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members who are at academic institutions also encourage
their research students to undertake Galapagos projects.
The entire endemic vascular plant flora of the Galapagos
has been red-listed, as have the marine algae. Following five
years of field work, the known lichen flora of the islands has
more than doubled; IUCN Red List assessments of lichens are
now under way, and plans are being made for a re-evaluation
of the endemic vascular flora.
Dr Alan Tye
Chair, Galapagos Plant Specialist Group
Isoetes fluitans – Endangered and endemic to a small area in Galicia in
north-west Spain. © Klaus van de Weyer
particularly those of inland wetlands. Nick Stewart has agreed
to coordinate a link between the FPSG and specialists working
on the conservation of charophytes. Under a project funded by
Biofresh, an initial global list of wetland-dependent vascular
plants, bryophytes and algae has been established. The
process of conversion of this tool into a relational database is
being developed with support from the Centre for Ecology and
Hydrology in the UK.
Richard Lansdown
Chair, Freshwater Plant Specialist Group
Galapagos Plant Specialist Group (GPSG)
The GPSG is a discussion group for people interested in the
conservation of the Galapagos flora whose members consist
of the world’s experts in the field of Galapagos plant
conservation, and is therefore in a good position to formulate
explicit views on conservation policy. The group develops
conservation priorities for Galapagos plants, including those
for applied research, survey and management, and
communicates these priorities in the form of advice to the
relevant research and conservation institutions on the islands.
Research is carried out by GPSG members employed in
Galapagos and by others as visiting scientists. GPSG
Justicia galapagana. © Alan Tye
Galliformes Specialist Group (GSG)
In early 2013, this Specialist Group became a full
amalgamation of five previous ones, with the inclusion of the
Cracids of South and Meso-America. This brings together
global concerns about all the 286 galliformes species, and a
worldwide community of about 280 people actively working on
their conservation and sustainable use.
The focus of the GSG must be the 25% of our c.280
species that are currently listed as threatened on The IUCN
Red List. Galliformes’ habitats, especially forests, are being
disrupted and many species are also over-hunted. Whilst our
tropical and subtropical species of Asia and the Americas
remain under-researched, there is a wealth of knowledge and
expertise available on the hunted grouse and introduced
pheasant species of the Northern Hemisphere. So the GSG
remains dedicated to making up this deficit through capacitybuilding,
using its network to transfer knowledge and
expertise: recently, for instance, from India to Nepal and
Pakistan, and from China and Thailand to Myanmar.
To spread the word about galliformes conservation more
generally, the GSG produces a main newsletter G@llinformed
as well as Grouse News and the Cracid Bulletin, all of which
include project reports, technical pieces and alerts to recent
literature. The GSG website contains an archive of all past
issues. Papers from the most recent International Grouse
Symposium (Japan 2012) have now been published in the
journal Wildlife Biology.
A major concern in 2013 has been to seek information and
promote action on the plight of Edwards’s Pheasant (Lophura
edwardsi), which is Critically Endangered and endemic to a
small and heavily impacted area of central Vietnam. Matt
Grainger (Newcastle University, UK) is moderating an email
consortium for the GSG, designed to bring together key
Edwards’s Pheasant (Lophura edwardsi). © Niti Sukumal
56 IUCN species Annual Report 2013