Assessing Vulnerability of Species
The National Park Service and other agencies protect and monitor plant and animal species whose populations are rare or in danger of being eliminated in particular regions. How do they—or anyone else—know if a species is vulnerable?
Organizations like NatureServe help develop international standards (a "common language" of sorts) that people from different agencies and countries can use to understand which plant and animal species may be of conservation concern locally or globally. NatureServe and their member programs and partners around North America do extensive field work ("surveys") to find out which species are common in particular places, and which are not. Out of the data they gather from these surveys and others, they develop Conservation Status Ranks.
Explore this page:
- Species of Concern
- Conservation Status of Species
- Global Conservation Status Ranks
- State/Subnational Conservation Status Ranks
Species of Concern (and Their Natural Communities)
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Conservation Status of Species
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Global Conservation Status Ranks
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State/Subnational Conservation Status Ranks
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