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Information about Red List Index

The Red List Index (RLI), based on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, is an indicator of the changing state of global biodiversity. It defines the conservation status of major species groups, and measures trends in extinction risk over time. By conducting conservation assessments at regular intervals, changes in the threat status of species in a taxonomic group can be used to monitor trends in extinction risk. RLIs have been calculated for birds and amphibians, using changes in threat status for species in each of the groups.

As well as taxonomic groups, RLIs can show trends in extinction risk according to biogeographic realm, habitat type, and dominant threat process.

The sampled approach

Producing indices of change in extinction risk by comprehensively assessing whole species groups, while feasible for well studied groups with relatively few species, is not suitable for all taxonomic groups. Assessing every species in the larger and lesser known groups which comprise the majority of the world’s biodiversity, such as insects and plants, is not practical.

The Red List Index (sampled approach) (SRLI) has been developed in order to determine the threat status and trends of lesser-known and less charismatic species groups. It is a collaboration between IUCN members and is coordinated through the Institute of Zoology (IoZ), the research division of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). The SRLI is based on a representative sample of species selected from taxonomic groups within vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and fungi.

Assessment of the selected species will provide baseline information on the current status of biodiversity. Reassessment at regular intervals will identify changes in threat status over time to provide a more broadly representative picture of biodiversity change.

Applications of the SRLI

The aim is that the SRLI will aid in the production of a global biodiversity indicator capable of measuring whether the rate of biodiversity loss has been reduced. In addition, it will help to develop a better understanding of which taxonomic groups, realms or ecosystems are deteriorating the most rapidly, why species are threatened, where they are threatened, what conservation actions exist and which actions are needed. The aim is to provide policy makers, resource managers, scientists, educators, conservation practitioners and the general public with more thorough knowledge of biodiversity change and further tools with which to make informed decisions.

In April 2002 at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 188 Nations committed themselves to actions to: “… achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national levels…” The RLI has been adopted by the CBD as one of the indicators to measure progress towards this important target, and specifically to monitor changes in threat status of species.

References

Butchart, S.H.M., Akçakaya, H.R., Chanson, J., Baillie, J.E.M., Collen, B., Quader, S., Turner, W.R., Amin, R., Stuart, S.N., Hilton-Taylor, C. 2007. Improvements to the Red List Index. PLoS ONE 2(1): e140. [1]

Butchart, S.H.M., Stattersfield, A.J., Baillie, J., Bennun, L.A., Stuart, S.N., Akçakaya, H.R., Hilton-Taylor, C., Mace, G.M. 2005. Using Red List Indices to measure progress towards the 2010 target and beyond. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 360: 255-268. [2]

Butchart, S.H.M., Stattersfield, A.J., Bennun, L.A., Shutes, S.M., Akçakaya, H.R., Baillie, J.E.M., Stuart, S.N., Hilton-Taylor, C., Mace, G.M. 2004. Measuring Global Trends in the Status of Biodiversity: Red List Indices for Birds. PLoS Biology. 2 (12): e383. [3]

Nic Lughadha, E., Baillie, J., Barthlott, W., Brummitt, N.A., Cheek, M.R., Farjon, A., Govaerts, R., Hardwick, K.A., Hilton-Taylor, C., Meagher, T.R., Moat, J., Mutke, J., Paton, A.J., Pleasants, L.J., Savolainen, V., Schatz, G.E., Smith, P., Turner, I., Wyse-Jackson, P., Crane, P.R. 2005. Measuring the fate of plant diversity: towards a foundation for future monitoring and opportunities for urgent action. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 360: 359-372. [4]

Stuart, S.N., Chanson, J.S., Cox, N.A., Young, B.E., Rodrigues, A.S.L., Fischman, D.L., Waller, R.W. 2004. Status and Trends of Amphibian Declines and Extinctions Worldwide. Science. 306: 1783-1786. [5]

See also

External links

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), created in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
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Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants, fungi, insects, bugs, etc.) which are vulnerable to extinction in the near future.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a
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Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems.
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conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the
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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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extinction is the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point).
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For the science of classifying living things, see .


Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification. The word comes from the Greek τάξις, taxis, 'order' +
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Amphibia
Linnaeus, 1758

Subclasses and Orders

   Order Temnospondyli - extinct
Subclass Lepospondyli - extinct
Subclass Lissamphibia
   Order Anura
   Order Caudata
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Biogeography is the study of the distribution of biodiversity over space and time. It aims to reveal where organisms live, at what abundance, and why.[1]
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Habitat (which is Latin for "it inhabits") is the area where a particular species lives. It is essentially the natural environment in which an organism lives—at least the physical environment—that surrounds (influences and is utilized by) a species population.
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Insecta
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders
Subclass Apterygota
* Archaeognatha (bristletails)
* Thysanura (silverfish)
Subclass Pterygota
* Infraclass Paleoptera (Probably paraphyletic)

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Plantae
Haeckel, 1866[1]

Divisions

Green algae
  • Chlorophyta
  • Charophyta
Land plants (embryophytes)
  • Non-vascular land plants (bryophytes)

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The Institute of Zoology (IoZ) is the research division of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). It is a government-funded research institute specialising in scientific issues relevant to the conservation of animal species and their habitats.
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The Zoological Society of London (sometimes known by the abbreviation ZSL) is a learned society founded in London in April 1826 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Lord Auckland, Sir Humphry Davy, Joseph Sabine, Nicholas Aylward Vigors and other eminent naturalists.
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Vertebrata
Cuvier, 1812

Classes and Clades

See below
Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata (within the phylum Chordata), specifically, those chordates with backbones or spinal columns.
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Invertebrate is an English word that describes any animal without a spinal column. The group includes 97% of all animal species — all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum Vertebrata (fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals).
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Plantae
Haeckel, 1866[1]

Divisions

Green algae
  • Chlorophyta
  • Charophyta
Land plants (embryophytes)
  • Non-vascular land plants (bryophytes)

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Eukarya
Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
(unranked) Opisthokonta

Kingdom: Fungi
(L., 1753) R.T. Moore, 1980[1]

Subkingdom/Phyla

Chytridiomycota
Blastocladiomycota

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ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all the non-living physical factors of the environment.
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April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December

Events

See also: Timeline of the War in Afghanistan (April 2002)

April 1, 2002

  • Various April Fool's hoaxes are perpetrated throughout the world, as is custom.

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The Convention on Biological Diversity, known informally as the Rio Treaty, is an international treaty that was adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
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This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events.
It may contain tentative information; the content may change as the event approaches and more information becomes available.
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The Institute of Zoology (IoZ) is the research division of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). It is a government-funded research institute specialising in scientific issues relevant to the conservation of animal species and their habitats.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Zoological Society of London (sometimes known by the abbreviation ZSL) is a learned society founded in London in April 1826 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Lord Auckland, Sir Humphry Davy, Joseph Sabine, Nicholas Aylward Vigors and other eminent naturalists.
..... Click the link for more information.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), created in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Convention on Biological Diversity, known informally as the Rio Treaty, is an international treaty that was adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
..... Click the link for more information.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is a research program that focuses on ecosystem changes over the course of decades, and projecting those changes into the future. It was launched in 2001 with support from the United Nations by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
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