International Day for Biological Diversity

  The migratory monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus plexippus ), known for its spectacular annual journey of up to 4,000 kilometres across the Americas, has entered the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM as Endangered, threatened by habitat destruction and climate change. All surviving sturgeon species – also migratory, found across the northern hemisphere – are now at risk of extinction due to dams and poaching, pushing the world’s most Critically Endangered group of animals yet closer to the brink. Yet these Monarch butterflies , once a familiar sight, are plummeting toward extinction due to landscape-scale threats from pesticides , development and climate change. That's why the Center is working hard to win them protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Monarchs have declined 85% in two decades. Species categorized as Endangered (EN) . The methods for calculating the global RLI are described in Butchart et al. 2007 and here , with the methods for calculating confid...

The possible demise of the polar bear is tied directly to the effects of global warming. Sea ice is the key habitat for the polar bear providing dens, hunting grounds, and means of travel. Global warming has an increased effect in the arctic, with water temperatures increasing faster than other areas of the globe. The polar bear is classified as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List. Species Categorized as Vulnerable (VU) . The Red List Index (RLI) is one way of representing information on the status of biodiversity from The IUCN Red List . Complementary measures include the proportion of species that are threatened with extinction (as illustrated, for example, in Díaz et al. 2019 ), and the proportion of species that have declining trends. More broadly, the trends in extinction risk shown by the RLI capture just one aspect of biodiversity loss. Complementary indicators produced from other datasets show trends in population abundance and community intactness.

  Mountain gorillas are considered endangered by IUCN's Red List . Not only are mountain gorillas threatened by loss of habitat due to human encroachment, they have also become victims of human violence . As civil war rages in Africa, efforts to conserve mountain gorilla populations have been curtailed. A taxon is Extinct In The Wild (EW) when it is known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population (or populations). The Red List Index (RLI) has been widely adopted in different policy contexts, including for assessing progress towards the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2010 target and Aichi Biodiversity Targets , the UN Sustainable Development Goals (for which it is an official indicator for Goal 15), the Convention on Migratory Species (and several of its daughter agreements), etc. It is recommended as an indicator for the Goals and Targets in the CBD's post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework . It has also been used in the reg...

The White Ferula Mushroom is Critically Endangered . It is estimated that only 250 white Ferulas make it to maturity each year . Species Categorized as Critically Endangered (CE) . An IUCN Red List Critically Endangered (CR) or sometimes (CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. The Red List Index (RLI) can also be disaggregated to produce national and regional Red List Indices by weighting by the fraction of each species' distribution occurring within a particular country or region, building on the methodology published by  Rodrigues  et al .  (2014) . These show how well species (in the groups covered) are conserved in the country or region relative to its potential contribution to global conservation of these species groups . An alternative approach is to produce national RLIs based on repeated assessments of extinction risk at the na...

 The Florida grasshopper sparrow is an endangered subspecies of grasshopper sparrow native to the dry prairies of south-central Florida. The Florida grasshopper sparrow is one of four subspecies of grasshopper sparrows in North America , and is perhaps the most endangered.The Florida grasshopper sparrow is protected by the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act . It is also protected as an Endangered species by the Federal Endangered Species Act and as a Federally-designated Endangered species by Florida's Endangered and Threatened Species Rule. A taxon is Extinct (EX) when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. A taxon is presumed Extinct when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout its historic range have failed to record an individual.

  The D. crassiflora is a medium-sized, slow-growing tree up to 25 meters tall. It is found in lowland semi-deciduous and evergreen forest , up to about 1000 m in elevation, and tends to avoid the wettest forests. It is not a common tree in natural forests , usually found alone or in a small group of 2 or 3 trees. It is harvested by selective logging throughout its natural range, and the wood is considered the true commercial ebony from Africa. The heartwood, the most famous part of the tree’s timber, is jet-black or very dark brown with black streaks. It is very dense and used for heavy flooring, ship building, vehicle bodies, knife handles, guitar fingerboards and, most famously, the black keys of pianos. The bark and sap of the tree have been shown to have antibacterial and antifungal properties, and they are used in traditional local medicine to help treat a variety of ailments.The  D. crassiflora timber has been an important export product from its range countries for y...

The Leptodactylus fallax, commonly known as the mountain chicken or giant ditch frog, is a critically endangered species of frog that is native to the Caribbean islands of Dominica and Montserrat. The mountain chicken (Leptodactylus fallax) is not a chicken. It is a frog. Officially named the Giant Ditch Frog and locally known as a mountain chicken possibly because of its large drumstick like legs which were once eaten for food. One of the largest frogs in the world The mountain chicken is one of the largest frogs in the world and can weigh over 40 times as much as a European common frog, reaching up to 1kg in size. They eat a variety of animals, including insects, snakes, small mammals, and even other frogs. These frogs currently occur in Dominica and Montserrat but were once far more widespread. An epidemic of the fungal disease amphibian chytridiomycosis almost wiped-out mountain chickens forever. Since one of the pathogens that causes the disease arrived in Dominica in 2002 ...

Bolivian chinchilla rats are listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN red list of threatened species. Data on populations and ecological requirements are extremely limited and they are also designated "data deficient." A taxon is Vulnerable (VU) when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Vulnerable, and it is therefore considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. Species Categorized as Vunerable (VU) .

The blue whale is listed as endangered throughout its range under the ESA and is thus considered depleted throughout its range under the MMPA. Internationally, blue whales received complete legal protection from commercial whaling in 1966 under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. To address this, the Red List Index (RLI) has been developed, which shows trends in the status of groups of species based only on genuine improvements or deteriorations in status of sufficient magnitude to qualify species for listing in more threatened or less threatened Red List Categories. Species Categorized as Extinct (EX)

The population of black rhinos declined dramatically in the 20th century at the hands of European hunters and settlers. Between 1960 and 1995, black rhino numbers dropped by a sobering 98%, to less than 2,500 individuals. Since then, the species has made a tremendous comeback from the brink of extinction. Most species that move between categories on The IUCN Red List (see the section Reasons for Changing Category ) do so because of improved knowledge or revised taxonomy. It is therefore impossible to determine any meaningful trends in the status of biodiversity simply by looking at overall changes in numbers of threatened species between updates.The Red List Index (RLI) .  A Categories listed as Extinct (EX) . 

Once common throughout Africa and Asia, elephant populations have experienced significant declines over the last century. The greatest threat to African forest elephants is poaching for the illegal ivory trade , while Asian elephant populations are most at risk from habitat loss and resulting human-elephant conflict. Species categorized as Extinct (EX)  

There is a sub-species of Hector's dolphin known as Maui's dolphin that is critically endangered and fall into extinction , the experts estimate that the population of only 55 are still alive.   The largest threat to hector's dolphin and both subspecies is bycatch in commercial and recreational gillnets and trawls. Habitat-related threats , disease, and tourism may also negatively impact the dolphins.   Species categorized as Extinct (EX)