Threatened or thriving? – The status of Serbian hoverflies on the IUCN European Red List of Hoverflies

Previous studies show that conservation actions have prevented extinctions, recovered populations, and reduced declining trends in global biodiversity. However, all studies to date have substantially underestimated the difference conservation action makes because they failed to account fully for what would have happened in the absence thereof. We undertook a scenario-based thought experiment to better quantify the effect conservation actions have had on the extinction risk of the world's 235 recognized ungulate species. We did so by comparing species' observed conservation status in 2008 with their estimated status under counterfactual scenarios in which conservation efforts ceased in 1996. We estimated that without conservation at least 148 species would have deteriorated by one International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List category, including 6 species that now would be listed as extinct or extinct in the wild. The overall decline in the conservation status of ungulates would have been nearly 8 times worse than observed. This trend would have been greater still if not for conservation on private lands. While some species have benefited from highly targeted interventions, such as reintroduction, most benefited collaterally from conservation such as habitat protection. We found that the difference conservation action makes to the conservation status of the world's ungulate species is likely to be higher than previously estimated. Increased, and sustained, investment could help achieve further improvements.

FLOOD HAZARD MAPPING TO PROTECT IMPORTANT HABITATS

Monitoring of protected fungi species by methods of modern information technologies

Assessing the vulnerability of Thailand's forest birds to global change

Conservation of wetlands on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is vital to the ecological security of China and even all of Asia. In this study, we investigated the aquatic protected area system established by the Chinese government in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. In general, 9 categories of aquatic protected areas have been established in this area, linked to the International Union for Conservation of Nature classification system of protected areas. The diverse main protection objectives of different protected areas have played a key role in wetland conservation. However, the protection of wetland environments and aquatic organisms has been insufficient in some atypical protected areas and local protected areas. We further constructed a list of important aquatic organisms in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and analyzed the protected status of those important species through gap analysis. A total of 156 important aquatic species were identified, with 8 gap species and 18 inadequately protected species. It is encouraging that none of the national key protected species are gap species, but there are 4 gap species that are threatened species on “China’s red list”. In addition, we found that 17 important species are designated as Data Deficient or Not Evaluated on “China’s red list”, including 8 national key protected species. Finally, we propose the prospects for solving the existing problems of aquatic protected area systems: integrating aquatic protected areas, enhancing the status of community-based conservation, and increasing investment in important aquatic organism research.

The red pandaAilurus fulgensis categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is threatened by anthropogenic pressures such as livestock grazing. We surveyed people living in or near protected areas and people living away from protected areas in Nepal, to understand human attitudes towards red panda conservation. Given Nepal's participatory approach to managing protected areas, we hypothesized that local people living in or near protected areas would have more positive attitudes towards red panda conservation than those in non-protected areas. Ninety percent of the 142 respondents had positive attitudes, with people living in or near protected areas expressing less positive attitudes than those in non-protected areas. Despite this difference between protected and non-protected areas, people were generally positive towards red panda conservation. However, positive attitudes did not necessarily translate to sustainable resource-use behaviour. We found there was a high prevalence of both livestock grazing and livestock disease in red panda habitat. We suggest that alternative farming practices (e.g. stall-feeding of livestock) and awareness programmes (e.g. education on the conservation status and legal protection of red pandas, and livestock–wildlife disease transmission) could be important tools to improve conservation attitudes and protect red pandas in Nepal.

Weak agreement between the species conservation status assessments of the European Habitats Directive and Red Lists

Occurrence of protected and rare species is regarded as a strong argument for establishing protected areas and monitoring biodiversity, but while protected species are clearly identified, some problems exist to define rare species. It is thus important to know whether common and unprotected native species are reliable indicators for protected and rare species. The aims of this paper were to: (a) analyse the distribution of rarity and commonness of species, by using different criteria and (b) test if groups of species with different conservation value (aliens, unprotected natives and protected natives) differ in terms of their rarity distribution, using the data collected in 604 plots sampled within 21 protected areas of the central Italy. Three different criteria were used to classify species as rare or common. Pearson correlation, least-squares regressions and Chi-square test were used to compare the species richness patterns or rare and common species as well as protected, unprotected native, and alien species. The number of species classified as common and rare widely differ according to the adopted criterion. The number of common and rare species were statistically correlated at both the plot and protected area scales, even if at the plot scale the predictive capacity was rather low. Protected species were significantly rarer than expected, while unprotected species were significantly more common than expected; alien species confirmed to be particularly rare in our study area, with some major alien species being totally absent in the recorded flora. The richness patterns of common and rare species defined according to different criteria have been found to be correlated one to the other, and both are well related to the richness of protected and alien species at both the plot and PA scales. Protected species were better related to common species, while alien species were better related to rare species. Despite rare species were numerically more than common species, and the richness pattern of total species was better predicted by common species than rare species. Common species confirmed to be good indicators of species richness patterns and also of protected species.

Assessing worth of marine protected areas for the protection of threatened biodiversity using IUCN Red List and Red List Index. A pilot study in six mediterranean areas

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.

Long‐term data are beneficial for monitoring the conservation status of species. Assessments of population change over recent periods of fixed duration will, however, be subject to ‘shifting baselines’, where the accepted norm for the population at the start of the period already represents a reduction from historical levels. International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List criteria for categorizing conservation threat rely on assessing declines against quantitative thresholds, generally measured over 10 years, as indications of the likelihood of extinction in the near future. By contrast, legal frameworks such as the European Habitats Directive require states to achieve and sustain ‘Favourable Conservation Status’ for protected species, while domestic conservation legislation can have more diverse objectives and mechanisms, based on local contexts that extend beyond biological or quantitative criteria. We explore the challenges associated with assessing the risk of extinction and the conservation status that arise from the availability of long‐term monitoring data for hazel dormice Muscardinus avellanarius in the United Kingdom. Numbers of adult dormice counted in the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme are in ongoing decline, amounting to an overall decline of 78% (95% confidence interval = 72%–84%) over 27 years, 1994–2020. If the observed annual rate of decline of 5.7% (95% CI = 4.7%–6.8%) were to continue unabated, dormouse counts would decline by >90% from 1994 to 2034. Despite this, the species would never be categorized as Endangered, under IUCN criteria, which specify a reduction of >50% within 10 years. While such chronic decline may not indicate imminent risk of extinction, justifying a higher Red List category, it is a demonstration of unfavourable conservation status at a national scale. Prioritization based on demonstration of such chronic declines might direct more effective action towards species conservation at a point when their recovery is more attainable, rather than attempting later to reverse a journey to the brink of extinction when the species is finally ‘Endangered’.

Two systems to assess species conservation status in France : complementarity or redundancy ? The case of the Red List and of the Habitats Directive report on species conservation status.— The Red List of threatened species initiative and Member State reporting under the European "Nature" Directives both provide regular assessments of species conservation status at a national level. Focusing on Habitats Directive species within metropolitan France, this study investigates complementarity and redundancy of both assessment systems. In terms of concepts and classification, the two approaches cover both ends of the conservation status “gradient” (from extinction to favourable conservation status). The national Red List is an alert and monitoring system which measures the risk of extinction for each species within a given taxonomic group. The Habitats Directive assessment measures the gap between current status and “favourable status” for 312 species and subspecies. Despite their different spatial scales (administrative vs biogeographical boundaries), the two assessment systems are broadly similar in terms of methods, organization, data and experts involved. For example, for the studied groups, half of the 140 experts mobilized for the national Red List initiative also contributed to the latest assessment of Habitats Directive species in France. Our study compares the conservation status of over 140 taxa assessed by both methods. The results show a strong consistency between the two systems (63 % of cases), especially for extreme status categories. However, our analysis also highlights conceptual and methodological differences, mainly regarding the definition of thresholds and the concept of favourable reference values. Given limited data and restricted human resources, we suggest several ways to promote their convergence. For example, the mutual comparison of assessments results during the validation phase could provide useful information about inconsistencies ; moreover, the two assessments processes could be synchronized in order to gather expert advice and data more efficiently.

The establishment of baseline IUCN Red List assessments for plants is a crucial step in conservation planning. Nowhere is this more important than in biodiversity hotspots that are subject to significant anthropogenic pressures, such as Madagascar. Here, all Madagascar palm species are assessed using the IUCN Red List categories and criteria, version 3.1. Our results indicate that 83% of the 192 endemic species are threatened, nearly four times the proportion estimated for plants globally and exceeding estimates for all other comprehensively evaluated plant groups in Madagascar. Compared with a previous assessment in 1995, the number of Endangered and Critically Endangered species has substantially increased, due to the discovery of 28 new species since 1995, most of which are highly threatened. The conservation status of most species included in both the 1995 and the current assessments has not changed. Where change occurred, more species have moved to lower threat categories than to higher categories, because of improved knowledge of species and their distributions, rather than a decrease in extinction risk. However, some cases of genuine deterioration in conservation status were also identified. Palms in Madagascar are primarily threatened by habitat loss due to agriculture and biological resource use through direct exploitation or collateral damage. The recent extension of Madagascar’s protected area network is highly beneficial for palms, substantially increasing the number of threatened species populations included within reserves. Notably, three of the eight most important protected areas for palms are newly designated. However, 28 threatened and data deficient species are not protected by the expanded network, including some Critically Endangered species. Moreover, many species occurring in protected areas are still threatened, indicating that threatening processes persist even in reserves. Definitive implementation of the new protected areas combined with local community engagement are essential for the survival of Madagascar’s palms.

Stopping declines in biodiversity is critically important, but it is only a first step toward achieving more ambitious conservation goals. The absence of an objective and practical definition of species recovery that is applicable across taxonomic groups leads to inconsistent targets in recovery plans and frustrates reporting and maximization of conservation impact. We devised a framework for comprehensively assessing species recovery and conservation success. We propose a definition of a fully recovered species that emphasizes viability, ecological functionality, and representation; and use counterfactual approaches to quantify degree of recovery. This allowed us to calculate a set of 4 conservation metrics that demonstrate impacts of conservation efforts to date (conservation legacy); identify dependence of a species on conservation actions (conservation dependence); quantify expected gains resulting from conservation action in the medium term (conservation gain); and specify requirements to achieve maximum plausible recovery over the long term (recovery potential). These metrics can incentivize the establishment and achievement of ambitious conservation targets. We illustrate their use by applying the framework to a vertebrate, an invertebrate, and a woody and an herbaceous plant. Our approach is a preliminary framework for an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green List of Species, which was mandated by a resolution of IUCN members in 2012. Although there are several challenges in applying our proposed framework to a wide range of species, we believe its further development, implementation, and integration with the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species will help catalyze a positive and ambitious vision for conservation that will drive sustained conservation action.

Protected areas – protected species?