Least-concern species

Taurotragus oryx,the common eland, is a species with a conservation status of least concern

Aleast-concern speciesis aspeciesthat has beencategorizedby theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus ofwildlife conservationbecause the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. They do not qualify asthreatened,near threatened,or (before 2001)conservation dependent.

Species cannot be assigned the "Least Concern" category unless they have had their population status evaluated. That is, adequate information is needed to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of its risk ofextinctionbased on itsdistributionor population status.

Evaluation

Since 2001 the category has had the abbreviation "LC", following the IUCN 2001 Categories & Criteria (version 3.1).Before 2001 "least concern" was a subcategory of the "Lower Risk"category and assigned the code" LR/lc "or lc. Around 20% of least concerntaxa(3261 of 15,636) in the IUCN database still use the code "LR/lc", which indicates they have not been re-evaluated since 2000.

Number of species

While "least concern" is not considered ared listedcategory by the IUCN, the 2006IUCN Red Liststill assigns the category to 15,636 taxa. The number of animal species listed in this category totals 14,033 (which includes severalundescribed speciessuch as a frog from the genusPhilautus). There are also 101 animal subspecies listed and 1500 plant taxa (1410 species, 55 subspecies, and 35 varieties). Nofungiorprotistahave the classification, though only four species in those kingdoms have been evaluated by the IUCN.Humanswere formally assessedas a species of least concern in 2008.

List of LC species

Further information:Category:IUCN Red List least concern species

See also

• Conservation status

External links

• List of Least Concern speciesas identified by theIUCN Red List of Threatened Species