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Red List
 
Red list


Red lists and Red books of threatened species represent one of the main sources of information for analysis and evaluation of ecological network sites.
State Institute for Nature Protection implements a project "Red book of Republic of Croatia" which has started in 2000 in Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning.

What do we have till now?
These books have been published:
  • Radović, D. et al. (2003): "Red book of threatened birds of Republic of Croatia". Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning, Zagreb.
  • State Institute for Nature Protection (2004): "Red list of threatened plants and animals of Republic of Croatia".
  • State Institute for Nature Protection has gathered materials for more red books that are now in preparation for print. Those red books have been prepared by down-listed authors:

Group Institution Authors
Vascular flora Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Zagreb Toni Nikolić,Jasenka Topić
Mammals Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb Nikola Tvrtković, Jasna Antolović, Emil Flajšman, Alojzije Frković, Marin Grgurev, Marijan Grubešić, Danijela Hamidović, Draško Holcer, Igor Pavlinić
Birds Institute of Ornithology of CASA, Zagreb Dragan Radović, Davor Ćiković, Jelena Kralj, Vesna Tutiš
Reptiles Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb Nikola Tvrtković, Biljana Hutinec, Eduard Kletečki, Bojan Lazar, Martina Podnar Lešić, Jure Skejić
Amphibians Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb Eduard Kletečki, Nikola Tvrtković
Freshwater fishes Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Zagreb Milorad Mrakovčić, Ivana Buj, Marko Ćaleta, Perica Mustafić, Davor Zanella
Butterflies Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb Martina Šašić, Mladen Kučinić
Underground fauna Croatian Natural History Museum,
Zagreb		 Nikola Tvrtković, Sanja Gottstein-Matočec, Danijela Hamidović, Branko Jalžić, Eduard Kletečki, Marcelo Kovačić, Romana Lattinger-Tvrtković, Roman Ozimec, Donat Petricioli, Boris Sket, France Velkovrh, Primož Zupančić

Dana that you can find and search trough this web page originate from above mentioned sources. Maps of bird distribution have been taken from materials for "Red book of threatened birds of Republic of Croatia". Maps of mammal, reptile, amphibian, butterfly and underground fauna distribution have been made in State Institute for Nature Protection and are based on maps prepared by Nikola Tvrtković, PhD.

What is Red list?

The Red List represents one of the basic expert documents in nature conservation. It indicates what species or subspecies of plants, fungi and animals are threatened by extinction and to what extent and at what pace they are facing this threat.
It is a deplorable fact that the number of threatened species is growing from day to day, significantly faster than the number of species that owing to protection measures have achieved a more favourable status. According to data of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), which on the basis of scientific data and established criteria performs assessment of the threat to species at the global level, out of 1.8 million known species, 12,557 species were listed in the IUCN Red List for 2003, whereof 6,774 plants and 5,483 animals. Many of them have reached the lower critical limit of numerosity. It has been estimated that today the extinction rate of species is between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural rate would be. The disastrous human impact is continuously increasing - mankind destroy the living world directly or by destroying habitats of threatened species. In addition to this, ecosystems lose stability also due to climate changes, pollution, invasive alien species and other factors.
As the possibilities of nature protection or implementation of protection measures are insufficient to resist to such a trend, it is important to classify species depending on their degree of threat, and to identify priorities and urgency of action, accordingly.
The Red List provides exactly for the possibility to do so. On the basis of established criteria species are assigned degrees of threat at the global, regional or national level. Every country strives after establishing "its own" red list in order to ensure as rational and detailed protection of threatened species at the national level as possible.

World Red list

The IUCN Red List is developed by the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) composed of 7000 experts for single species. As of 1963, when work on the red list concept began, the system has been developing significantly, becoming increasingly based on scientific facts. In 1994 IUCN adopted new categories of threat and criteria for their establishment, providing the basis for the new IUCN Red Lists for 2000 and 2002. The latest Red List includes data on more than 18,000 species. As the material is too extensive to be printed in book form, it was published on the IUCN website www.redlist.org and will be reviewed on an annual basis.
To the development of national red lists the same methodology and criteria as established by IUCN are applied, only adapted for regional implementation (more information available on the IUCN website www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/redlists).

Category of Threat

The IUCN Red List system includes nine categories into which species can be classified: Extinct (EX), Extinct in the Wild (EW), Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (E), Vulnerable (VU), Near Threatened (NT), Least Concern (LC), Data Deficient (DD), and Not Evaluated (NE). The core of this system consists of categories of species threatened with extinction (CR, E and VU). For the purpose of establishing whether a species belongs to one of the indicated categories, a group of five quantitative criteria was developed that are based on biological factors with regard to the risk of extinction, including: decline, population size, distribution area size and fragmentation degree of the population and its distribution.

