Species at Risk Topics

"There is grandeur in ths view of life...Whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." -Charles Darwin, 1859

Overview of Species at Risk in the Columbia Basin

The "endless forms" Darwin refers to in On the Origin of Species make up Earth's biological diversity, or biodiversity. The ecosystems of Earth host a vast array of species, each with genetic variation and very precise, unique relationships with one another. Each member of any ecosystem has its place and purpose, honed by evolution through all time, combining to make a web of interdependency and support. Each member is needed for the system's integrity. The essence of biodiversity is the symbiosis between organisms, rather than simply their great numbers.

Humans are only one of the 1.75 million classified species sharing the planet, and the number of classified species is only a fraction of all species, by far the majority of which remain to be described and named. Estimates of the total number of species, including those yet to be discovered, range from 10 million to 30 million, not counting bacteria and viruses. Most are insects, fungi and various kinds of microorganisms. Harding (1997) tallied the number of known and estimated numbers of unknown species in British Columbia to total about 70,000 species, not counting bacteria and viruses. Yet humans are poised to be the agent of extinctions on a scale not seen since the end of the Cretaceous. Some scientists estimate that up to half of the Earth's species could be extinct in 100 years at the current rate, including 1/10 of all birds and 1/8 of all plants:

"The collective actions of humans - developing and paving over the landscape, clear-cutting forests, polluting rivers and streams, altering the atmosphere's protective ozone layer, and populating nearly every place imaginable - are bringing an end to the lives of creatures across the earth." - Morell, 1999.

Nor is this an issue only for tropical forests and coral reefs. Harding (1997) counted some two dozen species and subspecies in British Columbia which have already gone extinct or been extirpated (i.e., absent here, but still living somewhere else) from the province. Fortunately, government and corporate efforts are mounting to save species, and must of this effort is directed at those species known to be at risk of extinction. The following sections define the terms of endangerment.

Classification Systems for Species at Risk

Several classification systems, employed by various agencies and organizations throughout the world, assign priority to species at risk. Recently, attempts have been made to standardize these systems to provide some consistency across provincial, state, national and international boundaries. All systems have the common goal of categorizing and assigning some degree of rarity to species, and to objectively determine what is considered to be endangered, threatened, sensitive, vulnerable, unique and rare. The following section describes provincial, national and global classification systems relevant to the Columbia Basin.

Nature Conservancy Ranking System

The British Columbia Conservation Data Centre (CDC) was established in 1991 to centralize and standardize data on natural resources in British Columbia, with a particular focus on rare plants, animals and plant communities. The CDC employs the U.S. Nature Conservancy's ranking system, which ranks each element of biological diversity (species, sub-species, plant community, special biological feature) at two levels: global (G) and provincial or sub-national (S). Global rank is assigned based on the status of the element throughout its entire range, and provincial rank is assigned based on its status in British Columbia. The provincial rank cannot be more common than the global rank, although it could be the same or more rare. This system assigns a number from one to five based primarily on the number of extant (still existing) occurrences of the element. Other factors such as abundance, range, protection, trends and threats are also considered (Harcombe, 1994). The tables below provide definitions for the ranks and modifiers used by the CDC.

Provincial RED and BLUE list system

The provincial red and blue lists are established based on the Nature Conservancy system described above - but utilizing only the provincial rank. These lists are revised and updated on a regular basis to reflect currently available information. Species may be added to the list as a result of habitat loss or fragmentation, or possibly be removed if management efforts are successful. In addition to these categories of "at risk" conservation status, British Columbia maintains a yellow list of species of management concern.

Red-listed species are those believed to be endangered or threatened in the province. Endangered refers to native species or subspecies that are at risk of imminent extinction or extirpation throughout all or a significant portion of its range in British Columbia. Threatened refers to species or subspecies that are likely to become endangered if factors affecting their vulnerability are not reversed (Cannings et al., 1999). Red listed species have ranks of 1,2, 1-2, 1-3, H or X.

Blue-listed species are considered to be vulnerable and "at risk", but not yet endangered or threatened in the province. Populations of these species may not be in decline, but their habitat requirements are such that they are vulnerable to further disturbances (Harper et al. 1994). Blue-listed species have ranks of 2-3, 3, or 3-4.

Species with ranks of 4 or 5 are not considered to be at risk in British Columbia. Beardmore, 1999, lists and discusses the species on the Red List and Blue List that occur in the Columbia Basin.

Yellow-listed species are not considered at risk of extinction, but are listed because they warrant special attention by wildlife and resource managers. They may or may not have global conservation ranks. These are not discussed here, but are shown on the distribution maps of CDC-listed mammals, birds and plants in the Columbia Basin.

Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC)

This committee was formed in 1977 to meet the need to produce a single official, scientifically sound national list of wild species at risk in Canada. Until recently, all native plants and animals, except invertebrates, fell under COSEWIC's purview (Munro, 1994). Now, some invertebrates (lepidopterans and freshwater molluscs) are listed by COSEWIC. The role of COSEWIC may change with pending federal endangered species legislation. More information on proposed legislation and an opportunity to contribute to the discussions of it can be found at Environment Canada's Species at Risk public consultation website, http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/index_e.cfm
The committee is currently comprised of one member from each provincial and territorial wildlife agency, one member from each of four federal agencies, and one from each of three nationally-based not-for-profit conservation agencies. Sub-committees are struck to obtain and review status reports on species from various taxonomic groups (mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, and plants), and then present recommendations to the full committee for formal assignment of status. COSEWIC currently recognizes five categories of risk: vulnerable, threatened, endangered, extirpated and extinct. COSEWIC has now adopted the same criteria used internationally by the World Conservation Union (IUCN; see below), however, and in future will apply them to its categories. More information on COSEWIC can be found at Environment Canada's website, http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/. A searchable database of COSEWIC-listed species is at http://www.speciesatrisk.gc.ca/species/English.

World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red Lists of Threatened Animals and Plants

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) maintains a "Red List of Threatened Animals" and a "Red List of Threatened Plants." Like other listing systems, it's terms of endangerment are continually being improved. Currently it uses quantitative criteria, known as the Mace Lande criteria, that are based on the probabilities of extinction. Its conservation status categories include Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Lower Risk (3 subcategories) and Data Deficient. Definitions of these categories and the criteria used to derive them, as well as other information about IUCN and its programs can be found at http://www.iucn.org.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

The purpose of CITES is to assist countries to conserve endangered species by controlling international trade in them or their products (such as leather, ivory and shell products). The Convention is primarily aimed at poachers and smugglers: If it is illegal to hunt or trap, it should also be illegal to sell it or its parts. CITES is implemented in Canada by the "Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act."

CITES lists species in appendices as follows:

Listing in CITES appendices is not necessarily done by specialists according to specific criteria, but, rather, by governments (or their delegates) of the contracting countries (the Parties to the Convention). Appendices I and II may be amended by voting at regular Conferences of the Parties, and Appendix III may be amended unilaterally. Non-government environmental organizations (NGOs) are very much a part of these discussions.

Saw-whet Owl: a CITES species

Examples of Columbia Basin species listed by CITES include bald eagle, peregrine falcon, sandhill crane, all owls, all hummingbirds, all orchids (e.g., yellow lady's slipper), lynx, bobcat, cougar, river otters, wolves, black bears and grizzly bears. Listing may be specific to a subspecies, or geographically isolated population. For example, grizzly bears and cougar in Canada are included in Appendix II, but brown (grizzly) bears in Bhutan, China, Mexico and Mongolia and the Florida cougar (a different subspecies) are included in Appendix I.

References

Beardmore, Roger M., 1999. The Columbia Basin: Endangered Species and Spaces. Unpubl. report by Future Legacy Consulting Group for Royal British Columbia Museum and Columbia Basin.
Cannings, S.G., D.F.Fraser, L.R.Ramsay, and M.Fraker, 1999.  Rare Amphibians, Reptiles and Mammals of British Columbia. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria B.C. 
COSEWIC, 1999. List of Canadian species at risk, April, 1999. Committee on the status of endangered wildlife in Canada. Ottawa, Ontario.
Harcombe, A. 1994. Describing Rarity: the Ranking Delemma and a Solution. in Harding L. and McCullum E. (ed.s), Biodiversity in British Columbia: our changing environment. Environment Canada.
Harding, L.E., 1997. Limitations of endangered species lists. Global Biodiversity 6(4): 21-26.
Harper, B., S. Cannings, D. Fraser and W.T. Munro, 1994. Provincial Species at Risk. in L.E. Harding and E. McCullum (ed.s), Biodiversity in British Columbia: our changing environment. Environment Canada.
Munro, W.T.1994. National Criteria for the Designation of Endangered and Threatened Species. in L.E. Harding and E.McCullum (ed.s), Biodiversity in British Columbia: our changing environment. Environment Canada.
World Conservation Union (IUCN), 1996. Red List of Threatened Animals.
World Conservation Union (IUCN), 1998. Red List of Threatened Plants.

Related Sites:

http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/wld/
The BC Environment, Wildlife Branch website page on the Identified Wildlife Management Strategy mandated by the Forest Practices Code has the current list of Identified Wildlife.

http://srmwww.gov.bc.ca/cdc/
The B.C. Conservation Data Centre provides lists of species at risk for the province, and by Forest District. It can respond to specific requests for information.

http://www.CITES.org
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species website as complete text and appendices.

http://nature.org/
The Nature Conservancy is one of the world's foremost non-governmental environmental organizations working to protect endangered species and spaces.

http://www.iucn.org/
World Conservation Union (formerly International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN): Global and regional environmental issues. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals is available as full text or a searchable database at http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/index.html.

Species At Risk Topics