria B2ab(i,ii,iii); C2a(ii). Using additional data from herbarium specimens recorded in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) website and from peer-reviewed scientific papers, in the present paper we show that C. arachnoideum has a larger extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO), more locations and different conservation status compared to those in Praptosuwiryo (2020). Our results are supported by the predicted suitable habitat map of C. arachnoideum produced by MaxEnt modelling method. Based on our assessment, we propose the category of Vulnerable (VU) C2a(i) as the global conservation status for C. arachnoideum. Our study implies the advantage of using open access databases to increase the accuracy of extinction risk assessment under the IUCN Red List criteria in regions like Indonesia, where adequate taxonomical information is not always readily available.

scholarly journals Addressing Uncertainties in Machine Learning Predictions of Conservation Status

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barnaby Walker ◽  
Tarciso Leão ◽  
Steven Bachman ◽  
Eve Lucas ◽  
Eimear Nic Lughadha
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Red List ◽  
Learning Models ◽  
Species Occurrence ◽  
Voucher Specimens ◽  
Machine Learning Models ◽  
Occurrence Records

Extinction risk assessments are increasingly important to many stakeholders (Bennun et al. 2017) but there remain large gaps in our knowledge about the status of many species. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN 2019, hereafter Red List) is the most comprehensive assessment of extinction risk. However, it includes assessments of just 7% of all vascular plants, while 18% of all assessed animals lack sufficient data to assign a conservation status. The wide availability of species occurrence information through digitised natural history collections and aggregators such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), coupled with machine learning methods, provides an opportunity to fill these gaps in our knowledge. Machine learning approaches have already been proposed to guide conservation assessment efforts (Nic Lughadha et al. 2018), assign a conservation status to species with insufficient data for a full assessment (Bland et al. 2014), and predict the number of threatened species across the world (Pelletier et al. 2018). The wide range in sources of species occurrence records can lead to data quality issues, such as missing, imprecise, or mistaken information. These data quality issues may be compounded in databases that aggregate information from multiple sources: many such records derive from field observations (78% for plant species in GBIF; Meyer et al. 2016) largely unsupported by voucher specimens that would allow confirmation or correction of their identification. Even where voucher specimens do exist, different taxonomic or geographic information can be held for a single collection event represented by duplicate specimens deposited in different natural history collections. Tools are available to help clean species occurrence data, but these cannot deal with problems like specimen misidentification, which previous work (Nic Lughadha et al. 2019) has shown to have a large impact on preliminary assessments of conservation status. Machine learning models based on species occurrence records have been reported to predict with high accuracy the conservation status of species. However, given the black-box nature of some of the better machine learning models, it is unclear how well these accuracies apply beyond the data on which the models were trained. Practices for training machine learning models differ between studies, but more interrogation of these models is required if we are to know how much to trust their predictions. To address these problems, we compare predictions made by a machine learning model when trained on specimen occurrence records that have benefitted from minimal or more thorough cleaning, with those based on records from an expert-curated database. We then explore different techniques to interrogate machine learning models and quantify the uncertainty in their predictions.

scholarly journals The changing fates of the world's mammals

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1578) ◽  
pp. 2598-2610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Hoffmann ◽  
Jerrold L. Belant ◽  
Janice S. Chanson ◽  
Neil A. Cox ◽  
John Lamoreux ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Captive Breeding ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
International Union ◽  
The Status ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
In The Wild

A recent complete assessment of the conservation status of 5487 mammal species demonstrated that at least one-fifth are at risk of extinction in the wild. We retrospectively identified genuine changes in extinction risk for mammals between 1996 and 2008 to calculate changes in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Index (RLI). Species-level trends in the conservation status of mammalian diversity reveal that extinction risk in large-bodied species is increasing, and that the rate of deterioration has been most accelerated in the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. Expanding agriculture and hunting have been the main drivers of increased extinction risk in mammals. Site-based protection and management, legislation, and captive-breeding and reintroduction programmes have led to improvements in 24 species. We contextualize these changes, and explain why both deteriorations and improvements may be under-reported. Although this study highlights where conservation actions are leading to improvements, it fails to account for instances where conservation has prevented further deteriorations in the status of the world's mammals. The continued utility of the RLI is dependent on sustained investment to ensure repeated assessments of mammals over time and to facilitate future calculations of the RLI and measurement against global targets.

scholarly journals The endemic land snail Gulella taitensis of the Taita Hills forests, Kenya: on the brink of extinction

