|
|
Numbers
of Threatened Species in 2003
|
| |
Number
of described species
|
Number
of species evaluated in 2003*
|
Number
of threatened species in 2003
|
Number
threatened as % of species described and [% evaluated*] in 2003
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Vertebrates |
|
|
|
|
| Mammals |
4,842
|
4,789
|
1,130
|
23%
[24%]
|
| Birds |
9,932
|
9,932
|
1,194
|
12%
[12%]
|
| Reptiles |
8,134
|
473
|
293
|
4%
[62%]
|
| Amphibians |
5,578
|
401
|
157
|
3%
[39%]
|
| Fishes |
28,100
|
1,532
|
750
|
3%
[49%]
|
| Subtotal |
56,586
|
17,127
|
3,524
|
6%
[21%]
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Invertebrates |
|
|
|
|
| Insects |
950,000
|
768
|
553
|
0.06%
[72%]
|
| Molluscs |
70,000
|
2,098
|
967
|
1%
[46%]
|
| Crustaceans |
40,000
|
461
|
409
|
1%
[89%]
|
| Others |
130,200
|
55
|
30
|
0.02%
[55%]
|
| Subtotal |
1,190,200
|
3,382
|
1,959
|
0.2%
[58%]
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Plants |
|
|
|
|
| Mosses |
15,000
|
93
|
80
|
0.5%
[86%]
|
| Ferns |
13,025
|
180
|
111
|
1%
[62%]
|
| Gymnosperms |
980
|
907
|
304
|
31%
[34%]
|
| Dicotyledons |
199,350
|
7,734
|
5,768
|
3%
[75%]
|
| Monocotyledons |
59,300
|
792
|
511
|
1%
[65%]
|
| Subtotal |
287,655
|
9,706
|
6,774
|
2%
[69%]
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Others |
|
|
|
|
| Lichens |
10,000
|
2
|
2
|
0.02%
[0.02%]
|
| Subtotal |
10,000
|
2
|
2
|
0.02%
[0.02%]
|
|
|
|
|
|
| NOTES:
|
| 1)
* For most taxonomic groups, only a small or extremely small proportion
of described species have been evaluated for threatened status (e.g.,
<0.1% of insects). At present the birds are the only group of organisms
that have been completely evaluated. The mammals are almost all evaluated
(99%) but this figure is decreasing due to a large number of changes
in mammalian taxonomy resulting in an increasing number of recognized
species. The gymnosperms (mainly the conifers and cycads) are the
only major plant group to be almost completely evaluated (93%). To
calculate the numbers of species evaluated is extremely difficult
as species assessed as Least Concern are often not reported and hence
not formally captured in the Red List database. The numbers evaluated
are therefore an under-estimate, but how much under is not known.
Hence the figures in the last column for numbers of threatened species
as a percentage of those evaluated (as shown in square brackets) need
to be very carefully used.
|
| 2)
Threatened includes species listed as Critically Endangered (CR),
Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU).
|
| 3)
The numbers and percentages of species threatened in each group do
not mean that the remainder are all not threatened (i.e. are Least
Concern). There are a number of species in many of the groups listed
as Near Threatened or Data Deficient (see Tables 3a and 3b). These
figures also need to be considered in relation to the number of species
evaluated as shown in column two (see note 1 above).
|
| 4)
The plant figures DO NOT include species from the 1997 IUCN Red List
of Threatened Plants (Walter and Gillett 1998) as those were all assessed
using the pre-1994 IUCN system of threat categorization. Hence the
figures for numbers of threatened plants are very much lower when
compared to the 1997 results. The results from this Red List and the
1997 Plants Red List should be combined together when reporting on
threatened plants.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source:
World Conservation Union - IUCN, 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species, (Gland, Switzerland: 2003), available at www.redlist.org.
|
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