Frequently Asked Questions
While this forum is a new tool that we are testing out as a complementary resource for dealing with the large number of amphibian assessments that need to be revisited over the coming years, we have been getting several assessment-related questions since the Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA) coordinating team passed the baton to the Amphibian Red List Authority (Amphibian RLA). We hope that by making these questions and their answers available to the interested reader it will clarify some of the most common questions surrounding assessments. We also include some potential questions about the forum itself.
Q: The forum seems to prioritize mostly reassessments instead of new species assessments. Why?
A: The forum is a more efficient medium than email in terms of reaching a wider audience of experts when workshops are not feasible due to funding or logistical constraints. New species assessments are mostly recent discoveries of geographically circumscribed species or species for which there is not much information, so the number of experts involved will be more limited. This means that in these cases it will be most efficient to assess a species on a one-on-one basis via email or Skype. The exception to this will be new or revalidated species resulting from a taxonomic split of a relatively widespread species, where there may be more experts who are familiar with the subpopulations now deemed to be new species found in their research areas.
Q: Does the forum mean that there won’t be any more workshops?
A: Not necessarily. When need and opportunity (i.e. funding and collaborations) intersect, we will explore the workshop option; however, given current economic times, funding for assessment purposes has become scarcer and harder to get, and given that we still need to move forward with maintaining the Red List amphibian database we need to explore other options to update the database. The forum provides one such option. Furthermore, workshop results can still be posted on the forum, to provide an opportunity to those experts that were not able to attend the workshop to provide some feedback to individual assessments.
Q: How long is an assessment valid for?
A: An assessment becomes technically obsolete if it does not get reassessed within ten years. As most (ca 4400) of the currently published amphibian assessments were assessed as part of the comprehensive GAA initiative in 2004, they will become obsolete by 2014 if they are not reassessed before then.
Q: I have new information on a species that was assessed/reassessed after 2004. Can it be reassessed?
A: We are currently prioritizing updating 2004 assessments because they are the ones that will first become obsolete, in 2014. However, assessments done in subsequent years may also be prioritized if there is new information suggesting that the extinction risk to the species in question may have increased considerably.
Q: I have provided information on a species for its reassessment in the forum. When will it be published on the Red List?
A: The short answer is that it will depend. In the past, we tried to get input from all parties involved in a previous assessment, but this proved challenging because of the potential number of people involved (some assessments can have upwards of two dozen experts) and the varying degrees of involvement. The forum should facilitate this by providing an open platform with well defined dates, but after adding expert input each assessment needs to be reviewed by two independent reviewers, and once it is passed it needs to go through a consistency check by the Red List Unit. Even after an assessment is consistency-checked and passed, it needs to wait for a Red List launch date, as assessments are not posted as they are finalized. We will strive to have the assessment process concluded as soon as possible.
Q: There is a species that I really think should be reassessed as soon as possible because of threats, legislation and/or opportunity for conservation action. Is there a way that this assessment could be fast-tracked?
A: Yes. If a species is demonstrably at high risk of extinction and there is a pressing need for a quick turnaround, it may be possible to attempt to speed up certain parts of the assessment process.
Q: Some reassessments have maps but others do not. Why is this?
A: In some cases there will be new distributional records or changes to the known ranges; in these instances we will include a revised map. In cases where there are no new distribution data the valid map will continue to be the published one posted on the Red List.
Q: Why is the forum linking to the Global Amphibian Bioblitz maps?
A: The Global Amphibian Bioblitz (GAB) is a citizen-science initiative that has enormous potential for informing amphibian assessments. We encourage use of the GAB maps when experts deem that the sources and/or evidence provided are considered to be reliable, but it is ultimately the expert’s decision to use this information or not.
Q: The documentation in 2004 assessments seems to differ to the one used in current assessments. Why are you asking for additional information in newer assessments?
A: Justification of an assessment relies on having very explicit documentation that facilitates understanding the reasons why a species is assessed in any one particular category. Making both the rationale and the supporting documentation more explicit in terms of supporting documentation (i.e. estimated extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, severe fragmentation, number of threat-defined locations and nature, extent and intensity of a threat, to name some key elements) makes the assessment more robust and easier to understand to someone who was not directly involved in it.
Q: I have sent information on one or more species a while ago and I don’t see a new reassessment for this species, either on this forum or on the Red List. Why is this happening?
A: Unfortunately we are operating at very low resources at this time, which does not enable us to address the backlog of updates that need to be encompassed into the Red List at the same rate as the information that is being generated. We have a priority tool that allows us to prioritize materials as they come in, and we are currently prioritizing new species, species rediscoveries and taxonomic splits that may merit uplisting in one of the species involved. We hope that by descentralizing the assessment process, where well-integrated and coordinated national or regional groups can take stewardship of their global assessments, we can address other pending materials relevant to keeping the amphibian database updated.
Q: The citation of newer assessments is different from what it was in 2004. Why is this?
A: Determining individual contributions across different assessment years was getting to be increasingly problematic. To resolve this we adopted an approach similar to that used by BirdLife International after prior consultation with Amphibian Specialist Group Regional Chairs. More information on the citation format can be accessed at http://amphibianrla.pbworks.com/w/page/29200638/Citation%20of%20assessments. The forum uses this format, although given an IT-related issue with the assessment reports posted on the forum, the order of contributors will be different than what they appear in the database. However, when the assessments are finally published, they will follow the alphabetical-by-first-name format.
Q: Is it possible to include information from an Amphibian Ark Conservation Needs Assessment in the Conservation Actions section of an IUCN assessment?
A: Of course. If this information is already available for any one given species we encourage experts to include it in the feedback they provide to us.
Q: I would like to get some more Red List documents to help me in the assessment process. Where can I access those?
A: You can download the documents directly from the Red List website (http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents) and/or your can also visit the Amphibian RLA wiki (http://amphibianrla.pbworks.com/w/page/29090156/Assessment-related%20documents).
Q: I would like to propose a species for reassessment in the forum. What do I need to do?
A: Write to us (Ariadne Angulo), or if you know the person who is coordinating a global assessment for your region you can write directly to him/her.
