Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Can the IUCN criteria be effectively applied to peripheral isolated plant populations?

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The IUCN criteria 2001 are considered one of the best methods to evaluate species extinction risk at the global and regional levels. The aim of this work is to test the applicability of the IUCN criteria to peripheral isolated plant populations (PIPPs). PIPPs have been a topic of scientific debate in Conservation Biology for about 15 years and international conventions such as ESPC address the issue of their conservation. Conservation measures often rely on Red Lists based on IUCN criteria, but there is little evidence supporting their application to PIPPs. In this work, we tested the hypothesis that PIPPs’ intrinsic restricted range and rarity lead to the overestimation of their extinction risk. We compared and analyzed four IUCN criteria (A, B, C, D), considering 17 species with PIPPs in different Italian administrative regions. Special attention must be given to the spatial scale at which PIPPs are assessed, the evaluation of the threats affecting the populations, and their decline. PIPPs should not be assessed within political boundaries and we propose a new area designation that better corresponds to the characteristics of PIPPs. Criterion B is strongly biased by restricted range and overestimates the extinction risk of PIPPs, particularly when the population decline is only suspected and not observed. In this case, criterion D more accurately assesses the status of PIPPs. Criterion A is also suitable for assessing PIPPs, because it is not affected by their phytogeographic rarity. The proposed statements could also be valid for the global assessment of narrow endemic species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ESPC:

European strategy for plant conservation

PIPPs:

Peripheral isolated plant populations

References

  • Ahn C, Moser KF, Sparks RE, White DC (2007) Developing a dynamic model to predict the recruitment and early survival of black willow (Salix nigra) in response to different hydrologic conditions. Ecol Modell 204:315–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alessandrini A, Foggi B, Rossi G, Tomaselli M (2003) Flora di altitudine dell’Alto Appennino tosco-emiliano. Regione Emilia-Romagna, Bologna

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldini RM (1998) Rediscovery of Brassica procumbens (Poir.) E.O.Schulz (Cruciferae) in Italy with some systematic and distributional observations. Webbia 53:57–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldini RM (1999) Fumana scoparia Pomel (Cistaceae): considerations on a poorly known species for the Italian Flora. Webbia 54:73–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Broennimann O, Vittoz P, Moser D, Guisan A (2005) Rarity types among plant species with high conservation priority in Switzerland. Bot Helv 115:95–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Case TJ, Holt RD, McPeek MA, Keitt TH (2005) The community context of species’ borders: ecological and evolutionary perspectives. Oikos 108:28–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Channell R (2004) The conservation value of peripheral populations: the supporting science. In: Hooper TD (ed) Proceedings of the species at risk 2004 pathways to recovery conference organizing committee, Victoria, 2004

  • Conradt L (2001) Ecological and evolutionary processes at expanding range margins. Nature 411:577–581

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conti F, Manzi A, Pedrotti F (1997) Liste rosse regionali delle Piante d’Italia. WWF Italia, Società Botanica Italiana, CIAS, Univ. Camerino, Camerino

    Google Scholar 

  • Conti F, Abbate G, Alessandrini A, Blasi C (2005) An annotated checkist of the Italian vascular flora. Palombi editore, Roma

    Google Scholar 

  • Cross JR (1975) Rhododendron ponticum L. J Ecol 63:345–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Favarger C (1975) Cytotaxonomie et histoire de la flore orophile des Alpes et de quelques autres massifs montagneux d’Europe. Lejeunia 77:1–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrarini E (1974) Altre cenosi e stazioni relitte reperite sull’Appennino settentrionale settentrionale (ad Antennaria carpatica, a Rhododendron ferrugineum, Salix herbacea, a Saussurea discolor). Webbia 29:105–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrarini E, Ciampolini F, Pichi Sermolli REG, Marchetti D (1986) Iconographia palynologica pteridophytorum Italiae. Webbia 40:1–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Foggi B (1990) Analisi fitogeografica del distretto appenninico tosco-emiliano. Webbia 44:169–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Foggi B, Grigioni A, Luzzi P (2001) La Flora dell’Isola di Capraia (Arcipelago Toscano): aggiornamento, aspetti fitogeografici e di conservazione. Parlatorea 5:5–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser DF (2000) Species at the edge: the case for listing of “peripheral” species. In: Darling LM (ed) Proceedings of a conference on the biology and management of species and habitats at Risk, Kamloops, B.C., 1999 Volume One BC Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, BC and University College of the Cariboo, Kamloops, BC

  • Gapare WJ, Aitken SN, Ritland CE (2005) Genetic diversity of core and peripheral Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr) populations: implication for conservation of widespread species. Biol Conserv 123:113–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gärdenfors U (2000) Population viability analysis in the classification of threatened species: problems and potentials. Ecol Bull 48:181–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Gärdenfors U (2001) Classifying threatened species at national versus global level. Trends Ecol Evol 16:511–516

