Species Conservation Profiles compliant with the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; www.iucn.org) is the world ́s largest environmental network, with 1,300 member organizations and relying on the input of about 16,000 experts. It provides knowledge and tools that enable and promote the sustainable development at a global level. Among its many outputs, the Red List of Threatened Species (www.iucnredlist.org) is the most widely known and used, by researchers, politicians and the general public. The IUCN Red List is arguably the most useful worldwide list of species at risk of extinction (Lamoreux et al. 2003). Its usefulness is based on its reliance on a number of objective criteria (IUCN 2012). Threatened species are assessed as either Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU), but extinct or non-threatened species are also assessed and listed. Besides extinction risk assessment, the Red List provides a plethora of useful information on each species assessed, including distribution, trends, threats and conservation actions. The quantity and quality of this information allows the Red List to be used in multiple ways, such as to raise awareness about threatened species, guide conservation efforts and funding, set priorities for protection, measure site irreplaceability and vulnerability, influence environmental policies and legislation and evaluate and monitor the state of biodiversity (Gärdenfors et al. 2001, Rodrigues et al. 2006, Baillie et al. 2008, Mace et al. 2008, Martín-López et al. 2009). ‡,§ |,¶ ¶ #,¶ #,¶