Knowledge behind conservation status decisions: Data basis for “Data Deficient” Brazilian plant species
Introduction
Methods for evaluating biodiversity loss are linked closely to species conservation status decisions (Norris, 2012). To define conservation status, information about species’ distributions, population status, and natural history is required. In Brazil, no consensus exists about optimal approaches to conservation status decisions for plant species. In particular, the scientific community and government have sharply contrasting points of view regarding which species are best classed as under some category of threat versus which should be considered Data Deficient.
A group of 300 scientists convened by the Biodiversitas Foundation (2005), in an effort to improve lists of threatened plant species (Scarano and Martinelli, 2010), analyzed 5212 species, classifying 1495 of them into five IUCN threat categories (IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee, 2011) and 2513 as Data Deficient. However, after the Biodiversitas/IUCN list was submitted to the government, a substantially different list (the current “Official List of Threatened Brazilian Plants”) was published by the Brazilian Ministry of Environment (MMA, 2008), which divided species among only two categories: Endangered or Data Deficient (Fig. 1). The Endangered list comprised 472 species, whereas the Data Deficient list included 1079 species, from which 934 were angiosperms. Most species on the Data Deficient list of the Ministry of Environment (hereafter referred to as “MMA”) had been classed as Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered on the Biodiversitas/IUCN list (Fig. 1).
According to IUCN guidelines, a species is designated as Data Deficient when data on its abundance and distribution are insufficient or lacking (IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee, 2011): “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.” Hence, Data Deficient is not a category of threat; rather, it indicates that further research is necessary, not discarding the possibility that the species will turn out to be best considered as threatened (Butchart and Bird, 2010, Celep et al., 2010). Specific reasons for moving species classified as Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered by Biodiversitas using IUCN criteria (Biodiversitas Foundation, 2005) to Data Deficient were not disclosed (MMA, 2008).
However, our preliminary review suggests that, in fact, considerable basic data exist for many angiosperms listed as Data Deficient. This rapid review was achieved using Lacunas (Canhos et al., submitted), a data infrastructure developed by the Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental (CRIA), fed with data from Brazil’s Virtual Herbarium, which in turn is fed by the speciesLink network (CRIA, 2012). Currently, the Virtual Herbarium includes data on 91.4% of all Brazilian plant species, with 2,434,933 georeferenced records of angiosperms. Increasing amounts of primary biodiversity data are becoming available every year, such that what has been termed “Digital Accessible Knowledge” (DAK) is reaching critical mass for biodiversity in Brazil, making possible many novel, synthetic analyses that were heretofore impossible (Sousa-Baena et al., in press).
The use of diverse and novel analyses of primary biodiversity data to assess biodiversity threat and loss has considerable promise—for instance, linking primary biodiversity data with climate data and land-cover data can offer estimates of distributional area loss even in absence of actual monitoring data (Soberón and Peterson, 2009). Inventory statistics can offer useful information about data quality and status of knowledge (Colwell and Coddington, 1994). Ecological niche modeling can allow characterization of geographic distributions and evaluation of extinction risk for poorly-sampled species (e.g., Peterson et al., 2006, Siqueira et al., 2009). This technique can also be used for projecting potential population losses or gains though time and with environmental change (Peterson et al., 2006, Soberón and Peterson, 2009). As a consequence, opportunities for insightful views of biodiversity status are increasingly available.
The objective of this study, then, was to examine how much DAK exists for angiosperm species classified as Data Deficient in the Official List of Threatened Brazilian Plants, using openly available primary biodiversity data and diverse analytical approaches. Specifically, we base a subjective assessment of available knowledge on (1) a novel approach to inventory completeness statistics to assess completeness of knowledge of species’ geographic distributions, (2) calculations of time since last record of each species, and (3) quality of preliminary ecological niche models based on known occurrences of each species. We do not set out to assign conservation status designations to species, nor do our assessments speak fully to all dimensions of Data Deficient designations, but rather we assess whether DAK exists and holds significant information for each species. The result is a view of the potential for improving knowledge about the conservation status of Brazilian plants via analysis of available data, balanced against the need for further study.
Section snippets
Input data
The analyses developed herein were based on large-scale databases of information associated with herbarium specimens as part of the speciesLink network (CRIA, 2012). We based our analyses on data available as of May 2012, at which point speciesLink provided access to data from 87 (presently 97) herbarium collections, including 83 from Brazil, plus the collections of the New York Botanical Garden, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle of Paris, U.S. National Museum of Natural History, and
How comprehensive is DAK for Data Deficient species?
Records of Data Deficient plant species were mostly from southern and southeastern Brazil (Fig. 2). Most of these species were characterized by 5–50 records, with 316 species documented by ⩾50 records (Fig. 3A); 148 (15.9%) species had no or single records. Regarding geographic distributions, 425 species (45.5%) were known from ⩽5½° pixels; 207 species were known only from a single pixel (Fig. 3B). Smaller numbers of species have seen extensive geographic sampling, with 46 known from 20 pixels,
Digital Accessible Knowledge and Brazilian plants
Our analyses were based on a large-scale effort to assemble information resources regarding herbarium-specimen documentation of the Brazilian flora. In line with recent global efforts (Canhos et al., 2004), Brazilian institutions have mobilized massive information resources, particularly as part of the speciesLink network (CRIA, 2012). At the time of our analyses (May 2012), the speciesLink network provided access to data from 87 (presently 97) herbarium collections, including 83 from Brazil,
Acknowledgements
We are endlessly grateful to Sidnei de Souza for deriving the main datasets for analysis and helping in manifold ways, and to Dora A.L. Canhos for invaluable input and guidance. Principal thanks go to the herbaria in Brazil and elsewhere who have generously shared access to the unique and valuable datasets under their care: Herbário Alexandre Leal Costa da Universidade Federal da Bahia; Herbário da Universidade Federal de Sergipe; Herbário Antônio Nonato Marques; Xiloteca Calvino Mainieri;
Glossary
- Digital Accessible Knowledge (DAK)
- The set of primary biodiversity data that has been made both digital and accessible in standard formats
- C
- Completeness of knowledge of species’ ranges, calculated as Lobs/Lexp.
- Lobs
- Number of ½ pixels from which a species has been recorded
- Lexp
- Number of ½ pixels in which a species is expected to occur
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