When a species is proposed for listing as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must consider whether there are areas of habitat believed to be essential the species conservation. Those areas may be proposed for designation as critical habitat. Critical habitat is a term defined and used in the Act. It is a specific geographic area(s) that contains features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and that may require special management and protection. Critical habitat may include an area that is not currently occupied by the species but that will be needed for its recovery. An area is designated as critical habitat after the Service publishes a proposed Federal regulation in the Federal Register and receives and considers public comments on the proposal. The final boundaries of the critical habitat are also published in the Federal Register.

In 2024, more than 27,000 flowering plants were considered to be threatened species. Flowering plants, more colloquially known as flowers, are the most diverse group of land plants. They are also the largest group within the plant kingdom regarding the number of described species. Endangered and threatened Species Threatened species and organisms are those that are vulnerable to being endangered in the future. The population growth rate is one way to determine whether a species is going to become endangered. In the United States, plants were the most endangered wildlife and plant species. In Latin America, Ecuador had the highest number of threatened living species on the IUCN Red List. The International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization that works to protect the environment and its inhabitants. Founded in 1948, it is headquartered in Gland, Switzerland. The IUCN’s mission is to make sure that the entire world works to conserve the environment and nature. They also want to make sure that the natural resources that are being used are renewable sources. Their Red List is the most all-inclusive status of global conservation of the earth’s species. In 2023, they listed plants as the most threatened species worldwide.

As of October 16, 2024, there were 76 insect species in the United States in danger of becoming extinct throughout all or a significant part of their natural range. Many animals native to the U.S. share this fate, but plants are the most affected, with 764 species on the endangered list as of October 2024.

Madagascar was the country with the most threatened living species in the world, with over 3,900 species under threat of extinction as of 2024. Five out of the top 10 countries with the largest number of threatened species were in America, with Ecuador ranking second on the list. Altogether, of the 2,762 threatened species in Ecuador, about three-quarters were plants. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) threatened living species include all those that are either critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable to being endangered in the future. Which living species are more susceptible to extinction? Not only in Ecuador are plants the most vulnerable group to extinction, but also in many other countries across the globe. As of 2024, nearly 60 percent of the world’s living species threatened with extinction were plants, with flowering plants accounting for the largest share. The loss of plant biodiversity is a concerning issue, as it may impact the search for new food crops that are resilient to climate change or the search for new medicines. Fishes followed, representing over eight percent of the threatened living species globally. In particular, insects accounted for a five percent share. Insects are the group with the largest number of organisms discovered up to date. Why do living species become endangered? While extinction occurs naturally, the current rate at which species become extinct is higher than the natural historical rate. Habitat loss is the main driver of extinction, but there are other reasons behind it, such as over-exploitation of wildlife for commercial purposes or the introduction of harmful non-native species. Climate change also plays a big role, and if global warming is not limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the share of species at high risk of extinction could increase up to nearly 30 percent.

The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) collects and maintains several datasets on the locations, distribution and status of species of plants and animals. Information on distribution by county from the following three databases was extracted and compiled into this dataset. First, the New York Natural Heritage Program biodiversity database: Rare animals, rare plants, and significant natural communities. Significant natural communities are rare or high-quality wetlands, forests, grasslands, ponds, streams, and other types of habitats. Next, the 2nd NYS Breeding Bird Atlas Project database: Birds documented as breeding during the atlas project from 2000-2005. And last, DEC’s NYS Reptile and Amphibian Database: Reptiles and amphibians; most records are from the NYS Amphibian & Reptile Atlas Project (Herp Atlas) from 1990-1999.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) provides a program for the conservation of threatened and endangered species and the habitats in which they are found. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service of U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization (NMFS/NOAA) lead federal implementation of the ESA, though they are supported by other federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Section 7 of the ESA directs all Federal agencies to conserve endangered and threatened species and to use their authorities to ensure actions do not jeopardized the further existence of threatened and endangered species or adversely modify designated critical habitats. As part of the Section 7 coordination, federal agencies work with USFWS and NMFS to identify species found within the jurisdiction of the United that could be affected by actions carried out by the agency. Of note, the US EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) is responsible for ensuring that Agency actions under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) are in compliance with ESA. OPP determines if ESA-listed species or their designated critical habitat may be affected by pesticide products. Pesticide products that “may affect” an ESA-listed species or its designated critical habitat may be subject to additional regulation. Species ranges represent anywhere an individual of the listed species could be found based on the best available information at the time of delineation. As defined in ESA, critical habitat delineates habitat characteristics in specific geographical areas and may be occupied or unoccupied by a threatened or endangered species at the time of listing. These areas must contain physical or biological features essential to conservation of a species and may require special management considerations or protection. Critical habitat may also include areas that are not currently occupied by the species but that may be needed for their recovery. Range areas represent more generalized habitat where species are or could be found based on the best available information. For some species, best available information is based on site specific surveys. For others, it will be historical _location information based on political boundaries. These areas are, therefore, less geographically explicit than critical habitat. Consideration of both the species range and critical habitat ensures the conservation of the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend. To support EPA’s implementation of ESA, critical habitat and range data for species listed under ESA Section 7 were obtained by the US EPA from the USFWS Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS) database in November 2020. These data were supplemented with areas provided by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) where NOAA has species authority. For NMFS species not found in either _location, a request was made directly to the NMFS scientists. The last download of the species locations occurred in November 2020.

