Collective analyses on “red-listed species” may have limited value for conservation ecology

Excerpt

While reading, reviewing and citing conservation papers during the last two decades, I have frequently noticed ecological analyses that are based on collective metrics of species of conservation concern. Field studies in particular often relate the number of regionally red-listed (threatened) species found to environmental factors, sometimes using complex multifactor models. Obviously, the occurrence of threatened species supports management decisions and attracts wider public, and ecological analyses of such occurrences may inform us about some threats (e.g., in poorly known ecosystems) or short-term effectiveness of certain conservation management practices (e.g., Flather et al. 1998; Pykälä et al. 2006; Olsson et al. 2014). However, I suspect that a common reason for using collective metrics is inadequate sample size for species-level treatment combined with a lack of critical attitude to the ecological meaning of the analysis. …