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Species of Concern include: (1) species for which there are concerns regarding danger of extinction or risk of becoming endangered but for which insufficient information is available to indicate a need to list; (2) species for which an ESA biological status review has determined that listing is not warranted but for which significant concerns or uncertainties remain; (3) species that are undergoing formal status reviews.
The objectives of the Species of Concern designation are to:
- Identify species potentially at risk;
- Increase public awareness about those species;
- Identify data deficiencies and uncertainties in species’ status and threats;
- Stimulate cooperative research efforts to obtain the information necessary to evaluate species status and threats; and
- Foster voluntary efforts to conserve the species before listing becomes warranted.
Factors for identifying SOC include:
Demographic and diversity vulnerability
- Abundance and productivity:magnitude of decline, natural rarity, and endemism
- Distribution: population connectivity, limited geographic range, and endemism
- Life-history characteristics: vulnerable life-history strategies, resilience to environmental variability and catastrophes, or the loss of unique life-history traits
Threats
- Extraction
- Habitat degradation/loss
- Disease and predation
- Other natural or man-made factors for decline
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