Endangered species: could better tracking methods reduce vulnerability or extinction?
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Palau. Image by LuxTonnerre, licensed under Creative Commons.[/caption]
Guest blogger botanist Craig Costion has written an article on endangered species on Biodiversity Revolution's blog which describes a new approach to developing the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) classification for potentially endangered species for which no demographic information is available.
The term 'endangered species' refers to species which fall under the IUCN's Red List, a complete list of all endangered mammals, birds, amphibians, sharks, reef-building corals, cycads and conifers, but only a small percentage of all species of reptiles, fishes, and selected groups of plants and invertebrates have been classified.
Currently the IUCN classifies a species or habitat as 'vulnerable' if it has suffered a 30% decline 'over 3 generations or within 100 years'. The author believes it is important to classify the remaining species to include 'information on the history of habitat modification and destruction extending over and beyond 100 years' to obtain a greater understanding of species vulnerability.
The full findings and methods are available in the post entitled Endangered Species by Craig Costion.
Palau. Image by LuxTonnerre, licensed under Creative Commons.[/caption]Guest blogger botanist Craig Costion has written an article on endangered species on Biodiversity Revolution's blog which describes a new approach to developing the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) classification for potentially endangered species for which no demographic information is available.
The term 'endangered species' refers to species which fall under the IUCN's Red List, a complete list of all endangered mammals, birds, amphibians, sharks, reef-building corals, cycads and conifers, but only a small percentage of all species of reptiles, fishes, and selected groups of plants and invertebrates have been classified.
Currently the IUCN classifies a species or habitat as 'vulnerable' if it has suffered a 30% decline 'over 3 generations or within 100 years'. The author believes it is important to classify the remaining species to include 'information on the history of habitat modification and destruction extending over and beyond 100 years' to obtain a greater understanding of species vulnerability.
The full findings and methods are available in the post entitled Endangered Species by Craig Costion.
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