International Union For The Conservation Of Nature Red List Research Articles

Composition, Conservation Status, and Market Value of Fish Landed at the Labuhan Haji Fishing Port, Aceh, Indonesia

Labuhan Haji Fishing Port (PPP) is the only type C port in the South Aceh. Several types of fish categorised as near threatened and vulnerable, including sharks and rays, are still caught and traded at Labuhan Haji PPP.. This research aims to determine the species composition, species conservation status, and economic value of fish landed at Labuhan Haji PPP South Aceh. This research was conducted in July-August 2022 at the Labuhan Haji Coastal Fishing Port (PPP), Pasar Lama Village, Labuhan Haji District, South Aceh Regency. Identification of fish types is carried out by matching the morphological characteristics of the fish with the morphological characters referring to https://www.fishbase.se/se/search.php. The conservation status of fish species refers to the red lists from IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature), CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered of Wild Flora and Fauna), and KEPMEN-KP/1/2021 regarding protected fish species. The economic value of fish was obtained through brief interviews with fish traders at the research site. Besides, the data collected includes the selling price range for fish at Labuhan Haji PPP. The research results showed that Perciformes was the most frequently found order at 37% (26 species, 10 families), and Carangidae was the most frequently found family at 19% (13 species). Based on the IUCN red list, 64% Least concern, 9% Not evaluated, 7% Data deficient, 7% Vulnerable, 6% Near Threatened, 4% Endangered, and 3% Critically endangered. Based on CITES, 7% is recorded as Appendix II, and 93% is not evaluated. Based on Ministerial Decree No.1 KEPMEN-KP/2021 concerning Protected Fish Types, no species are listed as protected fish species in Indonesia. The fish with the highest economic value are from the Serranidae family, with an average price of IDR. 63,333 /Kg and the type of fish with the lowest selling price is from the Mobulidae family, which has an average price of Rp. 8,500/Kg. The types of fish landed at Labuhan Haji PPP are caught using purse seines, gill nets, fishing rods, and floating charts (fish aggregating devices).

Using automated content analysis to monitor global online trade in endemic reptile species

AbstractAimOnline reptile trade poses new challenges to species conservation and requires automated monitoring. Range‐restricted and endemic reptile species are especially vulnerable to wildlife trade and unsustainable exploitation. In this study, we investigated the magnitude and geographic distribution of online trade of 96 endemic and range‐restricted reptile species from the Lesser Antilles.LocationGlobal.MethodsWe developed methods for automated collection, filtering and processing of wildlife trade content for the targeted species from publicly accessible online platforms.ResultsWe identified 599 relevant advertisements originating from 231 different advertisers and 41 websites focusing on 43 species. Species advertised included threatened species according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and species listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices. Among threatened species, five are Critically Endangered, three are Endangered and two are Vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List. Moreover, three of the six most advertised species were classified as Near Threatened. Germany was the country with the highest number of advertisements (N = 124), followed by the United States (N = 55), the Netherlands (N = 15) and United Kingdom (N = 15). Based on data from sale advertisements that included price and currency data, prices ranged from one to over a thousand Euros.Main ConclusionsWe present a framework for automated analysis of online trade in reptiles that can be extended to other taxonomic groups. Our results highlight countries, such as Germany and the United States, where enhanced monitoring actions would be important to assess the origin (i.e. captive bred or wild sourced individuals) and the legality of the trade. Immediate conservation actions, such as population monitoring, are also needed to ensure wildlife trade is not threatening the persistence of endemic reptile populations in the wild.

Protected area planning to conserve biodiversity in an uncertain future.

