Testing a global standard for quantifying species recovery and assessing conservation impact.

Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a "Green List of Species" (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species' progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement against benchmarks of species' viability, functionality, and preimpact distribution) to determine current species recovery status (herein species recovery score) and application of that method to estimate past and potential future impacts of conservation based on 4 metrics (conservation legacy, conservation dependence, conservation gain, and recovery potential). We tested the framework with 181 species representing diverse taxa, life histories, biomes, and IUCN Red List categories (extinction risk). Based on the observed distribution of species' recovery scores, we propose the following species recovery categories: fully recovered, slightly depleted, moderately depleted, largely depleted, critically depleted, extinct in the wild, and indeterminate. Fifty-nine percent of tested species were considered largely or critically depleted. Although there was a negative relationship between extinction risk and species recovery score, variation was considerable. Some species in lower risk categories were assessed as farther from recovery than those at higher risk. This emphasizes that species recovery is conceptually different from extinction risk and reinforces the utility of the IUCN Green Status of Species to more fully understand species conservation status. Although extinction risk did not predict conservation legacy, conservation dependence, or conservation gain, it was positively correlated with recovery potential. Only 1.7% of tested species were categorized as zero across all 4 of these conservation impact metrics, indicating that conservation has, or will, play a role in improving or maintaining species status for the vast majority of these species. Based on our results, we devised an updated assessment framework that introduces the option of using a dynamic baseline to assess future impacts of conservation over the short term to avoid misleading results which were generated in a small number of cases, and redefines short term as 10 years to better align with conservation planning. These changes are reflected in the IUCN Green Status of Species Standard