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gärdenfors U, Hilton-Taylor C, Mace GM, Rodrìguez JP (2001) The application of IUCN red list criteria at regional level. Conserv Biol 15:1206–1212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gargano D, Fenu G, Medagli P, Sciandrello S, Bernardo L (2007) The status of Sarcopoterium spinosum (Rosaceae) at the western periphery of its range: ecological constraints led to conservation concerns. Isr J Plant Sci 55:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottlieb LD (1973) Genetic stability in a peripheral isolate of Stephanomeria exigua subsp. coronaria that fluctuates in population size. Genetics 76:551–556

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartley S, Kunin WE (2003) Scale dependency of rarity, extinction risk and conservation priority. Conserv Biol 17:1559–1570

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson PA, Seaby RM (1999) Population stability of the sea snail at the southern edge of its range. J Fish Biol 54:1161–1176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hernández HM, Navarro M (2006) A new method to estimate areas of occupancy using herbarium data. Biodivers Conserv 16:2457–2470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holt RD, Keitt TH (2005) Species’ borders: an unifying theme in ecology. Oikos 108:3–6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IUCN (2001) IUCN Red List categories. Version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commission Re-introduction Specialist Group, World Conservation Union, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK

  • IUCN (2003) Guidelines for application of IUCN Red List criteria at regional levels version 3.0. IUCN Species Survival Commission. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK

  • IUCN (2008) Guidelines for using the IUCN Red List categories and criteria version 7.0. Standards and Petitions Working Group of the IUCN SSC Biodiversity Assessments Sub-Committee in August 2008

  • Keith AD (1998) An evaluation and modification of World Conservation Union Red List Criteria for classification of extinction risk in vascular plants. Conserv Biol 12:1076–1090

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kingston N, Waldren S (2005) A conservation appraisal of the rare and endemic vascular plants of Pitcairn Island. Biodivers Conserv 14:781–800

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kluth C, Bruelheide H (2005) Central and peripheral Hornungia petraea populations: patterns and dynamics. J Ecol 93:584–595

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lammi A, Siikamaki P, Mustajarvi K (1999) Genetic diversity, population size, and fitness in central and peripheral populations of a rare plant Lychnis viscaria. Conserv Biol 13:1069–1078

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leppig G, White JW (2006) Conservation of peripheral plant populations in California. Madroño 53:264–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lesica P, Allendorf FW (1995) When are peripheral population valuable for conservation? Conserv Biol 9:753–760

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lesica P, McCune B (2004) Decline of artic-alpine plants at the southern margin of their range following a decade of climatic warming. J Veg Sci 15:679–690

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mace GM, Collar NJ, Gaston KJ, Hilton-Taylor C, Akakaya HR, Leader-Williams N, Milner-Gulland EJ, Stuart SN (2008) Quantification of extinction risk: IUCN’s system for classifying threatened species. Conserv Biol 22:1424–1442

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Matsuda H (2003) Challenges posed by the precautionary principle and accountability in ecological risk assessment. Environmetrics 14:245–254

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Miller RM, Rodríguez JP, Aniskowicz-Fowler T, Bambaradeniya C, Boles R, Eaton MA, Gärdenfors U, Keller V, Molur S, Walker S, Pollock C (2007) National threatened species listing based on IUCN criteria and regional guidelines: current status and future perspectives. Conserv Biol 21:684–696

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Milner-Gulland EJ, Kreuzberg-Mukhina E, Grebot B, Ling S, Bykova E (2006) Application of IUCN red listing criteria at the regional and national levels: a case study from central Asia. Biodivers Conserv 15:1873–1886

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreno JC (ed) (2008) Lista Roja 2008 de la flora vascular española. Dirección General de Medio Natural y Política Forestal Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, y Medio Rural y Marino, Madrid

  • Parson PA (1990) The metabolic cost of multiple environmental stresses: implication for climatic change and conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 5:315–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pignatti S (1982) Flora d’Italia. Edagricole, Bologna

    Google Scholar 

  • Pignatti S, Nimis P, Avanzini A (1980) La vegetazione ad arbusti spinosi emisferici: contributo alla interpretazione delle fascie di vegetazione delle alte montagne dell’Italia mediterranea. Collana del programma finalizzato “Promozione della qualità dell’ambiente”. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Roma

  • Piqueras J, Klimeš L (1998) Demography and modelling of clonal fragments in the pseudoannual plant Trientalis europaea L. Plant Ecol 136:213–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pirola A (1971) Stazione di Astragalus sirinicus del monte Lesima. In: Pedrotti F (ed) Censimento dei biotopi di interesse vegetazionale meritevoli di conservazione in Italia. Società Botanica Italiana, Camerino