Protected areas are a key instrument for conservation. Despite this, they are vulnerable to risks associated with weak governance, land-use intensification, and climate change. We used a novel hierarchical optimization approach to identify priority areas for expanding the global protected area system that explicitly accounted for such risks while maximizing protection of all known terrestrial vertebrate species. To incorporate risk categories, we built on the minimum set problem, where the objective is to reach species distribution protection targets while accounting for 1 constraint, such as land cost or area. We expanded this approach to include multiple objectives accounting for risk in the problem formulation by treating each risk layer as a separate objective in the problem formulation. Reducing exposure to these risks required expanding the area of the global protected area system by 1.6% while still meeting conservation targets. Incorporating risks from weak governance drove the greatest changes in spatial priorities for protection, and incorporating risks from climate change required the largest increase (2.52%) in global protected area. Conserving wide-ranging species required countries with relatively strong governance to protect more land when they bordered nations with comparatively weak governance. Our results underscore the need for cross-jurisdictional coordination and demonstrate how risk can be efficiently incorporated into conservation planning. Planeación de las áreas protegidas para conservar la biodiversidad en un futuro incierto.

Effect of IUCN Red List category on public attention to mammals.

Cultural data is a powerful tool to analyze public awareness of key societal issues, including the conservation of nature. I used two publicly available repositories of cultural data, Google Trends and Google Ngram, to quantify the effect of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List conservation status on public attention toward 4539 mammal species. With Google Trends, I calculated whether Google searches for their common and scientific names have been increasing or decreasing over time. I also ran an anomaly detection analysis to investigate whether a change in red-list status directly results in an increase in Google searches. Additionally, I quantified the mentions of species' common and scientific names in English texts with Google Ngram. Overall, Google searches for most mammal species remained at similar levels or increased since 2008. The severity of species' IUCN Red List status was a significant predictor of increasing Google searches, although the effect size was relatively small. Red-list status seemed strongly confounded with mammal body size. Species that moved to a higher-risk category spiked significantly in Google searches directly after the new designation. The mention of species' common names in the Google Ngram's English 2019 corpus significantly increased as the red-list category increased. These results provide valuable insight into the importance of the IUCN Red List for increasing public awareness and the usefulness of publicly available cultural data on examining the effectiveness of specific conservation efforts and thus evaluating targets for support and funding.

Time-lagged effects of habitat fragmentation on terrestrial mammals in Madagascar.

Biodiversity is severely threatened by habitat destruction. As a consequence of habitat destruction, the remaining habitat becomes more fragmented. This results in time-lagged population extirpations in remaining fragments when these are too small to support populations in the long term. If these time-lagged effects are ignored, the long-term impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation will be underestimated. We quantified the magnitude of time-lagged effects of habitat fragmentation for 157 nonvolant terrestrial mammal species in Madagascar, one of the biodiversity hotspots with the highest rates of habitat loss and fragmentation. We refined species' geographic ranges based on habitat preferences and elevation limits and then estimated which habitat fragments were too small to support a population for at least 100 years given stochastic population fluctuations. We also evaluated whether time-lagged effects would change the threat status of species according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessment framework. We used allometric relationships to obtain the population parameters required to simulate the population dynamics of each species, and we quantified the consequences of uncertainty in these parameter estimates by repeating the analyses with a range of plausible parameter values. Based on the median outcomes, we found that for 34 species (22% of the 157 species) at least 10% of their current habitat contained unviable populations. Eight species (5%) had a higher threat status when accounting for time-lagged effects. Based on 0.95-quantile values, following a precautionary principle, for 108 species (69%) at least 10% of their habitat contained unviable populations, and 51 species (32%) had a higher threat status. Our results highlight the need to preserve continuous habitat and improve connectivity between habitat fragments. Moreover, our findings may help to identify species for which time-lagged effects are most severe and which may thus benefit the most from conservation actions.

Data sharing for conservation: A standardized checklist of US native tree species and threat assessments to prioritize and coordinate action

Societal Impact StatementUnderstanding the current state of trees within the United States is imperative for protecting those species, their habitats, and the countless communities they support, as well as the ecosystem services they provide. We present an updated checklist of all tree species native to the contiguous United States, their state distribution, extinction risk, and most common threats. Knowledge of national threat “hotspots” and conservation priorities facilitates efficient conservation efforts and the allocation of resources to safeguard the 11–16% of US tree species that are threatened. These results lay the groundwork for tree and ecosystem conservation efforts in the United States that contribute to achieving critical international conservation goals, including the United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration and the Global Tree Assessment.Summary The Global Tree Assessment aims to complete threat assessments for all the world's ~60,000 tree species, but most species native to the continental United States had either never been assessed or were outdated on the two most widely used threat assessment platforms in the United States, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and NatureServe. There was also no coordinated mechanism for sharing data between these platforms, resulting in missing, duplicated, or outdated information. We (1) created an updated checklist of all tree species native to the contiguous United States based on the standardized Global Tree Assessment tree definition, (2) created over 700 new or updated IUCN Red List assessments and NatureServe Global Ranks, and (3) developed a replicable assessment data sharing process. We present an updated checklist of native US trees that includes 881 species from 269 genera, with Quercus and Crataegus as the most species‐rich tree genera. We present the first country‐wide analysis of tree extinction risk, patterns of geographic and taxonomic diversity, and leading threats. An estimated 11–16% of US tree species are threatened with extinction, with the most common threat being invasive and problematic pests and diseases. We introduce a “crosswalk” process for efficient, large‐scale data sharing between the IUCN Red List and NatureServe, using IUCN Red List Species Information Service (SIS) Connect, which can be applied to other taxonomic groups in North America. The checklist, threat assessments, and crosswalk methodology represent a significant advancement in prioritizing conservation action for at‐risk tree species and restoration of forests in the United States, supporting the global goals of the United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration and the Global Tree Assessment effort.

A method for making Red List assessments with herbarium data and distribution models for species‐rich plant taxa: Lessons from the Neotropical genus Guatteria (Annonaceae)

Societal Impact StatementDespite its importance, biodiversity is declining rapidly. To adequately prioritise conservation efforts, we need to know how threatened species actually are. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List is the most widely recognised tool for assessing extinction risk. Unfortunately, many lesser‐known species are not yet represented, such as those that are rarely collected or are in species‐rich taxon groups. This is potentially due to low data availability, although Red List assessments can still be made with little data. We present a method to rapidly assess the conservation status of species that have low data availability, which will speed up the inclusion of species from large groups into the IUCN Red List.Summary• The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List is the most widely recognised tool to assess the extinction risk of species. For it to be effective in directing conservation effort, it is important that as many species as possible are represented, but many are unfortunately not. A lack of data is often the main reason for this, especially for lesser‐studied species. However, this does not mean assessments cannot be made.• We examine the use of georeferenced herbarium data in combination with species distribution modelling for assessing plants on the IUCN Red List, with Guatteria (Annonaceae), a genus of Neotropical trees, as a case study. We focus on differences between preliminary and officially published assessments, show the final conservation status of all Guatteria species and provide a roadmap for compiling Red List assessments for species‐rich plant groups in the future.• We found that species‐distribution models aid in compiling Red List assessments, especially for taxa that lack data, but expert opinion remains an important source of information. Half of Guatteria species (48.0%) are Least Concern, and 13.1% of species are near threatened or threatened. The remaining species are Data Deficient or Not Evaluated. Most of our preliminary assessments remained unchanged upon review and publication on the IUCN Red List.• Our method allows for assessing a large group of taxa in a relatively short amount of time. We argue that this benefit outweighs the potential disadvantage of a lack of detail in these assessments, emphasising the potential of this method for future Red List assessments.

УЯЗВИМЫЕ ВИДЫ ПОЗВОНОЧНЫХ ЖИВОТНЫХ НИЖНЕ-CВИРСКОГО ЗАПОВЕДНИКА

Establishment of protected areas is one of the most effective measures for the environment protection. The reserves, i.e. the areas where any human activity is not allowed, are especially effective. It is expected that they would become shelters for the threatened species. One of such areas is Nizhne-Svirsky Reserve at the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga. It was established in 1980, and since then no intervention in natural processes has been taking place there. Thirty-five threatened species of vertebrate animals have been registered in the reserve: 33 species of birds and two species of mammals. These species are either listed in the Red Book of Russia, or are considered as threatened or near-threatened in the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). At the water borders of the reserve, salmon and whitefish migrate, their local populations being rated as protected in Russia. Most of registered threatened animals stay in the reserve for shorts periods during migrations or visit it occasionally. Only 8–10 species live in it relatively constantly. The small number of vulnerable species under protected conditions indicates that the creation of reserves may not be sufficient to solve the problem of their conservation. Generalization of data related to threatened animals of the Nizhne-Svirsky Reserve reveals significant contradictions between the Red Book of Russia and the IUCN Red List: some species are considered threatened in Russia but not in the IUCN Red List, although a significant part of their range is located in Russia; or vice versa: some species in Russia are considered common or even game species, whereas according to the IUCN Red List, they raise concern. In the present case, the first option often relates to raptors, whereas the second one to waders and ducks.

Assessing the extinction risk of insular, understudied marine species.

Hydrothermal vents are rare deep‐sea oases that house faunal assemblages with a similar density of life as coral reefs. Only approximately 600 of these hotspots are known worldwide, most only one‐third of a football field in size. With advancing development of the deep‐sea mining industry, there is an urgent need to protect these unique, insular ecosystems and their specialist endemic faunas. We applied the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List criteria to assess the extinction risk of vent‐endemic molluscs with varying exposure to potential deep‐sea mining. We assessed 31 species from three key areas under different regulatory frameworks in the Indian, West Pacific, and Southern Oceans. Three vent mollusc species were also examined as case studies of different threat contexts (protected or not from potential mining) to explore the interaction of local regulatory frameworks and IUCN Red List category assignment. We found that these assessments were robust even when there was some uncertainty in the total range of individual species, allowing assessment of species that have only recently been named and described. For vent‐endemic species, regulatory changes to area‐based management can have a greater impact on IUCN Red List assessment outcomes than incorporating additional data about species distributions. Our approach revealed the most useful IUCN Red List criteria for vent‐endemic species: criteria B and D2. This approach, combining regulatory framework and distribution, has the potential to rapidly gauge assessment outcomes for species in insular systems worldwide.

Inclusive Governance and Biodiversity Conservation: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

We examine the conservation effects attributable to changes in the size of community-governed protected areas (PAs) by adopting a generalized difference-in-difference (DID) design with a two-way fixed effect regression model and synthetic control methods. Panel data from the extraordinary datasets of the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPAs) and the Red List of International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are used for 32 Sub-Saharan African countries in this study. Our generalized DID estimates show that countries with community-governed PAs have reduced the IUCN Red List threat level by 17% for mammals. We also find stronger evidence of the effect of community-governed PAs on the IUCN threat level using synthetic control method that allows us to match the “intervention countries” with those countries that exhibit similar pre-intervention threat level. Our results are robust on alternate specifications in which we exploit variations in the cumulative size of the designated PAs differentiated by the IUCN governance types. We also compare the effect of strictly state-governed PAs with community-governed PAs. Our findings provide evidence in support of recent qualitative studies that find positive responses of community participation towards common goods that carry potential economic incentives. This paper contributes to the idea that inclusive environmental policies and legislations yield environmental gains not at the cost of social exclusion.

Giraffe taxonomy, geographic distribution and conservation

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Molecular characterisation and morphological description of two new species of Hepatozoon Miller, 1908 (Apicomplexa: Adeleorina: Hepatozoidae) infecting leukocytes of African leopards Panthera pardus pardus (L.)

BackgroundThe African leopard Panthera pardus pardus (L.) is currently listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) red list of threatened species due to ongoing population declines. This implies that leopard-specific parasites are also vulnerable to extinction. Intracellular apicomplexan haemoparasites from the genus Hepatozoon Miller, 1908 have been widely reported from wild carnivores in Africa, including non-specific reports from leopards. This paper describes two new haemogregarines in captive and wild leopards from South Africa and provides a tabular summary of these species in relation to species of Hepatozoon reported from mammalian carnivores.MethodsBlood was collected from nine captive and eight wild leopards at various localities throughout South Africa. Thin blood smears were Giemsa-stained and screened for intraleukocytic haemoparasites. Gamont stages were micrographed and morphometrically compared with existing literature pertaining to infections in felid hosts. Haemogregarine specific primer set 4558F and 2733R was used to target the 18S rRNA gene for molecular analysis. Resulting sequences were compared to each other and with other available representative mammalian carnivore Hepatozoon sequences from GenBank.ResultsTwo species of Hepatozoon were found in captive and wild leopards. Of the 17 leopards screened, eight were infected with one or both morphologically and genetically distinct haemogregarines. When compared with other species of Hepatozoon reported from felids, the two species from this study were morphometrically and molecularly distinct. Species of Hepatozoon from this study were observed to exclusively parasitize a particular type of leukocyte, with Hepatozoon luiperdjie n. sp. infecting neutrophils and Hepatozoon ingwe n. sp. infecting lymphocytes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these haemogregarines are genetically distinct, with Hepatozoon luiperdjie n. sp. and Hepatozoon ingwe n. sp. falling in well supported separate clades.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first morphometric and molecular description of Hepatozoon in captive and wild African leopards in South Africa. This study highlights the value of using both morphometric and molecular characteristics when describing species of Hepatozoon from felid hosts.

From Expert to Data-Driven Biodiversity Knowledge: Assessing ecosystem irreplaceability with IUCN Red List data for freshwater fish

Critical as they are for humans and nature, freshwater ecosystems are threatened—but the extent and depth of these threats are not well understood, especially if essential biodiversity data are lacking. Any policy aimed at protecting such ecosystems must first assess the threat factors and the potential harm, well before proposing conservation measures such as the creation and development of Protected Areas (PAs). These assessments must be done using a deep and sound knowledge of the actual and potential biodiversity variables. Freshwater ecosystems have been largely neglected in traditional PA design and management (Abell et al. 2007), be it for scarcity of biodiversity data, or for more perception-related reasons such as visibility and accessibility driving the allocation of conservation resources to more data-rich environments. In an effort to contribute to shifting this state of affairs, we have developed an irreplaceability index to identify the most relevant places to achieve conservation aims for freshwater fish, based on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, which, in turn, should be founded on available biodiversity data upon which expert knowledge is based (Le Saout 2013). However, we found large assessment gaps in the IUCN Red List for freshwater fish. These gaps may result from the non-systematic acquisition of primary biodiversity data, which could eventually be alleviated by coordinated policies promoting ecosystem surveys tailored at increasing the availability and spread of such data, while identifying, targeting and prioritizing hotspots. Obtaining valid conclusions from low-assessment areas such as South America, which are simultaneously biodiversity and endangerment hotspots (Collen 2014), is particularly troublesome. Building an irreplaceability index requires access to abundant, fine-scale biodiversity data. When combined with the assessment information available in the IUCN Red List, we can identify those areas where low assessment rates for highly irreplaceable rivers become keystones to protect freshwater biodiversity, and can therefore suggest actions for policy makers to take at both regional and local scales. In particular, we have thus identified those irreplaceable rivers that fall outside the current net of PAs. In a context of inadequate investment in biodiversity conservation (Juffe-Bignoli et al. 2016), our findings and the informatics-powered methods we propose, will hopefully help decision makers establish conservation priorities and allocate funds to preserve irreplaceable rivers and their fish fauna. Furthermore, the necessity of improving the IUCN Red List in low-assessed areas, requires synergies among IUCN, Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and conservation scientists to achieve accurate and reliable assessments.

Incorporating citizen science, museum specimens, and field work into the assessment of extinction risk of the American Bumble bee (Bombus pensylvanicus De Geer 1773) in Canada

Many Bumble bee (Bombus) species are in decline and conservation efforts must be undertaken now to lessen or reverse the trend. For effective efforts to occur, the first step must be an accurate assessment of extinction risk. Yet only four of over forty Canadian Bombus species have been assessed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), despite evidence of decline for numerous species in this genus. Here, we evaluated the status of the American Bumble bee, Bombus pensylvanicus De Geer 1773 in Canada. A challenge with species assessments is obtaining adequate occurrence data temporally and spatially. Citizen science is a field where volunteers can collect data similar to that of experts over a broader coverage than researchers could often cover alone. We used data from the Bumble Bee Watch citizen science program, a database of North American Bombus records representing field survey and collection records from the late-1800s, and our own field surveys to evaluate the status of B. pensylvanicus in Canada using the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessment criteria. We found that B. pensylvanicus’ Area of Occurrence has decreased by about 70%, its Extent of Occurrence by 37%, and its relative abundance by 89%, from 2007 to 2016 as compared to 1907–2006. These findings warrant an assessment of Critically Endangered using IUCN Red List criteria for B. pensylvanicus in Canada. Our findings will help inform management of B. pensylvanicus and exemplify the importance of citizen science programs for wildlife conservation.

