Conservation status of Chinese species: (1) Overview

The first comprehensive evaluation of more than 10 000 species in China based on the IUCN Red List Criteria and Regional Guidelines is complete. More than 100 experts have been involved in this evaluation, which covers a wide range of species, including invertebrates, vertebrates, gymnosperms and angiosperms. The present paper summarizes the major conclusions of the project. The number of threatened species in China was found to be much high than previously expected. In the past, the estimated percentages of species in each phylum that were endangered was 2-30%. In this comprehensive evaluation, the percentages of threatened species were found to be 7.4-100%. Compared with the status of threatened species worldwide (IUCN Red List 2006), groups such as fish, mammals and gymnosperms face much higher levels of threat in China then they do globally, and other groups, such as crustaceans, reptiles and birds, face lower levels of threat. Given the dire conclusions of this study, we recommend that more research be done on the threats faced by those groups of organisms that are most threatened.