To reduce future loss of biodiversity and to allocate conservation funds effectively, the major drivers behind large-scale extinction processes must be identified. A promising approach is to link the red-list status of species and specific traits that connect species of functionally important taxa or guilds to resources they rely on. Such traits can be used to detect the influence of anthropoge...

Thorough evaluation has made the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List the most widely used and accepted authority on the conservation status of biodiversity. Although the system used to determine risk of extinction is rigorously and objectively applied, the list of threatening processes affecting a species is far more subjectively determined and has not had adequate re...

Based on the two most recent assessments of Chinese higher plants in 2013 and 2020, 34,450 39,330 species, respectively, we analysed threatened status plants. In around 4,088 (10.39%) assessed species China are threatened, 2,875 (7.31%) Near Threatened, 27,593 (70.16%) not currently categorised as Least Concern 4,752 (12.08%) Data Deficient. While 2013, 3,767 (10.93%) 2,723 (7.90%) 24,296 (70.5...

As a contribution to the environmental history of the Tijuca National Park, we report on two pioneering restorationist initiatives and list its the mammal species now found in this urban park. The Tijuca National Park (TNP), a 3,200 ha urban park covered by secondary tropical forest, is located within Rio de Janeiro, in southeastern Brazil. The two restorationist initiatives were a pioneer trop...

The female of Tropidonotacris grandis is described and information on distribution, habitat, song, chromosomes and nymphal development of this species given. The populations of northern Tanzania all occur in deciduous dry forest, a habitat highly endangered by destruction and therefore T. grandis must be regarded at least as a vulnerable species according to the IUCN red list. 

Coelogyne putaoensis, a new species of section Ocellatae from Putao, Kachin State, Myanmar, is described and illustrated. It is morphologically similar to C. taronensis and C. weixiensis, presumably its nearest relatives. An identification key and colour photographs are provided. A preliminary risk-of-extinction assessment according to the IUCN Red List categories and criteria is given for the ...

The Laotian Rock Rat Laonastesaenigmamus Jenkins, Kilpatrick, Robinson & Timmins, 2005 was originally discovered in Lao People's Democratic Republic in 2005. This species has been recognized as the sole surviving member of the otherwise extinct rodent family Diatomyidae. Laonastesaenigmamus was initially reported only in limestone forests of Khammouane Province, Central Lao. A second population...