Growth and survival of juvenile Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni) reared under different salinities in recirculating aquaria equipped with protein skimmers

The Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni) is a small marine ornamental fish endemic to the Banggai Archipelago in Indonesia, listed as Endangered in the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List, and twice proposed for CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Wild Species of Fauna and Flora) Appendix II listing. In addition to in-situ conservation, the Indonesian Action Plan (2017-2021) calls for ex-situ P. kauderni conservation, including the development of captive breeding. The accumulation of metabolic waste was suspected as a causal factor in high levels of mortality under all treatments in preliminary captive rearing trials. Protein skimmers can minimise the accumulation of potentially toxic nutrients, organic compounds, and pathogens. This research evaluated the effect of salinity on the growth and survival of juvenile P. kauderni in recirculating systems equipped with protein skimmers and periodical siphoning of waste with partial water change. Juvenile P. kauderni were obtained from the introduced population at Mamboro, Palu Bay, Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. Initial size range was 1-3 cm standard length (SL) and 0.105-0.329 g weight. Four salinity treatments (27 ppt, 30 ppt, 33 ppt, 36 ppt) with 5 replicates were applied, with 3 fish per experimental unit (aquarium, 20x30x20 cm, 7 litre capacity). Each fish was measured and weighed at the beginning and end of the 30 day experimental period. The fish were fed with mosquito (Culex sp.) larvae twice a day. The protein skimmers maintained high water quality and survival was high under all treatments, Survival was 100% at 27 ppt and 30 ppt. The 27 ppt treatment yielded the highest average growth (0.35 g in weight and 1.15 cm in SL). Our results show that juvenile P. kauderni grow faster at salinity levels lower than the average in endemic or introduced habitats of this species, and indicate that the use of protein skimmers can effective in promoting the survival of captive juvenile P. kauderni.

Redlistr: tools for the IUCN Red Lists of ecosystems and threatened species in R

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of ecosystems and Red List of threatened species are global standards for assessing risks of ecosystem collapse and species extinction. However, misconceptions of the Red List assessment process, along with its technically demanding nature, can result in the misapplication of their criteria, leading to inconsistent and potentially unreliable assessments. To address this problem, we developed redlistr, an R package aiding in the production of consistent species and ecosystem Red List assessments. Redlistr's features include methods to calculate 1) area from spatial data, 2) range size metrics, 3) rates of change of distributions or populations, and 4) distribution or population at another time from these rates. A key feature of the package is the systematic approach used to eliminate geometric uncertainty when estimating area of occupancy. Here, we develop two case studies to demonstrate the functionalities of redlistr with typical workflows for both species and ecosystems. Redlistr was developed to be accessible to users with a broad range of experience in programming for spatial and temporal data analysis, and sufficiently flexible to allow users to parameterise functions and select equations to fit their purposes. The package specifically aims to assist researchers and conservation practitioners to conduct robust and transparent risk assessments of ecosystems and species under the IUCN Red List criteria but is also useful for other studies requiring analyses of range size, area change and calculations of rates of change.

Refining area of occupancy to address the modifiable areal unit problem in ecology and conservation.

