Understanding the drivers of expert opinion when classifying species as extinct.

ABSTRACT: The criteria as laid out by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List are the gold standard by which the extinction risk of a species is assessed and where appropriate biological extinctions are declared. However, unlike all other categories, the category of extinct lacks a quantitative framework for assigning this category. Given its subjective nature, we surveyed expert assessors working on a diversity of taxa to explore the attributes they used to declare a species extinct. Using a choice experiment approach, we surveyed 674 experts from the IUCN Species Survival Commission specialist groups and taskforces. Data availability, time from the last sighting, detectability, habitat availability, and population decline were all important attributes favored by asse

SUBMITTER: Roberts DL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10099933 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature