IUCN red listing of marine macroalgal species : a South African case study
type: CreativeWork
description: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is considered an important tool for conservation. However most evaluations have been restricted to terrestrial species and marine species are underrepresented. In contrast to terrestrial environments, the marine environment differs in dispersal restrictions and the difficulty of sampling. This has made it hard to gain sufficient knowledge and therefore literature on the majority of species and makes it difficult to assess the effects of disturbance on species and environments. Marine species are thought to be greatly affected by over-exploitation and by-catch. However, a large proportion of the oceans diversity is situated on the coastal region, particularly as benthic organisms. These environments are considered to be a high risk of disturbance and habitat alteration due to human activities and therefore indicate that habitat loss could result in many species disappearing. The seaweed taxa have only had a total of 75 species listed. Besides being a taxonomically difficult group, there is also very little relevant literature available for effective IUCN evaluations. This study looks at assessing (i) the effectiveness, to date, of identifying seaweed species at risk of extinction, including any fallbacks or complications that seaweed species may face during an IUCN evaluation, (ii) what procedures need to be followed during the process of the evaluation, especially when limited data is available and (iii) what species characteristics could be used to identify candidates for such an assessment. This was done using two methods, firstly by reviewing what seaweed species have been currently listed and the secondly through the form of a case study using three South African endemic species with restricted distribution. IUCN threat criteria fulfil led by species and the threat categories that they achieved were related to knowledge of species distribution for seaweed species. There was an increased degree of certainty when more litera…
abstract: The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is considered an important tool for conservation. However most evaluations have been restricted to terrestrial species and marine species are underrepresented. In contrast to terrestrial environments, the marine environment differs in dispersal restrictions and the difficulty of sampling. This has made it hard to gain sufficient knowledge and therefore literature on the majority of species and makes it difficult to assess the effects of disturbance on species and environments. Marine species are thought to be greatly affected by over-exploitation and by-catch. However, a large proportion of the oceans diversity is situated on the coastal region, particularly as benthic organisms. These environments are considered to be a high risk of disturbance and habitat alteration due to human activities and therefore indicate that habitat loss could result in many species disappearing. The seaweed taxa have only had a total of 75 species listed. Besides being a taxonomically difficult group, there is also very little relevant literature available for effective IUCN evaluations. This study looks at assessing (i) the effectiveness, to date, of identifying seaweed species at risk of extinction, including any fallbacks or complications that seaweed species may face during an IUCN evaluation, (ii) what procedures need to be followed during the process of the evaluation, especially when limited data is available and (iii) what species characteristics could be used to identify candidates for such an assessment. This was done using two methods, firstly by reviewing what seaweed species have been currently listed and the secondly through the form of a case study using three South African endemic species with restricted distribution. IUCN threat criteria fulfil led by species and the threat categories that they achieved were related to knowledge of species distribution for seaweed species. There was an increased degree of certainty when more litera…
author: Zaloumis, Nicholas Paul
language: eng
date published: 2008
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:38Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Biological Sciences

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property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/25983