    Google Scholar 

  • Pirola A, Credano V (1986) Cambiamenti vegetazionali nella stazione di Astragalus sirinicus Ten. del Monte Lesima (Appennino settentrionale). Atti Ist Bot Lab Crittog Univ Pavia serie 7(5):41–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Planta Europa (2008) A sustainable future for Europe; the European strategy for plant conservation 2008–2014. Plantlife International (Salisbury, UK) and the Council of Europe, Strasbourg

    Google Scholar 

  • Rabinowitz D, Cairos S, Dillon T (1986) Seven forms of rarity and their frequency in the flora of the British Isles. In: Soulé ME (ed) Conservation biology: the science of scarcity and diversity. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Randrianasolo A, Miller JS, Consiglio TK (2002) Application of IUCN criteria and Red List categories to species of five Anacardiaceae genera in Madagascar. Biodivers Conserv 11:1289–1300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ricceri C (1970) Holcus setiglumis Boiss. et Reut. specie nuova per l’Italia. Webbia 25:183–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossi G, Bonafede F (1995) Nuovi dati sulla distribuzione ed ecologia di Cheilanthes persica (Bory) Mett. ex Kuhn. nel Preappennino romagnolo (Italia settentrionale). Arch Geobot 1:177–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossi G, Gentili R (2006) Applicazione dei criteri IUCN a popolazioni periferiche di specie artico-alpine in Appennino settentrionale. Biogeographia 27:291–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossi G, Parolo G, Zonta LA, Crawford JA, Leonardi A (2006) Salix herbacea L. fragmented small population in the N-Apennines (Italy): response to human trampling disturbance. Biodivers Conserv 15:3881–3893

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossi G, Gentili R, Abeli T, Gargano D, Foggi B, Raimondo FM, Blasi C (2008a) 0 conservare. Iniziativa per l’implementazione in Italia delle Categorie e dei Criteri IUCN (2001) per la redazione di nuove Liste Rosse. Inform Bot Ital 40(suppl 1)

  • Rossi G, Parolo G, Ulian T (2008b) Human trampling as threat factor for the conservation of peripheral plant populations. Plant Biosyst 143:104–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Schütz W (2000) Ecology of seed dormancy and germination in sedges (Carex). Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 3:67–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slagsvold T (1981) Clutch size and population stability in birds: a test of hypotheses. Oecologia 49:213–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stehlik I (2003) Resistance or emigration? Response of alpine plants to the ice ages. Taxon 52:499–510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thuiller W (2007) Climate change and ecologist. Nature 448:550–552

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tutin TG, Heywood VH, Burges NA, Moore DM, Valentine DH, Walters SM, Webb DA (1972) Flora Europaea (3). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Vischi N, Natale E, Villamil C (2004) Six endemic plant species from central Argentina: an evaluation of their conservation status. Biodivers Conserv 13:997–1008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whittaker RJ, Araújo MB, Jepson P, Ladle RJ, Watson JEM, Willis KJ (2005) Conservation biogeography: assessment and prospect. Divers Distrib 11:3–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis F, Moat J, Paton A (2003) Defining a role for herbarium data in Red List assessments: a case study of Plectranthus from eastern and southern tropical Africa. Biodivers Conserv 12:1537–1552

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witkowski ZJ, Król W, Solarz W (eds) (2003) Carpathian list of endangered species. WWF and Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Vienna-Krakow

    Google Scholar 

  • Yakimowsky SB, Eckert CG (2007) Threatened peripheral population in context: geographical variation in population frequency and size and sexual reproduction in a clonal woody shrub. Conserv Biol 21:811–822

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the referees for their important suggestions, useful for improving the manuscript. We are also grateful to Prof. Ulf Gärdenfors (Artdatabanken, Uppsala) for the useful comments to the manuscript. We thank Dr. Simon Linington (Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) and Dr. Andrea Mondoni (Lombardy Seed Bank, Pavia) for data provided and their suggestions regarding seed germination. We are grateful to Ruth Eastwood (Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) for the linguistic version of the manuscript. This project was supported by the University of Pavia, by the Tuscan-Emilian Apennine National Park and by the Tuscan-Archipelago National Park (Italy).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Ecologia del Territorio, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Via S. Epifanio 14, 27100, Pavia, Italy

    Thomas Abeli & Graziano Rossi

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente e del Territorio, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milano, Italy

    Rodolfo Gentili

  3. Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Via Luca Ghini 5, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    Gianni Bedini

  4. Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale, Università di Firenze, Via La Pira 4, 50121, Fírenze, Italy

    Bruno Foggi

Authors
  1. Thomas Abeli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rodolfo Gentili
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Graziano Rossi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Gianni Bedini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Bruno Foggi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Graziano Rossi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Abeli, T., Gentili, R., Rossi, G. et al. Can the IUCN criteria be effectively applied to peripheral isolated plant populations?. Biodivers Conserv 18, 3877–3890 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-009-9685-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-009-9685-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation