Criteria for 'Red List' of Endangered Ecosystems Released

With many of the world's ecosystems threatened or endangered by human activities like logging and urbanization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published its criteria for a new "Red List" of endangered ecosystems today (May 8) in the journal PLOS ONE.

The list, which measures an ecosystem's risk of collapse, will be similar to the group's authoritative Red List of Endangered Species, which created internationally accepted criteria for assessing extinction risk.

"The Red Lists for species and ecosystems will together provide a more comprehensive view of the status of the environment and its biodiversity than either can on its own," said lead study author David Keith, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

"The Ecosystem Red List focuses on a high level of biodiversity, the habitats for species, as well as their interactions and dependencies, including food webs,” Keith told OurAmazingPlanet in an email interview. “These are difficult or impossible to address in Red List assessments of individual species, but very important for the functioning of ecosystems and the services that they provide to support our standards of living."

Through 20 case studies, Keith and an international team of biologists and conservationists designed criteria that could assess the health of all of Earth's varied ecosystems, from spring-fed limestone caves to sparkling coral reefs.

"This is really a unifying framework," said study co-author Richard Kingsford, also a professor at the University of New South Wales. "The most important thing here, from my point of view, is providing evidence that pushes governments to do things to protect these magnificent parts of the world."

Of the ecosystems examined in the case studies, the most endangered site was the Aral Sea. Drained by a massive irrigation project and further devastated by drought and pollution, the inland sea's ecosystem has collapsed — the equivalent of species extinction, the study concludes.The rest of the ecosystem threat categories mirror those for species: critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable and least concern.

North American ecosystems appearing in the case studies included Alaska's giant kelp forests; the Great Lakes' rare Alvar beaches, a legacy of glaciers grinding across the landscape; and Caribbean coral reefs.

The IUCN group that developed the Red List of Ecosystems criteria plans to formally propose the framework to IUCN leadership this year. Funding is in place for listing ecosystems in the Americas, and the organization hopes to have a global list in place by 2025.

Development of ecosystem and species Green Lists are also underway — the carrot to the Red Lists' stick — to help the IUCN promote conservation by rewarding successes.

Here are the 20 case studies published today, from most to least endangered, with the ecosystem type noted if available.

Aral Sea — Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan: freshwater, collapsedRaised bogs — Germany: critically endangeredGonakier forests — Senegal River floodplain: freshwater, critically endangeredCape Sand Flats — Fynbos, South Africa: terrestrial, critically endangeredCoorong lagoons — Australia: freshwater/marine, critically endangeredKarst rising springs — Southern Australia: freshwater, critically endangeredCoastal sandstone upland swamps — Australia: freshwater, endangered/critically endangeredSwamps, marshes and lakes in the Murray-Darling Basin — Australia: freshwater, endangered/critically endangeredGiant kelp forests — Alaska: marine, endangered/critically endangeredCaribbean coral reefs — Caribbean: marine, endangered/critically endangeredSeagrass meadows — Southern Australia: marine, endangered-critically endangeredGerman tamarisk pioneer vegetation — Europe: freshwater, endangeredCoolibah-Black Box woodland — Australia: freshwater/terrestrial, endangeredTapia forest — Madagascar: terrestrial, endangeredSemi-evergreen vine thicket — Australia: terrestrial, endangeredGreat Lakes Alvars — United States and Canada: terrestrial, vulnerable/endangeredReed beds — Europe: freshwater, vulnerableFloodplain ecosystem of river red gum and black box — southeastern Australia: freshwater, vulnerableTepui shrubland - Venezuela: terrestrial, least concernGranite gravel fields and sand plains - New Zealand: terrestrial, least concern

Email Becky Oskin or follow her @beckyoskin. Follow us @OAPlanet, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

View the original article here