A global reptile assessment highlights shared conservation needs of tetrapods

Comprehensive assessments of species? extinction risks have documented the extinction crisis1 and underpinned strategies for reducing those risks2. Global assessments reveal that, among tetrapods, 40.7% of amphibians, 25.4% of mammals and 13.6% of birds are threatened with extinction3. Because global assessments have been lacking, reptiles have been omitted from conservation-prioritization analyses that encompass other tetrapods4,5,6,7. Reptiles are unusually diverse in arid regions, suggesting that they may have different conservation needs6. Here we provide a comprehensive extinction-risk assessment of reptiles and show that at least 1,829 out of 10,196 species (21.1%) are threatened?confirming a previous extrapolation8 and representing 15.6 billion years of phylogenetic diversity. Reptiles are threatened by the same major factors that threaten other tetrapods?agriculture, logging, urban development and invasive species?although the threat posed by climate change remains uncertain. Reptiles inhabiting forests, where these threats are strongest, are more threatened than those in arid habitats, contrary to our prediction. Birds, mammals and amphibians are unexpectedly good surrogates for the conservation of reptiles, although threatened reptiles with the smallest ranges tend to be isolated from other threatened tetrapods. Although some reptiles?including most species of crocodiles and turtles?require urgent, targeted action to prevent extinctions, efforts to protect other tetrapods, such as habitat preservation and control of trade and invasive species, will probably also benefit many reptiles.Fil: Cox, Neil. No especifíca;Fil: Young, Bruce E.. No especifíca;Fil: Bowles, Philip. No especifíca;Fil: Fernandez, Miguel. George Mason University; Estados Unidos. Universidad Mayor de San Andrés; BoliviaFil: Marin, Julie. Universite de Paris 13-Nord; FranciaFil: Rapacciuolo, Giovanni. California Academy of Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Böhm, Monika. The Zoological Society of London; Reino UnidoFil: Brooks, Thomas M.. University of The Philippines; Filipinas. University of Tasmania; AustraliaFil: Hedges, S. Blair. Temple University; Estados UnidosFil: Hilton Taylor, Craig. Biodiversity Assessment & Knowledge Team; Reino UnidoFil: Hoffmann, Michael. The Zoological Society of London; Reino UnidoFil: Jenkins, Richard K. B.. Biodiversity Assessment & Knowledge Team; Reino UnidoFil: Tognelli, Marcelo F.. No especifíca;Fil: Alexander, Graham J.. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Allison, Allen. Bishop Museum; Estados UnidosFil: Ananjeva, Natalia B.. Zoological Institute; RusiaFil: Auliya, Mark. Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig; AlemaniaFil: Avila, Luciano Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales; ArgentinaFil: Chapple, David G.. Monash University; AustraliaFil: Cisneros Heredia, Diego F.. Universidad San Francisco de Quito; EcuadorFil: Cogger, Harold G.. Australian Museum Research Institute; AustraliaFil: Colli, Guarino Rinaldi. Universidade do Brasília; BrasilFil: de Silva, Anslem. No especifíca;Fil: Eisemberg, Carla C.. Charles Darwin University; AustraliaFil: Els, Johannes. Government of Sharjah; Emiratos Arabes UnidosFil: Fong G, Ansel. Centro Oriental de Biodiversidad y Ecosistemas; CubaFil: Grant, Tandora D.. No especifíca;Fil: Hitchmough, Rodney A.. No especifíca;Fil: Iskandar, Djoko T.. Institut Teknologi Bandung; IndonesiaFil: Kidera, Noriko. Okayama University of Science; Japón. National Institute for Environmental Studies; JapónFil: Martins Pimentel, Márcio. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Meiri, Shai. Universitat Tel Aviv; IsraelFil: Mitchell, Nicola J.. University of Western Australia; AustraliaFil: Molur, Sanjay. No especifíca;Fil: Nogueira, Cristiano de C.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Ortiz, Juan Carlos. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Penner, Johannes. Staatliches Museum fur Naturkunde Stuttgart; AlemaniaFil: Rhodin, Anders G. J.. Chelonian Research Foundation; Estados UnidosFil: Rivas, Gilson A.. Universidad del Zulia; VenezuelaFil: Rödel, Mark-Oliver. Staatliches Museum fur Naturkunde Stuttgart; AlemaniaFil: Roll, Uri. Ben Gurion University of the Negev; IsraelFil: Sanders, Kate L.. University of Adelaide; AustraliaFil: Santos Barrera, Georgina. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Shea, Glenn M.. University of Western Sydney; AustraliaFil: Spawls, Stephen. No especifíca;Fil: Stuart, Bryan L.. North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Tolley, Krystal A.. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Trape, Jean-François. Institut de Recherche Pour Le Développement Dakar; SenegalFil: Vidal, Marcela A.. Universidad del Bio Bio; ChileFil: Wagner, Philipp. No especifíca;Fil: Wallace, Bryan P.. No especifíca;Fil: Xie, Yan. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de Chin

The impact of conservation on the status of the world's vertebrates

Using data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world's vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth again as much in the absence of these. Nonetheless, current conservation efforts remain insufficient to offset the main drivers of biodiversity loss in these groups: agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive alien species

The conservation status of the world’s reptiles

Effective and targeted conservation action requires detailed information about species, their distribution, systematics and ecology as well as the distribution of threat processes which affect them. Knowledge of reptilian diversity remains surprisingly disparate, and innovative means of gaining rapid insight into the status of reptiles are needed in order to highlight urgent conservation cases and inform environmental policy with appropriate biodiversity information in a timely manner. We present the first ever global analysis of extinction risk in reptiles, based on a random representative sample of 1500 species (16% of all currently known species). To our knowledge, our results provide the first analysis of the global conservation status and distribution patterns of reptiles and the threats affecting them, highlighting conservation priorities and knowledge gaps which need to be addressed urgently to ensure the continued survival of the world’s reptiles. Nearly one in five reptilian species are threatened with extinction, with another one in five species classed as Data Deficient. The proportion of threatened reptile species is highest in freshwater environments, tropical regions and on oceanic islands, while data deficiency was highest in tropical areas, such as Central Africa and Southeast Asia, and among fossorial reptiles. Our results emphasise the need for research attention to be focussed on tropical areas which are experiencing the most dramatic rates of habitat loss, on fossorial reptiles for which there is a chronic lack of data, and on certain taxa such as snakes for which extinction risk may currently be underestimated due to lack of population information. Conservation actions specifically need to mitigate the effects of human-induced habitat loss and harvesting, which are the predominant threats to reptiles