Assessing extinction risk from geographic distribution data in Neotropical freshwater fishes

Author(s)

Tagliacollo, Victor A. ^[1] ; Paiva Dagosta, Fernando Cesar ^[2] ; de Pinna, Mario ^[1] ; Reis, Roberto E. ^[3] ; Albert, James S. ^[4]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Museu Zool, Av Nazare 481, BR-04263000 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Fundacao Univ Fed Grande Dourados, Fac Ciencias Biol & Ambientais, Rodovia Dourados Iltahum Km 12, BR-79804970 Dourados, MS - Brazil

^[3] Pontificia Univ Catolica Rio Grande do Sul, Av Ipiranga 6681, P-90619900 Porto - Portugal

^[4] Univ Louisiana Lafayette, Dept Biol, Lafayette, LA 70503 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Neotropical Ichthyology; v. 19, n. 3 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 1

Abstract

The IUCN Red List (RL) provides high-quality conservation assessments for individual species, yet the rate and scale of environmental deterioration globally challenges the conservation community to develop expedited methods for risk assessment. Here we compare threat assessments for 3,001 species of Neotropical freshwater fishes (NFF) in the IUCN-RL using readily accessible data types as proxies for extinction risk: geographic range, elevation, and species publication date. Furthermore, using geographic and taxonomic data alone, we generated preliminary conservation assessments for 2,334 NFF species currently awaiting IUCN assessment, identifying an additional 671 NFF species as potentially threatened. This number of potentially threatened species represents an increase of 59% over the number of species currently assigned to threat categories by the IUCN-RL. These results substantially expand the number of threatened NFF species from 422 currently on the IUCN RL to 1,093 species as threatened or potentially threatened, representing about 18% of all NFF species. Extinction risk is greater in species with smaller geographic ranges, which inhabit upland rivers, and which were described more recently. We propose the Central and Southern Andes, and Eastern Guiana Shield as priorities in the upcoming IUCN RL assessment of NFF species conservation risk. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/20806-3 - Biogeography in the Neotropics: historical distributions of Characiformes (Actinopterygii, Ostariophysi)
• Grantee: Victor Alberto Tagliacollo
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 16/19075-9 - Diversity and evolution of Gymnotiformes (Teleostei, Ostariophysi)
• Grantee: Naercio Aquino Menezes
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants