Using publicly available data to conduct rapid assessments of extinction risk

Abstract

The IUCN Red List plays a key role in setting global conservation priorities. Species are added to the Red List through a rigorous assessment process that, while robust, can be quite time-intensive. Here, we test the rapid preliminary assessment of plant species extinction risk using a single Red List metric: Extent of Occurrence (EOO). To do so, we developed REBA (Rapid EOO-Based Assessment), a workflow that harvests and cleans data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), calculates each species' EOO, and assigns Red List categories based on that metric. We validated REBA results against 1,546 North American plant species already on the Red List and found ~90% overlap between REBA's rapid classifications and those of full IUCN assessments. Our preliminary workflow can be used to quickly evaluate data deficient Red List species or those in need of reassessment, and can prioritize unevaluated species for a full assessment.