Mitochondrial DNA The Journal of DNA Mapping, Sequencing, and Analysis

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Extinction risk categories and how to cite them Peter M. Kyne To cite this article: Peter M. Kyne (2014): Extinction risk categories and how to cite them, Mitochondrial DNA To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/19401736.2014.905831

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http://informahealthcare.com/mdn ISSN: 1940-1736 (print), 1940-1744 (electronic) Mitochondrial DNA, Early Online: 1–2 ! 2014 Informa UK Ltd. DOI: 10.3109/19401736.2014.905831

MITOCOMMUNICATION

Extinction risk categories and how to cite them Peter M. Kyne

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Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

Genetics is an increasingly important tool in conservation biology with growing applications to assist in managing species of conservation concern (Dudgeon et al., 2012; Frankham, 2010). Mitochondrial DNA regularly publishes complete mitogenomes of threatened species including for bony fishes (e.g. Three-spot Seahorse Hippocampus trimaculatus; Vulnerable; Chang et al., 2013), cartilaginous fishes (e.g. Northern River Shark Glyphis garricki; Critically Endangered; Feutry et al., 2014), reptiles (e.g. Frog-faced Softshell Turtle Pelochelys cantorii; Endangered; Chen et al., 2013) and birds (e.g. Saunders’ Gull Larus saundersi; Vulnerable; Ryu & Hwang, 2012). The conservation status of a species is often cited by manuscript authors as a justification for their research, with authors suggesting how their work can inform the conservation, management and ultimately the recovery of threatened species. But what does a species’ conservation status mean and how should geneticists cite and refer to it in submissions to Mitochondrial DNA, and indeed other journals? The most comprehensive and widely-used inventory of the global status of plant and animal species is The IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesÔ (‘‘The IUCN Red List’’). A standardized set of IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (IUCN, 2012b) are applied to a species to evaluate its extinction risk. The IUCN Red List is a publicly-accessible resource, available online at http:// www.iucnredlist.org; the status of 53,267 animal species have been assessed to date (IUCN, 2013b). While the status of all species has been evaluated for some taxonomic groups, such as cartilaginous fishes and birds, there are many more species yet to be evaluated particularly bony fishes and invertebrates. There are nine IUCN Red List Categories (Figure 1; IUCN, 2012b). The categories Extinct (EX) and Extinct in the Wild (EW) signal biodiversity loss. Species are referred to as threatened if they fall within the categories Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU); ‘‘Threatened’’ is not in itself an IUCN Red List Category (the use of ‘‘endangered’’ as a generic term should also be avoided to minimize confusion with the actual IUCN Red List Category of that name). The IUCN Red List Categories themselves are official terms and are treated as proper nouns when cited (capitalized without quotation marks, i.e. Critically Endangered, and not critically endangered or ‘‘Critically Endangered’’) (IUCN, 2013a). Species in a threatened category meet one or more of five quantitative criteria related to population reduction, geographic range, population size and probability of extinction (IUCN, 2012b), Correspondence: Peter M. Kyne, Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory 0909, Australia. Tel: +61 889467616. E-mail: [email protected]

Keywords Conservation status, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, threatened species History Received 2 March 2014 Accepted 15 March 2014 Published online 4 April 2014

with separate thresholds for the categories CR (indicating an extremely high risk of extinction), EN (a very high risk of extinction) and VU (a high risk of extinction) (IUCN, 2012b). The other categories are: Near Threatened (NT; close to qualifying for or likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future), Least Concern (LC; does not qualify for a threatened category or NT; these species have a low risk of becoming extinct), Data Deficient (DD; inadequate information to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of risk of extinction), and Not Evaluated (when a species has not yet been evaluated against the criteria) (IUCN, 2012b). The IUCN Red List is published online at least twice a year, and as such is a dynamic and authoritative resource. Authors of submissions to Mitochondrial DNA should consult The IUCN Red List website for the latest assessment of a species’ status as individual assessments are updated as new information becomes available. The IUCN Red List itself can be cited generally as (changing the date, version number and download date as appropriate): IUCN (2013). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org Accessed 21 November 2013. However, when referring to the status of a particular species, the individual assessment should be cited. Citations appear at the bottom of the species account page on The IUCN Red List website. For example: Leary et al. (2008). Zaglossus bruijnii. In: IUCN 2013. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/23179/0 Accessed 21 November 2013. In the near future, the IUCN Red List will become an online journal with each assessment having a unique Digital Objective Identifier (doi) (C. Hilton-Taylor, pers. comm.). This will change the way IUCN Red List assessments are cited and authors can consult the citation page on the IUCN Red List website (http:// www.iucnredlist.org/about/citation) for up-to-date advice.

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Figure 1. The nine IUCN Red List Categories (IUCN, 2012b).

While The IUCN Red List assesses the extinction risk of a species across its entire global range, there is also scope to additionally assess status at a regional or national level (IUCN, 2012a). Therefore, some species hold a Red List assessment for the global population and another Red List assessment for a particular region or country. If this is the case for a species being referred to in a paper, the authors should state the global assessment and then any regional assessment relevant to the paper, being sure to distinguish clearly between the two to avoid confusion. The IUCN Red List does not have any legal status. At the national level, countries may have their own extinction risk lists or priority conservation lists which assess species and provide subsequent legislative protection based on this assessment (although IUCN advises against automatically linking a legislative response to the inclusion of a species in any particular IUCN Red List Category; IUCN, 2011, 2012a). There may also be lists at more local levels, for example for a state or province. While the categories against which species are assessed on these lists may be similar to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, each national (or state) list may have its own system of categories and criteria. Two examples are Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and the US Endangered Species Act. When considering country-specific status, authors are urged to consult national lists for the purposes of correctly citing national assessment categories. Authors can then clearly distinguish when referring to a species’ conservation category within their paper, whether they are listing the IUCN Red List Category or whether they are referring to a national assessment system.

Acknowledgements The author thanks Micha Jackson, Craig Hilton-Taylor, Caroline Pollock and Nick Dulvy for comments on the manuscript, and the Editors of Mitochondrial DNA for the opportunity to submit this article.

Declaration of interest The author is the Australia and Oceania Regional Vice-Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Group. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper. The author is supported by the Marine Biodiversity and Northern Australia Hubs, collaborative partnerships supported through funding

from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Research Program (NERP).

References Chang C-H, Shao K-T, Lin Y-S, Liao Y-C. (2013). The complete mitochondrial genome of the three-spot seahorse, Hippocampus trimaculatus (Teleostei, Syngnathidae). Mitochondrial DNA 24:665–7. Chen X, Zhou Z, Peng X, Huang X, Chen Z. (2013). Complete mitochondrial genome of the endangered Asian giant softshell turtle Pelochelys cantorii (Testudinata: Trionychidae). Mitochondrial DNA 24:111–13. Dudgeon CL, Blower DC, Broderick D, Giles JL, Holmes BJ, Kashiwagi T, Kru¨ck NC, et al. (2012). A review of the application of molecular genetics for fisheries management and conservation of sharks and rays. J Fish Biol 80:1789–843. Feutry P, Grewe PM, Kyne PM, Chen X. (2014). Complete mitochondrial sequence of the Critically Endangered northern river shark Glyphis garricki (Carcharhiniformes: Carcharhinidae). Mitochondrial DNA. [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.3109/19401736.2013.861428. Frankham R. (2010). Where are we in conservation genetics and where do we need to go? Conserv Genet 11:661–3. IUCN. (2011). Guidelines for appropriate uses of IUCN Red List Data. Incorporating the guidelines for reporting on proportion threatened and the guidelines on scientific collecting of threatened species. Version 2. Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/RL_Guidelines_ Data_Use.pdf (Accessed 30 January 2014). IUCN. (2012a). Guidelines for application of IUCN Red List Criteria at regional and national levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. Available at: http:// www.iucnredlist.org/documents/reg_guidelines_en.pdf (Accessed 30 January 2014). IUCN. (2012b). IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1. Second edition. IUCN Species Survival Commission. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. Available at: http://jr.iucnre dlist.org/documents/redlist_cats_crit_en.pdf (Accessed on 30 January 2014). IUCN. (2013a). Documentation standards and consistency checks for IUCN Red List assessments and species accounts. Version 2. Adopted by the IUCN Red List Committee and IUCN SSC Steering Committee. Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/RL_Standards_ Consistency.pdf (Accessed 30 January 2014). IUCN. (2013b). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org (Accessed 30 January 2014). Ryu SH, Hwang UW. (2012). Complete mitochondrial genome of Saunders’s gull Chroicocephalus saundersi (Charadriiformes, Laridae). Mitochondrial DNA 23:134–6.

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