As of 2024, about ****** vertebrates, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, were on the Red List.The data include species that are threatened by extinction, animals that are critically endangered with extinction, and endangered animals. The number of endangered species increased for every major group of organisms in 2024.

Critical Habitat for Threatened and Endangered SpeciesThis National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) dataset, shared as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) feature layer, displays proposed and designated critical habitat under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. According to the FWS, "When the Fish and Wildlife Service proposes a species for listing under the Endangered Species Act, we are required to consider whether there are geographic areas that contain essential features on areas that are essential to conserve the species. If so, we may propose designating these areas as critical habitat."Canada Lynx and Atlantic SalmonData currency: current federal service (USFWS Critical Habitat)NGDAID: 3 (FWS Critical Habitat for Threatened and Endangered Species Dataset)OGC API Features Link: Not AvailableFor more information:Critical HabitatUSFWS Threatened & Endangered Species Active Critical Habitat ReportFor feedback, please contact: Esri_US_Federal_Data@esri.comNGDA Data SetThis data set is part of the NGDA Biodiversity and Ecosystems Theme Community. Per the Federal Geospatial Data Committee (FGDC), Biodiversity and Ecosystems is defined as pertaining to, or describing, "the dynamic processes, interactions, distributions, and relationships between and among organisms and their environments".For other NGDA Content: Esri Federal Datasets

Threatened Species of National Environmental Significance

This dataset contains information about species of national environmental significance as listed in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Data provided includes:
- species names and threatened status
- indicative occurrence within each state, territory and marine area
- links to further information in the Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT).

The dataset is updated as the lists of species on schedules of the EPBC Act are amended. There is one row entry for each listed species. Links to other species information sourced from SPRAT can be made using the field containing the listed taxon identification number (ListedId).

A description of the fields and methods used to create the data can be found in the explanatory notes resource.

More about threatened species

Ecological Communities of National Environmental Significance (Threatened Ecological Communities)

This dataset contains information about ecological communities of national environmental significance as listed in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Data provided includes:
- ecological community name and threatened status
- indicative occurrence within each state and territory
- links to further information in the Species Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT).

The dataset is updated as the lists of ecological communities on schedules of the EPBC Act are amended. There is one row entry for each listed ecological community. Links to other ecological community information sourced from SPRAT can be made using the field containing the listed community identification number (ECId).

A description of the fields and methods used to create the data can be found in the explanatory notes resource.

More about ecological communities

Credit:
Department of the Environment (2015). Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of the Environment, Canberra.

These data document the summary of species, by taxonomic group, listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service from 1 July 1976 to 30 September 2019 for the United States. Data were compiled from two sources: the Endangered Species Bulletins and the Environmental Conservation Online system (ECOS), http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/reports/box-score-report.To create a temporal data set of species listed as threatened or endangered, by taxonomic group. The data are provided because the Fish & Wildlife Service does not provide temporal counts of threatened and endangered species, only counts of single points in time.