IUCN categories of threat
Category group Threat category with regard to species/subspecies
Extinct (EX) Extinct in the Wild (EW) -no living individual in the wild
Regionally extinct (RE) - extinct in Croatia
Threatened with extinction Critically Endangered (CR) - extremely high risk of extinction
Endangered (EN) - very high risk of extinction
Vulnerable (VU) - high risk of extinction
Not threatened with extinction Near Threatened (NT) - no risk of extinction, but likely to become threatened within short time
Least Concern (LC) - evaluated against IUCN criteria and do not qualify for any of the above mentioned categories
Data Deficient (DD) - lack of sufficient data required to assess the risk of extinction (population status and distribution)


Contents of the Red List

In the Red List the following data for each taxon are included:
  • scientific name (being most frequently used)
  • Croatian name (as proposed by the authors)
  • English name (as proposed by the authors; since for some taxa of plants there are no established English names, the technical editorial board translated them, with the consent of the authors, for the purpose of this book)
  • IUCN threat status
  • IUCN criteria based on which the threat status was established (only for some groups)
  • indication of endemism (stenoendemics are indicated - taxa found only in the territory of Croatia)

Data analysis

The Red List of the Republic of Croatia includes, within the analysed groups, 1169 threatened plant and animal taxa, out of which 93 are stenoendemics. If data on the percentage of threatened taxa as compared to the total number of taxa by single plant and animal groups, separately at the global, European and national level are considered, the following is noted:
  • a significantly higher percentage of threat with regard to European flora and fauna as compared to the world;
  • a somewhat lower threat percentage of Croatian flora and fauna as compared to the European level, except for breeding birds and amphibians.
  • in the case of birds, breeding populations are evaluated separately from non-breeding populations. Out of the total of 375 bird species found in Croatia, 178 are entered under various threat categories in the Red List. Of these threatened species, 147 are breeding and 47 non-breeding populations (for 16 species both populations are threatened). There are 88 bird species listed in higher threat categories (CR, EN and VU), whereof for 77 species breeding populations and for 18 species non-breeding populations are threatened, while for 7 species both populations are threatened.

Relation between the number of threatened taxa (CR, EN and VU categories) and the total number of taxa at the global, European and national level

WORLD EUROPE CROATIA
Group Total No. of taxa No. of threatened taxa % Total No. of taxa No. of threatened taxa % Total No. of taxa No. of threatened taxa %
Mammals 4842 1130 23,3 274 71 26 101 8 7,9
Birds* 9932 1194 12 515 134 26 2311 76 2 32,9
Reptiles 8134 293 3,6 200 20 10 38 4 10,5
Amphibians 5578 157 2,8 75 10 13,3 20 2 10
Freshwater Fishes 8400 750 3 8,9 349 272 77,9 145 66 45,5
Vascular Flora 272655 6694 22,4 12500 672 5,4 5360 223 4,2
Butterflies 17700 176 4 1 576 69 12 180 11 6,1

* The figures refer to breeding birds
Data referring to the global level - IUCN, 2003: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Data referring to Europe - EEA/ETCNC, 2002: A Preliminary European Red List of Vertebrates
Data on the total number of taxa in Croatia - MEPPP, 2000: An Overview of the State of Biological and Landscape Diversity of Croatia with the Protection Strategy and Action Plans
  • 1 Figure from Red Data Book of Birds of Croatia, 2003
  • 2 DD category included.
  • 3 Marine and freshwater species are not separated, the figure, however, almost entirely refers to freshwater fishes.
  • 4 The entire group of Lepidoptera is included, the figure however refers almost entirely to butterflies.

Number of plant and animal taxa included in the Red List by groups and IUCN categories

IUCN category
Group EX RE CR EN VU NT LC DD Total
Subterranean Fauna 1 2 13 11 4 9 40 (34)*
Butterflies 5 2 4 10 17 38
Freshwater Fishes 6 12 22 31 9 2 8 90
Amphibians 1 1 2 3 2 9
Reptiles 1 2 2 8 6 19
Birds 13/2 17/13 23/10 14/2 36/20 34/9 10/1 147/47 (178)**
Mammals 4 5 3 21 1 8 42
Vascular Flora 1 10 90 62 71 185 340 759
Total 1169

* 6 taxa of subterranean fauna are also analysed in the groups of fishes (3), amphibians (2) and mammals (1)
** total number of evaluated bird species - some have breeding populations threatened, some non-breeding, and some both of them

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Last update: 15.3.2007.
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