MAIISG

Key IUCN Documents

Use the links  to get access to IUCN Red List guidance and policy documents, and Red List assessment tools.

IUCN - Spider and Scorpion Specialist Group

Spiders (Arthropoda, Arachnida, Araneae) constitute the seventh most diverse order worldwide. At present, there are over 44,000 recognized species, grouped in 3,924 genera and 112 families. Only five mega-diverse insect orders (Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera and Heteroptera) and mites (Acari) are more speciose. Moreover, estimates of the world’s total spider diversity range from 76,000 (Platnick 1999) to 170,000 (Coddington & Levi 1991). In any case, such numbers are well over the entire 60,000 vertebrate species

IUCN/SSC Species Monitoring Specialist Group

The IUCN SSC Species Monitoring Specialist Group aims to enhance biodiversity conservation by improving the availability and use of data on species populations, their habitats and threats.

In the first half of 2017, a survey of SSC taxonomic specialist groups, and an assessment of the lessons learned from existing project portfolios, will allow the group to identify its taxonomic and geographic priorities, further finalizing and focusing the Group's strategy

Azorean Biodiversity Portal

The Azorean Biodiversity Portal is a unique resource for fundamental research in systematics, biodiversity, education and conservation management in the Azores (Portugal). It also provides an original platform for biogeographical and macroecological research on islands

Spiders Azores

The aim of this webpage is to provide information about the spider fauna of the Azores. In time this site is planned to contain images and species descriptions of all species occurring on the archipelago. Images of alcohol preserved specimen will be used until images of live specimens are available. It is hoped to supplement habitus images with images of female epigynes and male palps to enhance the ability of anyone wanting to successfully identify spiders collected on the archipelago. Images shown on this page may not be based on Azorean specimens but spiders collected or observed elsewhere in their distributional range. Many of these images together with the detailed distribution of species on the nine Azorean islands could be accessed in the Azorean Biodiversity Portal. The images taken by Enésima Mendonça were taken under the Project Interreg IIIB Bionatura and a Grant of CITA-A (University of Azores).

BIOTA Canarias

The Canary Islands Biodiversity Portal is a unique resource for fundamental research in systematics, biodiversity, education and conservation management in the Canary Islands (Spain). It also provides an original platform for biogeographical and macroecological research on islands

The Azorean Biodiversity Group

 The Azorean Biodiversity Group leads the Island Ecology & Environmental Risks (IEER) Thematic Line within the Ce3C’s. We investigate ecological and evolutionary processes on oceanic islands, contributing to the Centre’s vision and mission of understanding the response of biodiversity to global changes at multiple temporal and spatial scales. In addition, Azorean Biodiversity Group interdisciplinary expertise enables also research in environmental risk assessment and pest control, and provides support for decision-making and outreach, and effective conservation planning strategies in island ecosystems.

cE3c - Center for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes - IBBC

Within cE3c , the IBBC Research Group includes 18 senior researchers (integrated members), seven of whom hold academic positions, one a contract as research technician, and ten hold post-doctoral grants. The group also includes 17 Ph.D. students, five research grant holders hired by specific research projects and one technician. In addition, 12 International collaborators act as Associated Research Fellows on several projects as part of a network of experts in Island research. Three group members (PAV Borges; I. Amorim and F Rigal) are also members of the international Biodynamic Island Group (BIG) composed of 14 experts in island biogeography and based at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, UK.

Oceanic islands have long fascinated scientists due to their simplified and unique biotas and ecosystems, which encompass a large number of endemics species. As biodiversity is decreasing on a global scale, its loss is felt particular on Islands, where species disappearing at faster rates due to human activities, such as habitat loss and fragmentation, invasive species, pollution and global climate change. In this context, the IBBC Research Group pursues the following objectives:

1. Use the Azores as a model system to investigate ecological and evolutionary mechanisms responsible for shaping island biotas;

2. Collect long-term ecological data to evaluate species distributions and abundance at multiple spatial and temporal scales;

3. Identify pathways that impact oceanic indigenous assemblages under global change for conservation purposes.

ISLAND LAB

We are providing resources for Island Research working as a Virtual Research Environment (VRE). This project was partially funded by FCT-PTDC/BIA-BIC/119255/2010 – “Biodiversity on oceanic islands: towards a unified theory” and is an initiative of the Thematic Line of cE3c - Island Ecology & Environmental Risks (http://ce3c.ciencias.ulisboa.pt/) leaded by Azorean Biodiversity Group (cE3c) (http://www.gba.uac.pt/