The recency of large-scale land conversion in California’s San Joaquin Desert raises the probability that the region’s numerous endemic species still retain genetic signatures of historical population connectivity. If so, genomic data can serve as a guidance tool for conserving lands that once supported habitat for gene movement. We studied the genetic structuring of the endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard Gambelia sila, a San Joaquin Desert endemic, to (1) test whether patterns of population admixture could be used to delimit former habitat corridors in the pre-converted landscape, (2) evaluate whether restriction site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) from a subset of samples can resolve structure at the same spatial scale as mtDNA and microsatellite data collected on the full sample, and (3) inform recovery efforts lacking direction from genetics. Cluster and tree-based analyses reveal a recent shared history between many populations that are now isolated, and that contemporary structure is linked to geophysical features that influence precipitation patterns and locations of former suitable habitat. Past hybridization with the sister species Gambelia wislizenii in southern San Joaquin Desert has generated a stable, but now-isolated population with different species identities for the mtDNA and nuclear genomes. The three marker types converged on similar themes, despite substantially fewer samples in the RADseq datasets; however, RADseq inferences were sensitive to dataset assembly filters that account for sequencing error, particularly cluster assignments. We suggest ways in which these data can be used to improve recovery efforts for G. sila and offer guidelines for RADseq dataset assembly in studies of intraspecific population structure.

Meet Sinlan (Sheila) Poo who works with amphibians at the Memphis Zoo. Learn about Sinlan's research in applied conservation and how they use biodiversity data to study endangered species.

Financial overview and grant giving statistics of Endangered Species Media Project

Red Data Book is a book describing information on endangered wildlife, including species names, ecology, distribution, current status, and factors of population decline. In 2023, Toba City published a Red Data Book listing 429 endangered marine species inhabiting the coastal and estuarine areas around Toba City. The book describes the endangered categories of the listed species according to the degree of threat of extinction and the causes of population decline. In addition to the scientific information, the book includes many pictures of underwater surveys and seascapes, history and culture between local people and the sea, and sea-related folklore in the Toba area as column articles of the book. Unique feature of the Toba Red Data Book is that it specializes in marine organisms including algae or off-shore specie, and evaluate the vulnerability of marine species at the prefectural level. This dataset contains background data collected to evaluate vulnerability of the species in the Toba Red Data Book, and the data were quality controlled and transformed to comply with the Darwin Core, OBIS Schema.

This data collection contains the tabular data and R scripts used to generate three biodiversity indicators for the NSW biodiversity baseline 2017: a) Expected survival of listed threatened species; b) Expected existence of listed threatened ecological communities; and c) Expected survival of phylogenetic diversity of listed threatened species (for mammals, birds and amphibians). The indicators are an application of the ‘expected diversity’ framework. Expected Diversity, as a measure of biodiversity status and trend, was applied to the lists of threatened species and ecological communities as determined by the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSS-C) between 1995 and 2017 (prior to 25th August 2017m the date of commencement of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. The data and scripts provided in the data collection will allow the pre-commencement analyses of these indicators to be re-run. The method as applied in the scripts is designed to allow future iterations of the indicators to be run on an annual basis, if desired. Changes to taxonomy, future determinations of the NSW TSS-C, and future reporting on the effectiveness of threatened species management will require revision of the underlying data used in the indicators. Guidelines on how to re-run the analyses using the scripts and adapt the data package for future iterations of the indicators is provided in the implementation report (Nipperess DA, Faith DP, Auld TD, Brazill-Boast J, Williams KJ & King D (2020) Expected survival of listed and threatened species and ecological communities. Biodiversity Indicator Program Implementation Report, Department of Planning Industry and Environment NSW, Sydney, Australia.), and relevant guidelines extracted from the report are attached with this data package. Lineage: Expected Diversity measures rate of loss by determining the amount of biodiversity expected to still exist at some point in the future (e.g., 100 years from now). From this basis, three indicators were developed: Expected survival of listed threatened species; Expected existence of listed threatened ecological communities; and Expected survival of phylogenetic diversity of listed threatened species (for selected groups). Expected survival was estimated from the listed status (Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered or Extinct) of species and ecological communities. Phylogenetic Diversity measures evolutionary heritage by quantifying the amount of evolutionary history (sum of “branch lengths” on a phylogenetic tree) for any given set of species. The expected survival of Phylogenetic Diversity quantifies the amount or proportion of the tree expected to survive. Determining temporal trends in the indicators required the interpolation of the listed status of threatened species and ecological communities over time. In the ‘best case’ scenario, species and ecological communities were assumed to maintain the same status over time unless specifically changed by a determination of the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee (or its predecessor). In the ‘worst case’ scenario, species and ecological communities were assumed to be secure (not threatened) prior to being first listed as threatened. Baseline values (at the time of the commencement of the Act) and temporal trends (from the inception of threatened species legislation in NSW in 1995 to the baseline) for each indicator are reported. Declines, robust to assumptions, have occurred in the expected survival of listed threatened species and Phylogenetic Diversity, but not of listed ecological communities, since 1995. Phylogenetic Diversity analysis was only conducted on selected vertebrate groups (birds, mammals and frogs). Additional lineage is provide in the report (Nipperess DA, Faith DP, Auld TD, Brazill-Boast J, Williams KJ & King D (2020) Expected survival of listed and threatened species and ecological communities. Biodiversity Indicator Program Implementation Report, Department of Planning Industry and Environment NSW, Sydney, Australia.), and relevant guidelines extracted from the report are attached with this data package (IndicatorExplanatoryNotes_ExpectedDiversityMethods.docx).

