Measuring Terrestrial Area of Habitat (AOH) and Its Utility for the IUCN Red List

Thomas M Brooks; Stuart L Pimm; H Resit Akçakaya; Graeme M Buchanan; Stuart H M Butchart; Wendy Foden; Craig Hilton-Taylor; Michael Hoffmann; Clinton N Jenkins; Lucas Joppa; Binbin V Li; Vivek Menon; Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela; Carlo Rondinini

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2019.06.009

Measuring Terrestrial Area of Habitat (AOH) and Its Utility for the IUCN Red List

Trends Ecol Evol. 2019 Nov;34(11):977-986. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.06.009. Epub 2019 Jul 16.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ IUCN, 28 rue Mauverney, CH-1196, Gland, Switzerland; World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna, 4031, Philippines; Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia. Electronic address: t.brooks@iucn.org.
² Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
³ Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
⁴ RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Edinburgh EH12 9DH, UK.
⁵ BirdLife International, David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK; Department of Zoology, Downing Street, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
⁶ South African National Parks, Cape Research Centre, Tokai Park, Cape Town, South Africa; Global Change Biology Group, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Matieland, South Africa; Climate Change Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland.
⁷ IUCN, David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK.
⁸ Conservation and Policy, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK.
⁹ IPÊ - Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas, Nazaré Paulista, São Paulo 12960-000, Brazil.
¹⁰ Chief Environmental Scientist, Microsoft, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98075, USA.
¹¹ Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708, USA; Environmental Research Centre, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, Jiangsu 215316, China.
¹² Wildlife Trust of India, F-13, Sector-8, Noida 201301, India.
¹³ Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
¹⁴ Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Viale dell'Università 32, I-00185, Rome, Italy.

PMID: 31324345
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.06.009

Abstract

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species includes assessment of extinction risk for 98 512 species, plus documentation of their range, habitat, elevation, and other factors. These range, habitat and elevation data can be matched with terrestrial land cover and elevation datasets to map the species' area of habitat (AOH; also known as extent of suitable habitat; ESH). This differs from the two spatial metrics used for assessing extinction risk in the IUCN Red List criteria: extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO). AOH can guide conservation, for example, through targeting areas for field surveys, assessing proportions of species' habitat within protected areas, and monitoring habitat loss and fragmentation. We recommend that IUCN Red List assessments document AOH wherever practical.

Keywords: IUCN Red List; area of habitat; area of occupancy; extent of occurrence; extent of suitable habitat; range map.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Conservation of Natural Resources*
Ecosystem
Endangered Species
Extinction, Biological*