Analysis & publications

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The central nature of the National Red List database provides a fantastic resource for analysis.  As the database continues to grow and new research is undertaken on the data we will highlight it on this page.

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Analysis 

These are the latest statistics coming out of the National Red List database (as of October 2014). Please also check the Statistics page for current coverage of species, countries etc in the National Red List database.

At present, 483 National Red Lists have been recorded, spanning 113 countries; of those, 42.7% have been conducted since 2005.  Figure 1 illustrates the taxonomic spread of these data. As far as we know, 37 countries out of the 113 countries with National Red Lists have carried out repeat assessments (33%). Table 1 lists the countries that we know have conducted repeat assessments using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Additional countries have developed Red List Indices which rely on repeat assessments of taxa and distinguishing genuine from non-genuine changes.

Figure 1. Taxonomic representation NRLs since 2005

Table 1. Repeat assessment countries

 

Plants are by far the most common taxon represented in the National Red List database, and an analysis of currently available plant assessments (including vascular as well as non-vascular plants) has been conducted to highlight the power of National Red Lists as conservation tools as well as the gaps we need to further address. 98 countries have so far completed NRLs which include plants; so far plant assessments for 55  countries, regions and sub-national entities (73 Red Lists in total including repeat assessments) have been uploaded onto the National Red List database, covering a total of 39,019 species (this also includes a number of subspecies and varieties). 87.7% of the plant Red Lists within the National Red List database use IUCN Categories and Criteria: for these, 47.8% of species are threatened (only includes those assessed using IUCN Categories and Criteria v. 3.1). However, only 46 of 73 National Red Lists of plants were comprehensive assessments of entire plant taxon groups (i.e. also including non-threatened species), thus creating a potential bias towards threatened species within the database. All of these data are in the process of being uploaded onto the National Red List website.

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Publications

Zamin et al 2010 Conservation BiologyNational Red Listing beyond the 2010 target

Published in Conservation Biology, Zamin et al. review National Red Lists (NRLs) produced globally and analyses existing data gaps in geography and taxonomy. The paper also discusses a correlation between NRL datasets and gross domestic product and vertebrate species richness.

The NRL dataset used for this analysis can be accessed here. The NRL database will be periodically updated, so check our database pages for the latest version of the data.