1oC3Dbk

working alongside the Medicinal Plant Specialist Group and
Crop Wild Relative Specialist Group. A selection was made of
1,500 timber tree species to be assessed as part of this IUCN
priority project.
In October 2013, a PhD studentship was initiated at the
University of Bournemouth, jointly supervised by Adrian
Newton and Sara Oldfield, Co-chairs of the GTSG. The title of
Jennifer Mark’s PhD thesis is Evaluating Extinction Risk of the
World’s Timber Tree Species. Jennifer will reassess the
conservation status of the commercially valuable timber
species that were included in the 1998 publication The World
List of Threatened Trees and subsequently added to The IUCN
Red List. She will also assess the ecosystem services provided
by these species.
Ms Sara Oldfield and Adrian Newton
Co-chairs, Global Trees Specialist Group
A Madagascan Ebony species – Dr George Schatz, a member of the GTSG,
is assessing the conservation status of ebonies worldwide. © Richard
Randrianaivo
GTSG are fully compliant with the data requirements for
inclusion on The IUCN Red List. An initial step is to enter data
into the IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) database. This
was undertaken for all species of Magnoliaceae and
Betulaceae in 2013.
As a further development of the recent Red List assessment
of tree species in the cloud forests of Mexico, a major mapping
effort has been completed for Mexican tree species. This has
been undertaken by staff of ECOSUR, Chiapas, Mexico, in a
project funded by CONABIO. This mapping data will be used to
refine IUCN Red List assessments of Mexican tree species.
In March 2013, Sara Oldfield formed part of the IUCN
Delegation to the CITES COP in Thailand. The GTSG took part
in the development of IUCN’s Plants for People project in 2013,
Goose Specialist Group
The Goose Specialist Group of IUCN SSC and Wetlands
International seeks to strengthen contacts between all
researchers on migratory goose populations in the northern
hemisphere. The group currently consists of 601 members
from 54 countries. Our website can be accessed here.
The 15th meeting of the Goose Specialist Group was held
in the Palace of Congress of Arcachon, France, from 8–11
January 2013, and focused on Branta species: Brent Geese,
Barnacle Geese and Red-breasted Geese. In the Bassin d’
Arcachon, several tens of thousands of Brent geese (Branta
b.bernicla) overwinter. The meeting was attended by 66
participants from 17 different countries. The proceedings of
this meeting were printed as a special issue of the British
journal Wildfowl. In 2013 two issues of the Goose Bulletin were
produced; Nr. 16 appeared in May and Nr. 17 in November,
they can be downloaded here.
The 16th meeting of the Goose Specialist Group will be
held in Beijing, China from 22–28 November 2014, and will be
hosted by the Research Centre for Eco-Environmental
© Gilles Leray
58 IUCN species Annual Report 2013