The modifiable areal unit problem is prevalent across many aspects of spatial analysis within ecology and conservation. The problem is particularly manifested when calculating metrics for extinction risk estimation, for example, area of occupancy (AOO). Although embedded in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria, AOO is often not used or is poorly applied. We evaluated new and existing methods for calculating AOO from occurrence records and devised a method for determining the minimum AOO with a uniform grid. We evaluated the grid cell shape, origin, and rotation with real-world and simulated data and reviewed the effects on AOO values and possible impacts for species already assessed on the IUCN Red List. The AOO varied by up to 80%, and a ratio of cells to points of 1:1.21 yielded the maximum variation in the number of occupied cells. These findings potentially impact 3% of existing species on the IUCN Red List and species not yet assessed. Our new method combined grid rotation and moving grid origin and gave fast, robust, and reproducible results and, in the majority of cases, achieved the minimum AOO. As well as determining minimum AOO, our method yielded a confidence interval that should be incorporated into existing tools that support species risk assessment. We recommend when recording AOO and other areal measurements that the methods; summary statistics across multiple iterations; angle and origin of the minimum grid; map projection; and datum be recorded, this will lead to more robust species risk assessments.

Science, scale and the frontier of governing mobile marine species

AbstractMarine turtles have complex life histories and make expansive migrations over their long lifetimes, often through multiple states’ exclusive economic zones and areas beyond national jurisdiction. This complexity makes it difficult to “know” marine turtles and presents jurisdictional mismatches for existing state and inter‐state bodies that govern turtles. This paper examines how scientists tasked with assessing marine turtles for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species have used their scientific expertise to make marine turtles legible for governance, including by rescaling the Red List assessment process to include both global and regional levels. We find that in this rescaling project, marine turtle scientists have created two new objects of governance: spatially bounded “regional management units” and the scientists themselves, who have begun to sort themselves and their work around the new spatial units in the interest of generating progress in ocean conservation. More broadly, the story of the IUCN Red List process for sea turtles turns attention to the work of science and scientists in making oceans resources legible, and therefore governable, even when they defy the boundaries of state‐led regulatory bodies or jurisdictional spaces.

Improving generation length estimates for the IUCN Red List.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List classifies species according to their risk of extinction, informing local to global conservation decisions. Here we look to advance the estimation of generation length, which is used as a time-scalar in the Red List as a way of accounting for differences in species’ life-histories. We calculated or predicted generation length for 86 species of antelope following the Rspan approach. We also tested the importance of both allometry (body-mass) and phylogeny (phylogenetic eigenvectors) as predictors of generation length within a Phylogenetic Eigenvector Map (PEM) framework. We then evaluated the predictive power of this PEM and two binning approaches, following a leave-one-out cross-validation routine. We showed that captive and wild longevity data are nonequivalent and that both body-mass and phylogeny are important predictors for generation length (body-mass explained 64% and phylogeny 36% of the partitioned explained variance). Plus, both the PEM, and the binning approach that included both taxonomic rank and body-mass, had good predictive power and therefore are suitable for extrapolating generation length to missing-data species. Therefore, based on our findings, we advise separating captive and wild data when estimating generation length, and considering the implications of wild and captive data more widely in life-history analyses. We also recommend that body-mass and phylogeny should be used in combination, preferably under a PEM framework (as it was less reliant on available reference species and more explicitly accounts for phylogenetic relatedness) or a binning approach if a PEM is not feasible, to extrapolate generation length to missing-data species. Overall, we provide a transparent, consistent and transferable workflow for improving the use of the Rspan method to calculate generation length for the IUCN Red List.

Future land use threats to range‐restricted fish species in the United States

AbstractAimLand use change is one major threat to freshwater biodiversity, and land use change scenarios can help to assess threats from future land use change, thereby guiding proactive conservation decisions. Our goal was to identify which range‐restricted freshwater fish species are most likely to be affected by land use change and to determine where threats to these species from future land use change in the conterminous United States are most pronounced.LocationUnited States of America.MethodsWe focused on range‐restricted freshwater fish species, identified which of these species are considered threatened based on either the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List or the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and compared their distributions to patterns of future land use changes by 2051 under three scenarios.ResultsWe found that 14% of the range‐restricted species had >30% of their distribution area occupied by intensive land use in 2001, and this number increased from 27 to 58% by 2051 depending on the land use scenario. Among the 57 species most likely to be strongly affected by intensive land use, only 26% of these species are currently listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List, and 12% are listed as threatened under the ESA.Main conclusionsOur approach demonstrates the value of considering future land use change scenarios in extinction risk assessment frameworks and offers guidelines for how this could be achieved for future assessments.