Conservation status
The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of
that species continuing to survive. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not
simply the number remaining, but the overall increase or decrease in the population over time, breeding success rates, known
threats, and so on.
The best-known worldwide conservation status listing is the IUCN Red
List, but many more specialised lists exist.
The following conservation status categories are recommended for use in BambooWeb entries. They are loosely based on the IUCN categories.
- Secure (SE): no immediate threat to the survival of the species. Examples:
Human, Cat, Dog,
Llama.
- Lower Risk (LR): of conservation concern, facing some risk of extinction in the
medium to longer term. Divided into three subcategories, cd (conservation dependent), where cessation of current
conservation measures could result in its becoming classified at a higher risk level, nt (near threatened), close to
qualifying for listing as Vulnerable but not fully meeting those criteria, and lc (least concern), where threats exist but
are not currently serious. Examples: Bigcone Douglas-fir
(LRnt), Coast Redwood (LRcd).
- Vulnerable (VU): faces a high risk of extinction in the medium-term. Examples:
Ring-tailed Lemur, Great White Shark.
- Endangered (EN): faces a very high risk of extinction in the near future.
Examples: Blue Whale, Desert Bighorn Sheep.
- Critical or critically endangered (CR): faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future. Example: Slender-billed Curlew.
- Extinct in the Wild (EW): captive individuals survive, but there is no
free-living, natural population. Example: Przewalski's Horse
(in preliminary recovery).
- Extinct (EX): the last remaining member of the species had died, or is presumed
to have died beyond reasonable doubt, within recent history. IUCN sets a date of 1500 for
modern extinctions. Examples: Thylacine, Dodo.
- Data Deficient (DD): a taxon is listed as Data deficient when there is inadequate information to make an
assessment of its risk category, either through lack of knowledge of population size, threats to it, or to taxonomic uncertainty
of the validity of the taxon. Examples: Scottish Crossbill
(taxonomic uncertainty with respect to Parrot Crossbill), Yunnan Cypress (lack of knowledge of
wild population size).
- Fossil: not a conservation status as much as an indication that the species is only known
from the fossil records.
- Prehistoric: someplace between Extinct and
Fossil: the species went extinct before 1500, but some
specimens exist in a non-fossilized state. This is of particular use in human evolution, as molecular analysis of the specimens can be compared against that of other modern and
prehistoric specimens.
See also
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