Established in 1964, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus and plant species.

The IUCN Red List is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity. Far more than a list of species and their status, it is a powerful tool to inform and catalyse action for biodiversity conservation and policy change, critical to protecting the natural resources we need to survive. It provides information about range, population size, habitat and ecology, use and/or trade, threats, and conservation actions that will help inform necessary conservation decisions.

The IUCN Red List is used by government agencies, wildlife departments, conservation-related non-governmental organisations (NGOs), natural resource planners, educational organisations, students, and the business community. The Red List process has become a massive enterprise involving the IUCN Global Species Program staff, partner organisations and experts in the IUCN Species Survival Commission and partner networks who compile the species information to make The IUCN Red List the indispensable product it is today.

Global change causes community composition to change considerably through time, with ever-new combinations of interacting species. To study the consequences of newly established species interactions, one available source of data could be observational surveys from biodiversity monitoring. However, approaches using observational data would need to account for niche differences between species and for imperfect detection of individuals. To estimate population sizes of interacting species, we extended N-mixture models that were developed to estimate true population sizes in single species. Simulations revealed that our model is able to disentangle direct effects of dominant on subordinate species from indirect effects of dominant species on detection probability of subordinate species. For illustration, we applied our model to data from a Swiss amphibian monitoring program and showed that sizes of expanding water frog populations were negatively related to population sizes of endangered yellow-bellied toads and common midwife toads and partly of natterjack toads. Unlike other studies that analyzed presence and absence of species, our model suggests that the spread of water frogs in Central Europe is one of the reasons for the decline of endangered toad species. Thus, studying population impacts of dominant species on population sizes of endangered species using data from biodiversity monitoring programs should help to inform conservation policy and to decide whether competing species should be subject to population management.

Financial overview and grant giving statistics of Endangered Species Theatre Project

Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) data characterize the marine and coastal environments and wildlife based on sensitivity to spilled oil. Coastal species that are listed as threatened, endangered, or as a species of concern, by either federal or state governments, are a primary focus. A subset of the ESI data, the ESI Threatened and Endangered Species (T&E) databases focus strictly on these species. Species are mapped individually. In addition to showing spatial extent, each species polygon, point, or line has attributes describing abundance, seasonality, threatened/endangered status, and life history. Both the state and federal status is provided, along with the year the ESI data were published. This is important, as the status of a species can vary over time. As always, the ESI data are a snapshot in time. The biology layers focus on threatened/endangered status, areas of high concentration, and areas where sensitive life stages may occur. Supporting data tables provide species-/location-specific abundance, seasonality, status, life history, and source information. Human-use resources mapped include managed areas (parks, refuges, critical habitats, etc.) and resources that may be impacted by oiling and/or cleanup, such as beaches, archaeological sites, marinas, etc. ESIs are available for the majority of the US coastline, as well as the US territories. ESI data are available as PDF maps, as well as in a variety of GIS formats. For more information, go to http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/esi . To download complete ESI data sets, go to http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/esi_download .

This page contains the spatial data for active proposed and final critical habitat for FWS only and Joint FWS/NMFS threatened and endangered species. ECOS is a FWS-sponsored platform for FWS data. The ECOS critical habitat on-line mapper includes (some, not all of the) proposed and final critical habitat for species listed as Threatened and Endangered by the FWS, or that are jointly managed by FWS/NMFS. The on-line mapper does not include species which are under the sole jurisdiction of NMFS. Users who are interested in critical habitat for NMFS species are referred to the NMFS critical habitat Website, here:

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/endangered-species-conservation/critical-habitat