IUCN受威胁物种红色名录进展及应用

IUCN受威胁物种红色名录已经成为世界上最全面的关于全球动物、真菌和植物物种灭绝风险状况的信息来源, 是生物多样性健康的关键指标, 是促进生物多样性保护和决策的有力工具。本文全面介绍IUCN受威胁物种红色名录(简称IUCN红色名录)的发展以及应用状况, 积极推动其在中国的物种评估和广泛应用。总结了IUCN红色名录从依赖于评估专家的主观意志决定物种濒危等级的濒危物种红皮书(Red Data Book)到IUCN受威胁物种等级和标准(3.1版)的客观量化和所有门类使用统一标准的过程。该等级体系可囊括全球所有物种, 其中“受威胁”的3个等级——极危(CR)、濒危(EN)或易危(VU)需使用5个标准进行量化评估, 对评估规范有非常严格的要求。该等级和标准体系不仅适用于全球层面, 同样也适用于地区层面物种评估, 只是在具体物种种群如果和周边其他地区(国家)存在种群交流情况时, 评估结果要进行调整。迄今为止, 全球层面使用该等级体系和标准评估了14万多种(其中在中国有分布的物种10,846种), 100多个国家和地方制定了地区/国家层面的红色名录, 中国红色名录评估了5.5万多种。IUCN红色名录已广泛应用于评估生物多样性变化速度; 为保护规划提供决策信息; 支持履行国际公约、修订国家/地区重点保护物种名录和自然保护地管理等; 指导资源有效合理分配和宣传教育等。广泛应用过程中, 讨论主要集中在获取数据的方法改进上; 另外, 一方面有专家认为标准存在缺陷需要完善, 另一方面有呼吁维持标准的长期相对稳定, 以便进行跨时间、跨区域、跨物种门类的比较。本文提出来了中国红色名录的持续机制和应用建议, 包括建立中国红色名录委员会、建立中国红色名录专业网站、发展评估专家队伍、建立中国红色名录评估更新机制, 以及加强国际协作、促进全球和中国红色名录的应用和发展。     

生态系统红色名录——一种新的生物多样性保护工具

生物多样性为人类提供了生存所必需的一系列生态系统服务和功能。然而,由于人为活动的加剧,生物多样性不断丧失。传统的生物多样性保护主要关注物种多样性,存在着对生物多样性的代表性不足,不能及时反应生态系统多样性的变化等缺点。近年来,生态系统层次上的多样性保护成为研究热点,一些国家和组织相继开展了大尺度的生态系统评估工作。文章回顾了已有的生态系统评估方案,发现当前生态系统评估多采用IUCN物种红色名录的分级标准体系,主要评估生态系统的濒危程度,评估标准主要是分布范围和功能的变化,不同评估方案采用的指标和阈值有差异,需要建立统一的生态系统分类体系和评价方案。同时,结合国内生态系统评价的现状,提出了在我国开展生态系统红色名录研究的若干可行建议。     

Insular bats and research effort: a review of global patterns and priorities

相似文献   

Mammal diversity and taxonomy in Italy: implications for conservation

The paper attempts to describe Italian mammal diversity in an evolutionary context. With 122 species according latest researches, Italy holds the richest mammal assemblage among European countries. Specific taxa are often represented by clearly distinctive lineages and several of them appear restricted to the Italian peninsula. Poor knowledge of taxonomy and uncritical application of IUCN threat categories at the national level could produce a flawed set of conservation priorities, independently from the rigorous application of the proposed guidelines for national Red List assessments. Furthermore, classical conservation assessments and protective legislation only consider traditionally named taxa, often privileging insular taxa of artificial origin but neglecting most of the results of genetic and molecular studies on intraspecific variation. The aim of the present work is to outline the need to incorporate phylogenetic and biogeographic data in the assessment of conservation priorities among mammals in Italy, in order to maximise the national contribution to biodiversity conservation in Europe. To this end, distribution, threat status, intraspecific and supraspecific taxonomy of the native mammal fauna should be analysed in a global context. Phylogeographic patterns emerging from previous studies indicate the general inadequacy of continental European populations serving as sources for re-stocking or re-introductions operations in Italy and the other European peninsulas. Thus the importance of integrating international guidelines on reintroductions with a clear understanding of national biogeographical peculiarities is highlighted.     

