scholarly journals JARA: ‘Just Another Red-List Assessment’

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henning Winker ◽  
Nathan Pacoureau ◽  
Richard B. Sherley
Keyword(s):  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
R Package ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Criterion A ◽  
Abundance Data ◽  
Abundance Indices

AbstractIdentifying species at risk of extinction is necessary to prioritise conservation efforts. The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is the global standard for quantifying extinction risk, with many species categorised according to population reduction thresholds. We introduce the Bayesian state-space framework ‘JARA’ (Just Another Red-List Assessment). Designed as decision-support tool, JARA allows both process error and uncertainty to be incorporated into IUCN Red List assessments under criterion A. JARA is implemented via an R package that is designed to be easy to use, rapid and widely applicable, so conservation practitioners can apply it to their own count or relative abundance data. JARA outputs display easy to interpret graphics of the posterior probability of the population trend against the corresponding IUCN Red List categories, as well as additional graphics to describe the timeseries and model diagnostics. We illustrate JARA using three real-world examples: (1) relative abundance indices for two elasmobranchs, Yellowspotted SkateLeucoraja wallaceiand Whitespot SmoothhoundMustelus palumbes; (2) a comparison of standardized abundance indices for Atlantic Blue MarlinMakaira nigricansand (3) absolute abundance data for Cape GannetsMorus capensis. Finally, using a simulation experiment, we demonstrate how JARA provides greater accuracy than two approaches commonly used to assigning a Red List Status under criterion A. Tools like JARA can help further standardise Red List evaluations, increasing objectivity and lowering the risk of misclassification, with substantial benefits for global conservation efforts.

scholarly journals Estimating IUCN Red List population reduction: JARA—A decision‐support tool applied to pelagic sharks

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Sherley ◽  
Henning Winker ◽  
Cassandra L. Rigby ◽  
Peter M. Kyne ◽  
Riley Pollom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Population Reduction

scholarly journals Red List assessment of widespread and long-lived species

Oryx ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Roderick J. Fensham
Keyword(s):  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Species Loss ◽  
Widespread Species ◽  
Criterion A ◽  
Threat Status ◽  
Eucalypt Species ◽  
The World

Abstract The use of criterion A of the IUCN Red List to categorize species as threatened that have undergone recent decline can lead to the listing of relatively common and widespread species. Loss of habitat through deforestation is a common cause of decline throughout much of the world but is often not incorporated into assessments because of uncertainty about the magnitude of change. A recent assessment of eucalypt species in Australia subject to deforestation provides a method for assessment under criterion A and has implications for listing of long-lived, widespread species affected by deforestation. Scenarios for two widespread eucalypt species subject to extensive deforestation are used to demonstrate how the threat status of a species may be recategorized in a lower threat category as declines resulting from a threatening process are mitigated. I argue that criterion A indicates an appropriate assessment of extinction risk and I provide a simple function based on predicted diminishment of the population decline to identify when a species could be disqualified from a threat category under subcriterion A2 (past decline).

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 The dynamics underlying avian extinction trajectories forecast a wave of extinctions

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 20190633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie J. Monroe ◽  
Stuart H. M. Butchart ◽  
Arne O. Mooers ◽  
Folmer Bokma
Keyword(s):  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Extinction Rate ◽  
Critically Endangered Species ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Historical Times ◽  
Risk Categories

Population decline is a process, yet estimates of current extinction rates often consider just the final step of that process by counting numbers of species lost in historical times. This neglects the increased extinction risk that affects a large proportion of species, and consequently underestimates the effective extinction rate. Here, we model observed trajectories through IUCN Red List extinction risk categories for all bird species globally over 28 years, and estimate an overall effective extinction rate of 2.17 × 10 −4 /species/year. This is six times higher than the rate of outright extinction since 1500, as a consequence of the large number of species whose status is deteriorating. We very conservatively estimate that global conservation efforts have reduced the effective extinction rate by 40%, but mostly through preventing critically endangered species from going extinct rather than by preventing species at low risk from moving into higher-risk categories. Our findings suggest that extinction risk in birds is accumulating much more than previously appreciated, but would be even greater without conservation efforts.

scholarly journals Regional Red List assessment of tree species in upper montane forests of the Tropical Andes

Oryx ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Tejedor Garavito ◽  
Adrian C. Newton ◽  
Sara Oldfield
Keyword(s):  
Tree Species ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Tropical Andes ◽  
Conservation Assessment ◽  
Distribution Maps

AbstractThe Tropical Andes are characterized by a high level of endemism and plant species richness but are under pressure from human activities. We present the first regional conservation assessment of upper montane tree species in this region. We identified 3,750 tree species as occurring in this region, of which 917 were excluded because of a lack of data on their distribution. We identified a subset of 129 taxa that were restricted to higher elevations (> 1,500 m) but occurred in more than one country, thus excluding local endemics evaluated in previous national assessments. Distribution maps were created for each of these selected species, and extinction risk was assessed according to the IUCN Red List categories and criteria (version 3.1), drawing on expert knowledge elicited from a regional network of specialists. We assessed one species, Polylepis microphylla, as Critically Endangered, 47 species as Endangered and 28 as Vulnerable. Overall, 60% of the species evaluated were categorized as threatened, or 73% if national endemics are included. It is recommended that extinction risk assessments for tree species be used to inform the development of conservation strategies in the region, to avoid further loss of this important element of biodiversity.

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 Evaluating the extinction risk of Ligusticum canbyi (Osha): Using the IUCN Red List

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Moothoo ◽  
DJ Leaman ◽  
WL Applequist ◽  
PN Brown
Keyword(s):  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List

scholarly journals Evaluating firefly extinction risk: Initial red list assessments for North America

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0259379
Author(s):  
Candace E. Fallon ◽  
Anna C. Walker ◽  
Sara Lewis ◽  
Joseph Cicero ◽  
Lynn Faust ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
North America ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
The United States ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Red List ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Habitat Specificity ◽  
Data Deficient ◽  
Systematic Compilation

Fireflies are a family of charismatic beetles known for their bioluminescent signals. Recent anecdotal reports suggest that firefly populations in North America may be in decline. However, prior to this work, no studies have undertaken a systematic compilation of geographic distribution, habitat specificity, and threats facing North American fireflies. To better understand their extinction risks, we conducted baseline assessments according to the categories and criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List for 132 species from the United States and Canada (approximately 79% of described species in the region). We found at least 18 species (14%) are threatened with extinction (e.g. categorized as Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable) due to various pressures, including habitat loss, light pollution, and climate change (sea level rise and drought). In addition, more than half of the species (53%) could not be evaluated against the assessment criteria due to insufficient data, highlighting the need for further study. Future research and conservation efforts should prioritize monitoring and protecting populations of at-risk species, preserving and restoring habitat, gathering data on population trends, and filling critical information gaps for data deficient species suspected to be at risk.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document