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Establecimiento de Criterios para la Lista Roja de UICN de Ecosistemas Amenazados
Author(s) -
RODRÍGUEZ JON PAUL,
RODRÍGUEZCLARK KATHRYN M.,
BAILLIE JONATHAN E. M.,
ASH NEVILLE,
BENSON JOHN,
BOUCHER TIMOTHY,
BROWN CLAIRE,
BURGESS NEIL D.,
COLLEN BEN,
JENNINGS MICHAEL,
KEITH DAVID A.,
NICHOLSON EMILY,
REVENGA CARMEN,
REYERS BELINDA,
ROUGET MATHIEU,
SMITH TAMMY,
SPALDING MARK,
TABER ANDREW,
WALPOLE MATT,
ZAGER IRENE,
ZAMIN TARA
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
conservation biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.2
H-Index - 222
eISSN - 1523-1739
pISSN - 0888-8892
DOI - 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01598.x
Subject(s) - iucn red list , threatened species , ecosystem , environmental resource management , conservation dependent species , conservation status , extinction (optical mineralogy) , geography , ecology , environmental science , near threatened species , biology , habitat , paleontology
The potential for conservation of individual species has been greatly advanced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) development of objective, repeatable, and transparent criteria for assessing extinction risk that explicitly separate risk assessment from priority setting. At the IV World Conservation Congress in 2008, the process began to develop and implement comparable global standards for ecosystems. A working group established by the IUCN has begun formulating a system of quantitative categories and criteria, analogous to those used for species, for assigning levels of threat to ecosystems at local, regional, and global levels. A final system will require definitions of ecosystems; quantification of ecosystem status; identification of the stages of degradation and loss of ecosystems; proxy measures of risk (criteria); classification thresholds for these criteria; and standardized methods for performing assessments. The system will need to reflect the degree and rate of change in an ecosystem's extent, composition, structure, and function, and have its conceptual roots in ecological theory and empirical research. On the basis of these requirements and the hypothesis that ecosystem risk is a function of the risk of its component species, we propose a set of four criteria: recent declines in distribution or ecological function, historical total loss in distribution or ecological function, small distribution combined with decline, or very small distribution. Most work has focused on terrestrial ecosystems, but comparable thresholds and criteria for freshwater and marine ecosystems are also needed. These are the first steps in an international consultation process that will lead to a unified proposal to be presented at the next World Conservation Congress in 2012.