Integrating spatially explicit habitat projections into extinction risk assessments: a reassessment of Amazonian avifauna incorporating projected deforestation

Aim We aimed to complete the first systematic assessment of extinction risk based on projected population declines derived from spatially explicit habitat projections for any taxonomic group at a regional scale, to use the outputs to ascertain the efficacy of an existing protected area network in covering species of conservation concern, and identify gaps therein. Location This study focused on Amazonia; an area of exceptional biodiversity, currently experiencing the highest absolute rate of forest loss globally but where the proportion of species assessed as ‘threatened’ on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List in the region is below global averages. Methods For all forest‐dependent Amazonian bird species (814), we revised extinction risk estimates by combining data from a spatially explicit deforestation model with generation length estimates. By overlaying distribution maps for these revised threatened species, we identified crisis areas (areas of projected deforestation supporting the highest numbers of threatened species), refugia (areas projected to retain forest supporting the highest numbers of threatened species) and areas of high irreplaceability: short‐ and long‐term priorities for new protected areas (PAs). Results The number of species qualifying as threatened rose substantially from 24 (3%) to 64–92 (8–11%). Areas of particular concern are the crisis and highly irreplaceable areas within the ‘arc of deforestation’ in the southern Brazilian Amazon states of Rondônia, Mato Grosso and Pará. Main conclusions Through a novel application of the IUCN Red List criteria, we present a spatially accurate rendering of the extinction risks of Amazonian birds. Important areas in the Amazon are not secure. We identify priorities for expansion of the PAs network and key locations where protection should be enforced. We recommend a collaborative approach employing our methods to repeat this process for other taxonomic groups.     

Evaluating the conservation status of epiphytic lichens of Italy: A red list

Despite the fact that Italy is among the lichenologically best known areas worldwide, a national red list of lichens is still lacking. The aim of this work was to provide a red list of the epiphytic lichens of Italy which could facilitate the inclusion of lichens in national conservation plans. The evaluation of the species against International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria was based on data from multiple sources which represent the best available information on the epiphytic lichens of Italy. The species were assigned to the IUCN categories mainly using criteria D and B. A total of 368 species were evaluated: for 23 species, information is missing from more than 50 years and they were listed as regionally extinct, 64 as critically endangered, 75 as endangered, 74 as vulnerable, 58 as near threatened, 20 as least concern and 54 species as data deficient. Our results indicate that more than one-fourth of the epiphytic lichens of Italy are likely to be threatened, so that further research and effort are needed to include lichens in the main national conservation plans. Our results also highlight the lack of information that still hampers the rigorous evaluation of Italian lichens against IUCN criteria.     

A new method for calculating Risk Tolerance in the assessment of threatened flora

This paper reports on a proposed method for evaluating threat categories for regional flora, based mainly on phytogeographical data. The method involves the creation of current distribution maps, analysis of threat factors and use of the RAMAS Red List software to facilitate rapid and objective classification of taxa in accordance with 2001 IUCN criteria. In order to ensure a more objective approach by the assessor and reduce the range of uncertainty, an index was created for calculating Risk Tolerance (RT) that enabled adjustment of the results obtained and thus supplemented the software used. For trial purposes, the proposed model was applied to Spanish gypsophilous flora currently protected under Spanish regional legislation. When classified using the new model, the taxa in question were placed in very different categories, ranging from least concern (LC) to endangered (EN), indicating the need to redefine both their current legal status and recommended management measures. Use of this method will enable scientists to optimise available information on the geographical distribution of endangered taxa, and help governments both to optimise their financial investment in conservation and to define their priorities. The authors endorse the use of IUCN categories in legal protection texts, and advocate as essential a greater degree of coordination between scientists and governments.     

