You are a conservation biologist and have just completed a conservation review p
ID: 178762 • Letter: Y
Question
You are a conservation biologist and have just completed a conservation review project focused on a single mammal species. You are taking your research in a new direction, looking for a study system with diverse species. You begin by evaluating four groups of potential study species, using data from the 2008 IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species, shown in Table 1 below.
3. As part of a preliminary analysis, you estimate the number of species in each group that are potentially threatened based on the 2008 data. There is incomplete data on the conservation status of many species in the four major groups, so you use data that is presently available to estimate how many species in the groups might potentially be threatened.
Table 1 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Number of species Number of species Number of species Group described evaluated threatened Vertebrates 61,259 5,966 26,604 6,161 2,496 Invertebrates 1,232,384 8,448 11,995 Plants 288,468 3 3 Lichen /Fungi 47,000 Source: Data from the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, as reported in Vie et al. (2009).Explanation / Answer
3e. Plants contains the largest number of known threatened species because as per the data, 70.42% (8,448) of the total number of evaluated species (11,995) were found to be threatened species. Lichen/Fungi contains the largest number of potentially threatened species because all of the evaluated species (100%) were also found to be threatened species. Determination of 'most threatened' group will depend upon the factor that how extensively the species of a group have been evaluated and the number of species threatened in a group. If only the former is taken into account then, plant group is the most threatened and if only the latter, then, lichen/fungi group is the most threatened group.
3f. The lichen/fungi group would make the most difference in our understanding of the conservation status of the group if further research is undertaken because only 0.006% species of the group have been evaluated and also due to the fact that all of them are threatened species. So, further research would lead to more insight on the conservation status of this group.
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