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Swedish Species Information Centre

The Swedish Species Information Centre works with knowledge about biodiversity in Sweden. The main tasks are to collect, evaluate and store the most important information about threatened and rare plant and animal species. A basic part in this work is to assess degrees and types of threat and to prepare the national so called Red Lists and Red Data Books. Much the work is focused on information through publications, conferences etc. The unit also suggests management plans and initiate research.

Organization

The Swedish Species Information Centre (Swe. ArtDatabanken) is a shared body of SLU (the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). SEPA is the national authority of nature conservation. Uppsala is situated 80 km N Stockholm. The office is located at the Ultuna campus, Uppsala. In the same building you will also find the Swedish Biodiversity Centre and the Department of Ecology.

Swedish Species Information Centre is the focal point for information on Swedish red-listed species and biodiversity, and functions as a link within and between the scientific community and the practical and administrative sectors. Research projects concerning red-listed species and biodiversity are proposed. The most important tool in this work is to prepare and update Red Lists and Red Data Books for plants and animals in Sweden. The lists and books may be used by national and local authorities as well as NGO:s and land owners to make adequate considerations and priorities. The unit also presents recommendations in species recovery plans, for measures to protect biodiversity.

Data sheets with the most important information about each red-listed species are gradually being made and continuously up-dated. The aim is to provide data sheets for all red-listed taxa, and this is completed for vertebrates and vascular plants.

Reports on findings of red-listed plants and animals are continually put into the databases. These reports are given by some thousand people, a majority being competent amateurs.

Expert committees

The national expert committees have a major role in co-ordinating activities for different taxonomic groups. Today such committees exist for the following plant and animal groups in Sweden: vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, fungi, algae, vertebrates (excl. fishes), fishes and invertebrates. The committees consists of some of the leading specialists in Sweden. They suggest changes in the Red Lists, which are revised about every five years according to the present status or new knowledge of the species.

Red Lists

Red Lists are lists of threatened and rare species according to an international standard. The species are grouped according to a system of six categories reflecting the risk of extinction from Sweden. The Swedish lists are produced by the Swedish Species Information Centre valid for the country as a whole. SEPA is the national authority for environmental matters including biodiversity, and adopts the Red Lists into official documents.

The classification system for Sweden agrees with the international standards - the global classification system by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The present Red List for Sweden was published April 2010.

It is noteworthy that the Red List categories does not provide any form of priority for conservation actions. The purpose of these categories is to give a clear and objective view of the status for each individual species. It should also be pointed out that the system does not describe a linear degree of extinction risk. The category Data Deficient cuts straight across the threat categories and is very likely to include species rightly belonging to all categories, from RE (Regionally Extinct) to NT (Near Threatened), or in some cases LC (Least Concern)