National biodiversity risk assessment: a composite multivariate and index approach

Due to the shortage of financial resources for international conservation assistance, the setting of priorities for this assistance is an important issue. A national biodiversity risk assessment index (NABRAI) is constructed to quantify national conservation performances and identify nation states of critical conservation concern. The index, which contains measures of biodiversity stock, flow and response measures, attempts to overcome several weaknesses present in other models used to prioritize nations for conservation assistance. Multivariate analyses of the index as well as economic and biodiversity resources reveal significant positive correlations between the NABRAI values and population density as well as land area exposed to high disturbance intensity. The combination of the multivariate analyses and the interpretation of NABRAI values allows for prioritization of biodiversity risk among the global community and can thus serve as an indicator of current priorities for policy makers. The present study also suggests two methods to incorporate a better understanding of biodiversity risk in models of conservation priorities; by including a wider range of variables and by developing a theoretical foundation for the relationship between the categories of variables used in the model.     

Model of the assessment of the critical risk of extinction and the priorities of protection of endangered aquatic species at the national level

In the period 1995–2006, the biodiversity of the aquatic habitats in the area of Serbia was explored, with the aim to identify the endangered species of macroalgae, macroinvertebratae and fishes. During the work a data base was formed (Aquatic Ecosystems Diversity in Serbia, AEDSer), containing the data from exploring the biodiversity of the aquatic ecosystems of Serbia since 1860. Based on the data base, classification of the aquatic species was made into categories of endangerment based on IUCN criteria. The following was noted: (1) the global IUCN category assigned to the species often is not identical with the national status of endangerment; and (2) the species that are given a category of endangerment at the national level do not have the same realistic risk of extinction in all their habitats. This remark imposed the need for a model for assessing the critical risk of extinction of the endangered species and determining the priorities of their protection at the national level. Two categories of characters were used to develop the model: the characters that determine the degree of ecological specialisation of the species based on the circumstances of habitat; and the characters suggesting the risk factors from the system: “HIPPO” in the spatial and time dimension. The possibility to apply the model was tested on 10 aquatic species belonging to different categories of endangerment at the national level (macroalgae 2, macroinvertebrates 7, and fishes 1 species). The model based on points determined the level of extinction risk and, that way, the species needing urgent conservation from the same or different categories of endangerment were isolated. The model suggested can contribute to a more efficient defining the conservation priorities.     

Central European vascular plants requiring priority conservation measures – an analysis from national Red Lists and distribution maps

A joint analysis considering the world-wide distribution and threat status of Central European vascular plants was carried out to derive conservation priorities for threatened species. A list of 417 taxa is presented, which are threatened throughout Central Europe and/or show a predominantly Central European distribution. As a first step, all plants mentioned in Central European national Red Lists were included in a synoptic table, resulting in a total of 3255 taxa threatened or rare in at least one country. To select species with a high conservation priority, two parameters were estimated: threat status for Central Europe and a new category termed responsibility for the conservation of a species. As criteria for this second parameter, we used the proportion of Central Europe on the world range of a species, the position of Central Europe within this range, and its world-wide threat status. A simple category system including four responsibility categories is proposed. For all species selected, threat status and a responsibility assessment for the whole of Central Europe is given, as well as position and proportion of Central Europe on their world range. By comparison of threat status and responsibility, this list provides a background for assessing national conservation priorities as well as for making decisions about inclusion in international conventions on species conservation. This was shown by a comparison of the species selected using this approach with those included in the two most important European instruments for species conservation – the Berne Convention and the Habitats Directive.     

An assessment of red list data for the Pezizomycotina (Ascomycota): Umbria (Italy) as a test case

Abstract

A Red List of all 108 Pezizomycotina (Ascomycota) species recorded in Umbria Region (central Italy) is provided. According to the IUCN categories and criteria, 60.18% of the assessed species are classified as threatened, whereas 12.96% are Near Threatened (NT), 1.86% are Least Concerned (LC) and a noteworthy amount of 25% are Data Deficient (DD). As a consequence of the downlisting applied to the majority of the assessed taxa, according to the guidelines for application of IUCN red list criteria at Regional level, only 1.54% of the threatened species is Critically Endangered (CR), while 46.15% are Endangered (EN) and 52.31% are Vulnerable (VU). Given that the present work represents the first complete regional red list of Pezizomycotina in Italy, and that a national, as well as a European red list do not exist to date, it could be considered as a case study for other Italian Regions as well as for other European countries, aiming at the compilation of a national and European red list of this fungal group mostly overlooked in conservation strategies.     

