COSEWIC: NatureServe Explorer Data for Assigned Status in Canada

• