34 RED DATA BOOK; LIST OF THREATENED FLORA AND FAUNA

Prof. Daizy Batish

Learning outcomes

1. What is Red Data Book?

2. Advantages and disadvantages of Red Data Book

3. The Categories Enlisted in Red Data Book

4. List Of Threatened Flora And Fauna In India

What is Red Data Book?

The book which has been created to record the rare and endangered species of plants, animals, fungi and some local sub-species which is present within the region of the state or country. It is also called as IUCN Red List. It is a type of public document which help us to provide information about research, monitoring and conservation strategies, studies related to the rare and endangered species. Many species have been extinct long before without any information about them to present day. Therefore, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which was established in 1964, started maintaining the record of all rare and endangered species in red data book. This document is also called as Russian Red Data Book, as this is from Russian Federation. This book contains color-coded information sheets arranged according to the threats to the existence of various species of flora and fauna.

The different colored sheets representing the various categories of threatened species is given below:

S.NO	Color of the Sheet	Category of the Threatened Species
1.	Black	Species which are extinct
2.	Red	Species that are at greater risk of extinction
3.	Amber	Species which are getting attacked by other species
4.	white	Rare species
5.	Green	Non-dangerous species
6.	Grey	Species that are indicated to be endangered, vulnerable or rare

Goals of Red Data Book

IUCN (1996) has given the following goals of Red data book

(1) to provide scientifically based information on the status of species and sub-species at a global level,

(2) to draw attention to the magnitude and importance of threatened biodiversity,

(3) to influence national and international policy and decision-making, and

(4) to provide information to guide actions to conserve biological diversity.

Advantages of Red Data Book

It maintains the record of rare and endangered species, hence, one could easily identify the risk of extinction of that species.
It maintains the record of all the categories of flora and fauna i.e., plants, animals and and other sub-species.
The information provided in this book can be useful to evaluate the taxa globally.
Various strategies could be developed in advance to lower the risk of extinction of the taxa.

Disadvantages of Red Data Book

Complete list of the extinct and present day species is not maintained.
Information about the various rare and endangered species of micro-organisms is not available in this book.

A representation of the relationships between the categories is shown in Figure 1.

EXTINCT (EX)

A taxon is Extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died from both its wild and cultivation range.

EXTINCT IN THE WILD (EW)

A taxon is Extinct in the Wild when it is known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population (or populations) well outside the past range. A taxon is presumed Extinct in the Wild when exhaustive surveys in its known and/or expected habitat have been failed to record an individual at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual) and throughout its historic range.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED (CR)

A taxon is Critically Endangered when it is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.

A. Range reduction of 80% over 3 generations or 10 years;

B. Occurrence of less than 100sq km or occupancy of less than 10sq km and decline in populations;

C. Less than 250 plants and decline;

D. Less than 50 mature plants;

E. Probability of extinction of 50% in 10 years or 3 generations.

ENDANGERED (EN)

A taxon is Endangered when it is not Critically Endangered but is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.

A. Range reduction of 50% over 3 generations or 10 years;

B. Occurrence of less than 5000sq km or occupancy of less than 500sq km and decline in populations;

C. Less than 2500 plants and decline;

D. Less than 250 mature plants;

E. Probability of extinction of 20% in 20 years or 5 generations.

VULNERABLE (VU)

A taxon is Vulnerable when it is not Critically Endangered or Endangered but is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future.

A. Range reduction of 20% over 3 generations or 10 years;

B. Occurrence of less than 20000 sq km or occupancy of less than 2000 sq km and decline in populations;

C. Less than 10000 plants and decline;

D. Less than 1000 mature plants, or low occupancy (<100km2), or less than 5 locations;

E. Probability of extinction of 10% in 100 years.

LOWER RISK (LR)

A taxon is Lower Risk when it has been evaluated and does not fall into the categories Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable. There are three subcategories:

Conservation Dependent (cd). Taxa which are the focus of a continuing conservation programme, and which would become threatened if such actions stopped.

Near Threatened (nt). Taxa which do not qualify for Conservation Dependent, but which are close to qualifying for Vulnerable.

Least Concern (lc). Taxa which do not qualify for Conservation Dependent or Near Threatened.

DATA DEFICIENT (DD)

A taxon is Data Deficient when there is inadequate information to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of its risk of extinction based on its distribution and/or population status. A taxon in this category may be well studied, and its biology well known, but appropriate data on abundance and/or distribution are lacking.

NOT EVALUATED (NE)

A taxon is Not Evaluated when it has not yet been assessed against the criteria of extinction.

Figure 1. Structure of the categories. (source: IUCN Red List)

Figure 1. Structure of the categories. (source: IUCN Red List)

The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria have several specific aims:

to provide a uniform system that can be applied consistently by different people.
to improve objectivity by providing users with clear guidance on how to evaluate different factors which affect the risk of extinction.
to provide a consistent system that will ease the comparisons among widely different taxa.
to give people a clear picture to better understand how individual species were classified using threatened species lists.

LIST OF THREATENED FLORA AND FAUNA IN INDIA

(A) ENDANGERED PLANTS IN INDIA