The impact of conservation on the status of the world's vertebrates.
Hoffmann M., Hilton-Taylor C., Angulo A., Böhm M., Brooks TM., Butchart SHM., Carpenter KE., Chanson J., Collen B., Cox NA., Darwall WRT., Dulvy NK., Harrison LR., Katariya V., Pollock CM., Quader S., Richman NI., Rodrigues ASL., Tognelli MF., Vié J-C., Aguiar JM., Allen DJ., Allen GR., Amori G., Ananjeva NB., Andreone F., Andrew P., Aquino Ortiz AL., Baillie JEM., Baldi R., Bell BD., Biju SD., Bird JP., Black-Decima P., Blanc JJ., Bolaños F., Bolivar-G W., Burfield IJ., Burton JA., Capper DR., Castro F., Catullo G., Cavanagh RD., Channing A., Chao NL., Chenery AM., Chiozza F., Clausnitzer V., Collar NJ., Collett LC., Collette BB., Cortez Fernandez CF., Craig MT., Crosby MJ., Cumberlidge N., Cuttelod A., Derocher AE., Diesmos AC., Donaldson JS., Duckworth JW., Dutson G., Dutta SK., Emslie RH., Farjon A., Fowler S., Freyhof J., Garshelis DL., Gerlach J., Gower DJ., Grant TD., Hammerson GA., Harris RB., Heaney LR., Hedges SB., Hero J-M., Hughes B., Hussain SA., Icochea M J., Inger RF., Ishii N., Iskandar DT., Jenkins RKB., Kaneko Y., Kottelat M., Kovacs KM., Kuzmin SL., La Marca E., Lamoreux JF., Lau MWN., Lavilla EO., Leus K., Lewison RL., Lichtenstein G., Livingstone SR., Lukoschek V., Mallon DP., McGowan PJK., McIvor A., Moehlman PD., Molur S., Muñoz Alonso A., Musick JA., Nowell K., Nussbaum RA., Olech W., Orlov NL., Papenfuss TJ., Parra-Olea G., Perrin WF., Polidoro BA., Pourkazemi M., Racey PA., Ragle JS., Ram M., Rathbun G., Reynolds RP., Rhodin AGJ., Richards SJ., Rodríguez LO., Ron SR., Rondinini C., Rylands AB., Sadovy de Mitcheson Y., Sanciangco JC., Sanders KL., Santos-Barrera G., Schipper J., Self-Sullivan C., Shi Y., Shoemaker A., Short FT., Sillero-Zubiri C., Silvano DL., Smith KG., Smith AT., Snoeks J., Stattersfield AJ., Symes AJ., Taber AB., Talukdar BK., Temple HJ., Timmins R., Tobias JA., Tsytsulina K., Tweddle D., Ubeda C., Valenti SV., van Dijk PP., Veiga LM., Veloso A., Wege DC., Wilkinson M., Williamson EA., Xie F., Young BE., Akçakaya HR., Bennun L., Blackburn TM., Boitani L., Dublin HT., da Fonseca GAB., Gascon C., Lacher TE., Mace GM., Mainka SA., McNeely JA., Mittermeier RA., Reid GM., Rodriguez JP., Rosenberg AA., Samways MJ., Smart J., Stein BA., Stuart SN.
Using data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world's vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth again as much in the absence of these. Nonetheless, current conservation efforts remain insufficient to offset the main drivers of biodiversity loss in these groups: agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive alien species.