Course Description

Assessing endangerment of species and ecosystems is a key tool in measuring biodiversity loss, informing conservation, and following the impacts of conservation actions. This course clarifies how the risks of extinction and ecological collapse (for species and ecosystems, respectively) are evaluated as parts of red-list assessments that are conducted according to the IUCN methodology. The importance of ecological principles, collaboration, and background data behind red-listing are emphasized.

After finishing this course the student:

• is able to describe how red-list assessments are done for species and ecosystems
• knows which criteria are used to evaluate the risks of extinction (for species) and ecological collapse (for ecosystems)
• is able to explain why red-list assessments are based on broad collaboration
• is able to search information from red-list databases (IUCN, Finnish Red Lists).