Oryx ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles N. Lange
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Land Snail ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Red List ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Forest Reserves ◽  
Taita Hills

This paper describes the distribution, population size and conservation needs of the land snail Gulella taitensis (Gastropoda: Streptaxidae) endemic to the Taita Hills, Kenya. The species was investigated using timed searches between July and December 2000. In total 37 snails were recorded from only five of nine forest fragments searched. The snail was generally more abundant in the smaller forest fragments. The species appears to be a forest specialist, exhibiting preference for the least disturbed sections of forest. The small population size, restricted distribution and concentration in the smallest and most fragile forest fragments suggests the species is on the brink of extinction. The species fulfills the requirements for changing its conservation status from Endangered to Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Promotion of the Forest Reserves to a conservation category that provides greater legal protection is necessary.

scholarly journals Important Bird Areas in Macedonia: Sites of Global and European Importance

Acrocephalus ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (147) ◽  
pp. 181-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Metodija Velevski ◽  
Ben Hallmann ◽  
Bratislav Grubač ◽  
Tome Lisičanec ◽  
Emilian Stoynov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Status ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Coracias Garrulus ◽  
Breeding Sites ◽  
Egyptian Vulture ◽  
Global Conservation ◽  
Imperial Eagle ◽  
Conservation Concern ◽  
Selection Of

Important Bird Areas in Macedonia: Sites of Global and European Importance Identification of the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) is an initiative implemented by BirdLife International at the global level, aiming to conserve a network of sites that are particularly important for the conservation of birds. With the changed conservation status of some species and increased information on the distribution and population sizes of birds in Macedonia in general, a revision of the IBA network was needed to update previous inventories for this country, published in 1989 and 2000. As the bird fauna of the Republic of Macedonia ranks among the least known in Europe, and as data on many species, notably passerines, are still largely missing, the inventory is mainly based on some threatened or rare birds of prey and a few other larger species, yet characteristic of the Macedonian landscape. Data used were collected in the course of different dedicated studies and projects carried out after 2000. Out of 314 species so far registered in Macedonia, 114 regularly occurring species have currently unfavourable conservation status in Europe, 84 of which breed or possibly breed in the country. Several criteria for the selection of IBAs of global (A criterion) and European importance (B criterion) developed by BirdLife International were used for sites selection, taking into consideration species of global conservation concern (A1), biome-restricted species (A3), important congregations (A4, B1) and species with an unfavourable conservation status (B2) or concentrated (B3) in Europe. Species of global conservation concern used for site identification include the Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus, considered Endangered (EN) at the global level according to the latest IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus and Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca (both Vulnerable - VU), and Roller Coracias garrulus and Semicollared Flycatcher Ficedula semitorquata (both Near Threatened - NT). Furthermore, species assemblages characteristic as occurring mostly or entirely within a Eurasian high-montane or Mediterranean biome are found in Macedonia. Important congregations of non-breeding waterbirds with at least 1% of global or biogeographic populations of individual species occur on all three large lakes in the country, some of them (e.g. Dalmatian Pelican, Red-crested Pochard Netta rufina) in very large numbers, surpassing the 1% threshold by more than tenfold. In total, 25 species regularly occurring in the breeding season, for which the site protection approach is thought to be appropriate in Macedonia, were used for the selection of sites of European importance. Site boundaries were drawn following distinct natural features or isohypses to include breeding sites and foraging areas of triggering species, and, for Imperial Eagle and Egyptian Vulture also former breeding sites back to 1991, taking into consideration their habitat requirements, land-use and management needs. The resulting IBA list numbers 24 sites, covering 6,907 km2 or 26.9% of the entire territory of Macedonia: (1) Šar Planina Mountain, (2) River Radika Catchment, (3) Lake Ohrid, (4) Lake Prespa, (5) Demir Kapija Gorge, (6) Lake Dojran, (7) Zletovska River Valley, (8) Tikveš Region, (9) Pčinja - Petrošnica - Kriva Reka Rivers, (10) Preod - Gjugjance, (11) Osogovo Mountains, (12) Jakupica Mountain, (13) Taor Gorge, (14) Ovče Pole, (15) Topolka - Babuna - Bregalnica Rivers, (16) Gradsko - Rosoman - Negotino, (17) Lake Mantovo and Kriva Lakavica River, (18) Raec River Valley, (19) Pelagonia, (20) Mariovo, (21) Lake Tikveš, (22) Bošavija, (23) Kočani Rice Fields, and (24) Lower Vardar. With the exception of three sites occupying the highest parts of the large mountain massifs in NW and central parts of Macedonia, and the lakes Ohrid and Prespa, sites are concentrated mostly in central hilly and lowland parts of the country, comprising breeding areas of species of global conservation concern. The percentage of territory covered by the IBAs in Macedonia is relatively high compared to the total European average but comparable to several countries in SE parts of Europe. The size of separate IBAs ranges from 25 km2 (Taor Gorge) to 1,136 km2 (Pelagonia) and number of triggering species per site from one (Bošavija, Kočani Rice Fields) to 17 (Pčinja - Petrošnica - Kriva Reka Rivers). 22 sites trigger some of the criteria of global importance - three sites (Lakes Ohrid, Prespa and Dojran) meet A4 criterion, eight sites hold significant populations of species characteristic of the Mediterranean biome, while three other sites sustain significant populations characteristic of the European high-montane biome. Species of global conservation concern are included as follows: Egyptian Vulture on 13 sites, Imperial Eagle on 7, Dalmatian Pelican and Saker Falcon Falco cherrug on 2, Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca on 3, Roller Coracias garrulus on 10, Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus on 3 sites, and Semi-collared Flycatcher on 1 site. Individual triggering species for sites of European importance are represented on 2-15 sites. The IBA network includes 80-100% of the national populations of the globally threatened species, while the coverage of other species vary between 5% and 100%, being over 40% in great majority of species. Non-irrigated arable land and transitional woodland-shrub are dominant land-cover types, jointly covering 32% of the total IBA surface area. Abandonment of traditional pastoral system, resulting in decrease of the livestock numbers and overgrowing as well as trapping, poisoning and poaching, are considered the most serious threats for triggering species, particularly the Egyptian Vulture and Imperial Eagle, being classified as high on no less than 11 sites, respectively. The national legal protection of the sites is incomplete, being either only partial or with inadequate conservation measures adopted, or, many sites still lack any form of legal protection. With about 21% of the National protected area network overlapping with the IBAs, the existing protected area system is thus insufficient for conservation of most priority species. Notably underrepresented are the regions in the lower parts of the country with the highest number of species of global conservation concern.

scholarly journals Is legal protection sufficient to ensure plant conservation? The Italian Red List of policy species as a case study

Oryx ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graziano Rossi ◽  
Simone Orsenigo ◽  
Chiara Montagnani ◽  
Giuseppe Fenu ◽  
Domenico Gargano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Status ◽  
National Level ◽  
Plant Conservation ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Conservation Priorities ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Bern Convention

AbstractThe conservation of species listed in the Bern Convention and European Directive 1992/43/EEC (so-called policy species) is mandatory for European Union (EU) countries. We assessed the conservation status of Italian policy species, based on the IUCN categories and criteria, to evaluate the effectiveness of existing protection measures at the national level. Among the 203 vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens evaluated, 41.9% are categorized as threatened, and one is already extinct, indicating that the protection measures for policy species are inadequate. Our results for the Italian policy species are consistent with those of an assessment at the EU level. Conservation priorities should be established at both the national and regional scales. An effective conservation strategy is needed, and in situ and ex situ actions focused on threatened species should be promoted.

scholarly journals Monitoring Extinction Risk and Threats of the World’s Fishes based on the Sampled Red List Index

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Miranda ◽  
Imanol Miqueleiz ◽  
William Darwall ◽  
Catherine Sayer ◽  
Nicholas Dulvy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Red List ◽  
Species At Risk ◽  
Marine Systems ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Global biodiversity targets require us to identify species at risk of extinction and quantify status and trends of biodiversity. The Red List Index (RLI) tracks trends in the conservation status of entire species groups over time by monitoring changes in categories assigned to species. Here, we calculate this index for the world’s fishes in 2010, using a sampled approach to the RLI based on a randomly selected sample of 1,500 species, and also present RLI splits for freshwater and marine systems separately. We further compare specific traits of a worldwide fish list to our sample to assess its representativeness. Overall, 15.1% of species in the sample were estimated to be threatened with extinction, resulting in an sampled RLI of 0.914 for all species, 0.972 in marine and 0.860 in freshwater ecosystems. Our sample showed fishing as the principal threat for marine species, and pollution by agricultural and foresty effluents for freshwater fishes. The sampled list provides a robust representation for tracking trends in the conservation status of the world’s fishes, including disaggregated sampled indices for marine and freshwater fish. Reassessment and backcasting of this index is urgent to check the achievement of the commitments proposed in global biodiversity targets.

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