Warning about conservation status of forest ecosystems in tropical Andes: National assessment based on IUCN criteria

PLoS One. 2020 Aug 25;15(8):e0237877. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237877. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

World ecosystems are suffering from anthropogenic and natural pressure. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has developed analogous criteria for the Red List of Threatened Species in order to perform similar risk assessments on ecosystems, creating the Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) methodology. One of the most significant challenges for the construction of these lists is gathering the available information to apply the criteria. By applying IUCN RLE criteria B (the extent of restricted geographic distribution of an ecosystem), we analyzed the threat level of 64 forest ecosystems of the Ecuadorian mainland. According to the results, limited distribution is the key risk to threatened ecosystems, which are associated with anthropogenic pressures. Our study showed that 22% of forest ecosystems are classified as threatened. This evaluation of the forest ecosystem status at a national level could lead to public awareness towards ecosystem conservation and provide reasonable strategies to managers.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Conservation of Natural Resources*
  • Ecuador
  • Forests*
  • Geography
  • Tropical Climate*

Grants and funding

The authors of this publication has research support from German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from funds of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The authors have declared there are no financial conflicts of interest to disclose.