Assessing changes in the conservation status of threatened Brazilian vertebrates |
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Authors: | Adriano Pereira Paglia Gustavo Alberto B Fonseca |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Zoology, PPG-ECMVS, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil 2. Conserva??o Internacional (CI-Brasil), Av. Getulio Vargas 1300, 7th floor, Savassi, Belo Horizonte, MG, 30112-021, Brazil 3. Global Environment Facility, Washington, DC, USA 4. Department of Zoology, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
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Abstract: | Threatened species assessments are one of the tools used to evaluate the degree of human impact on biodiversity, particularly
in the assignment of extinction probabilities to individual species. Heavily altered habitats or biomes harbor a high proportion
of the threatened species that have been assessed globally—80% of all of threatened species in IUCN’s Red List owe their poor
status at least partly to the loss of habitat. Some taxonomic groups, however, may be well represented in the Red Lists either
because they are naturally more sensitive to the most pervasive threats, or simply because they have been better studied.
Here we look at the threat patterns on a temporal scale of Brazilian animal species included in the IUCN Red List, evaluating
the hypotheses that directions of changes in red list status can be explained by the increase in scientific knowledge or by
actual changes in threat factors. We analyzed changes in patterns of threatened vertebrates in IUCN’s list between 2002 and
2006. During that period, 120 species changed their status. 42 of these changes referred to inclusions and 78 to changes of
threat category. For the latter group, 23 had their status upgraded to categories of higher threat, and 55 downgraded to others
of lower threat. Most of the downgrades were caused by increase in scientific knowledge, while most of the upgrades resulted
from the deterioration of the environmental conditions. |
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