Für welche Pflanzenarten hat die Schweiz eine internationale Verantwortung?

Eggenberg S. and Landolt E. 2006. For which plant species does Switzerland have an international responsibility? Bot. Helv. 116: 119 – 133. Priorities in plant species conservation are often based on national Red Lists. In an international context, however, the Red List status (threat) of a species within a limited territory may be misleading because the local disappearance of a species may or may not have serious implications for its global persistence. A second important aspect to consider in species conservation is therefore the responsibility of a country for the species, i.e. the importance of the conservation of local populations for the persistence of the species worldwide. In this contribution, we assess the responsibility of Switzerland for its vascular flora using three biogeographical criteria: (1) the Swiss portion of the species range (high responsibility for species with a large fraction of the range in Switzerland), (2) the degree of endemism (high responsibility for species with a small total range) and (3) the degree of isolation (high responsibility for isolated outposts, which may contain a large part of a species’ genetic variation). The three criteria were derived for each species from global and European distribution maps, and were then combined to an overall index of responsibility. On this basis, 397 taxa for which Switzerland has an intermediate to high international responsibility were identified. These are almost 15% of the whole vascular flora of Switzerland. Of the 397 taxa, 75% are endemic species of the Alps, and 48% are threatened taxa within Switzerland. The Responsibility List can be used together with the Red List to set priorities in plant conservation or to identify areas of particular floristic value. Manuskript angenommen am 11. September 2006     

Plant communities as a tool for setting priorities in biodiversity conservation: a novel approach to Iberian aquatic vegetation

Although conservation efforts are traditionally based on species red lists or similar documents, recent initiatives are starting to shift this scope to include other biodiversity structures and biological classifications. Plant communities have been indicated as being among the most promising categories for setting conservation priorities but their importance and potential is still underestimated. In this study we develop a conservation priority list based on aquatic plant communities of the Iberian Peninsula. Four criteria were used to perform a cumulative point-scoring ranking: regional responsibility, local rarity, wealth of its endangered flora, and habitat vulnerability. Our ranking constitutes the first comprehensive classification of aquatic vegetation in relation to its conservation priorities in Southern Europe. It reveals that amphibious communities are the most important vegetation target for conservation in Iberia related to oligotrophic environments with a bioclimatic Atlantic distribution. Plant communities characteristic of eutrophic waters or widely distributed were found to be cause for less concern when setting conservation priorities. Our results bring to light various discrepancies and gaps in current conservation laws affecting the Iberian Peninsula. Our study highlights the potential of plant communities in biodiversity conservation as they provide valuable information of habitat singularity, and supports that neither the sole use of species nor large scale approaches unaware of regional singularities are appropriate in setting conservation priorities.     

Habitat conservation prioritization: A floristic approach applied to a Mediterranean wetland network

The importance of plant communities for conservation purposes is recognized in their inclusion in the “Habitat Directive” (92/43 EEC), that relates habitat types to plant community syntaxonomic units. However, habitat definitions in the Habitat Directive lead to several inaccuracies in local habitat characterization. Several wetland plant communities (and their corresponding habitats), rare in the Mediterranean basin, are not included in the Habitat Directive. This study proposes criteria for assessing the conservation importance of habitats. It deals with plant community types at the alliance level, as promising units for setting conservation priorities. The principle criteria considered as drivers for setting alliance conservation values are the distribution and abundance of plant species of conservation interest and their fidelity to a plant community. Multivariate methods were used, and a quantitative floristic index of alliance conservation priority was created. This procedure was applied to an important wetland in central Italy. Results emphasize: (i) high conservation values of some alliances not listed in the Habitat Directive, confirming various gaps in the current conservation law affecting Mediterranean wetlands; (ii) that habitats widely distributed in other biogeographical areas, may greatly underestimate their conservation importance in Mediterranean region; (iii) need to consider regional peculiarities when setting conservation priorities.     

Achieving Target 2 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation: building a preliminary assessment of vascular plant species using data from herbarium specimens

The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation calls for a preliminary assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species by the year 2010. To date insufficient progress has been made on meeting this target. New efforts to develop a preliminary list beyond using the full IUCN criteria in plant assessments are needed. Here we present an algorithm that provides a preliminary assessment of the conservation status of plant species using data from herbarium specimens. We use Hawaiian specimen data from the United States National Herbarium to calibrate the parameters of the algorithm and then use specimen data from the Arecaceae, Commelinaceae, Gesneriaceae and Heliconiaceae as examples of the application of the algorithm. The algorithm was calibrated to insure 95% accuracy in placing the Hawaiian plant species into previously and independently determined threatened categories. Our results indicate that 28% of the Hawaiian taxa, 27% of the species of Arecaceae, 45% of the species of Commelinaceae, 32% of the species of Gesneriaceae, and 35% of the species of Heliconiaceae are Not Threatened and will not need any further evaluation for the preliminary assessment. Species identified here as Potentially Extinct and Potentially Threatened can be further assessed by additional herbarium material and/or conservation specialists for final evaluation using other assessment strategies (e.g., regional and national lists, taxonomic expert assessment, etc.).     

Biogeography, current knowledge and conservation of threatened vascular plants characteristic of Mexican temperate forests

The main goal of this study is to document the biogeographical patterns, current status and conservation of 24 species of vascular plants in Mexico, all of them recorded in some risk category in the Mexican official publication named ‘Norma Oficial Mexicana 059’ (NOM-059) and some of them in the IUCN red lists (the World Conservation Union) and CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species); many of these species are linked to Mexican cloud forests and other temperate vegetation types. Distribution maps of these 24 species were generated with information obtained from specialized literature, herbarium specimens, institutional databases, and field work; with this information, the patterns of richness and endemism of these species were obtained. For this, the Mexican territory was divided using a grid system based on a chart index (scale 1:50,000 system composed by grids of 15' × 20'). Also, we up to date the knowledge of these species and their populations and current habitats, and evaluate their geographic distribution in relation to the current Mexican National Parks and Reserves System and Mexican Priority Regions for Conservation. We also discuss some changes of categories in the NOM-059 and suggest the urgent incorporation of some of the species in the recent IUCN Red Data List of Threatened Species (2003). Most of the species studied require special policies for their conservation due to problems that affect their natural populations; also we consider that these taxa are underrepresented in the current Mexican System of Natural Protected Areas, especially those with restricted distributions.     

The Sampled Red List Index for Plants,phase II: ground-truthing specimen-based conservation assessments

The IUCN Sampled Red List Index (SRLI) is a policy response by biodiversity scientists to the need to estimate trends in extinction risk of the world''s diminishing biological diversity. Assessments of plant species for the SRLI project rely predominantly on herbarium specimen data from natural history collections, in the overwhelming absence of accurate population data or detailed distribution maps for the vast majority of plant species. This creates difficulties in re-assessing these species so as to measure genuine changes in conservation status, which must be observed under the same Red List criteria in order to be distinguished from an increase in the knowledge available for that species, and thus re-calculate the SRLI. However, the same specimen data identify precise localities where threatened species have previously been collected and can be used to model species ranges and to target fieldwork in order to test specimen-based range estimates and collect population data for SRLI plant species. Here, we outline a strategy for prioritizing fieldwork efforts in order to apply a wider range of IUCN Red List criteria to assessments of plant species, or any taxa with detailed locality or natural history specimen data, to produce a more robust estimation of the SRLI.     

Adaptive management as a tool to improve the conservation of endemic floras: the case of Sicily, Malta and their satellite islands

The presence of endemic species is among the fundamental criteria for characterizing the biodiversity of a territory. Analyzing species richness, extinction level and distribution drivers is an important preliminary step to set conservation priorities and test environmental policies. This study applied the concept of adaptive management to develop strategies for the conservation of endemic floras by considering, as a case study, Sicily, Malta and their neighboring small islands. Adaptive management can be defined as the systematic acquisition and application of reliable information to improve management over time. The development of adaptive conservation strategies aimed preliminary: (1) to quantify endemic plant diversity; (2) to assess the current IUCN knowledge; (3) to analyze the spatial patterns of species distribution in relation to number of colonized habitats, preferential habitats, altitudinal range, and bedrock; (4) to assess whether Natura 2000 network contributed significantly to increase the overlap between endemic distributional areas and protected surface. Strictly Sicilian endemics were 202 taxa amounting to 7.0 % of the whole native flora (c. 2900 taxa). The current picture of extinction risk is still incomplete because over 50 % of endemics were never assessed or assessed with old IUCN criteria. The spatial range size of endemics depended by 40 % on bedrock, and altitudinal and niche breadth. Habitat type did not influence the range size of endemics. The overlap between endemic distributional areas and protected surface increased from 41.3 to 63.3 % with Natura 2000. Adaptive management needs measurable goals to test the progressive improvement of conservation strategies over time, and the reduction in threatened species may be considered as an indicator of successful conservation outcomes. Feedback plays an important role in the periodic revision of biodiversity assessment, distribution modeling, and environmental management, which are fundamental to predict conservation outcomes in the face of extreme uncertainty. In particular, the exhaustive knowledge of the IUCN status is a primary step to implement adaptive measures of conservation, especially as regards endemic floras that are potentially more vulnerable to large-scale or unpredictable and stochastic threats.     

Threatened vascular plant species in spontaneously revegetated post‐mining sites

The occurrence of threatened vascular plant species has been occasionally reported from some disturbed sites. Nevertheless, almost nothing is known about the conservation potential of post‐mining habitats for vascular plant species at a landscape scale. We asked how much threatened species occur in the artificial habitats, and if the participation of particular threatened species categories differ over the course of succession. We studied 10 successional series running in 321 post‐mining sites across the Czech Republic, Central Europe. In total, 2,597 vegetation samples comprising 935 vascular plant species were analyzed. We found 235 threatened species (14% of the country's threatened flora). The majority of the threatened plants, namely 223, avoided plots overgrown by woody species, in which only 48 species occurred. The importance of spontaneously revegetated habitats for nature conservation differed among successional stages formed by discontinuous vegetation cover (not fully developed and still open, up to approximately 25 years since site abandonment), which harbored especially critically endangered species of open habitats, and continuous vegetation cover (fully developed and closed, over approximately 25 years), which was suitable for specialized threatened species typical of fully established vegetation. A mosaic of various successional stages comprising both categories of vegetation cover should be applied as an effective restoration solution to maintain a variety of habitats for threatened species.     

Assessing extinction risk in the absence of species-level data: quantitative criteria for terrestrial ecosystems

The conservation of individual plant and animal species has been advanced greatly by the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) development of objective, repeatable, and transparent criteria for assessing extinction risk, which explicitly separate the process of risk assessment from priority-setting. Here we present an analogous procedure for assessing the extinction risk of terrestrial ecosystems, which may complement traditional species-specific risk assessments, or may provide an alternative when only landscape-level data are available. We developed four quantitative risk criteria, derived primarily from remotely sensed spatial data, information on one of which must be available to permit classification. Using a naming system analogous to the present IUCN species-specific system, our four criteria were: (A) reduction of land cover and continuing threat, (B) rapid rate of land cover change, (C) increased fragmentation, and (D) highly restricted geographical distribution. We applied these criteria to five ecosystems covering a range of spatial and temporal scales, regions of the world, and ecosystem types, and found that Indonesian Borneo’s lowland tropical forests and the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest were Critically Endangered, while South Africa’s grasslands and Brazil’s Mato Grosso were Vulnerable. Furthermore, at a finer grain of analysis, one region of Venezuela’s coastal dry forests (Margarita Island) qualified as Vulnerable, while another (the Guasare River watershed) was Critically Endangered. In northern Venezuela, deciduous forests were classified as Endangered, semi-deciduous forests Vulnerable, and evergreen forests of Least Concern. We conclude that adoption of such a standardized system will facilitate globally comparable, repeatable geographic analyses that clearly separate risk assessment (a fundamentally scientific process), from the definition of conservation priorities, which should take into account additional factors, such as ecological distinctiveness, costs, logistics, likelihood of success, and societal preferences. Jon Paul Rodríguez and Jennifer K. Balch are contributed equally to this work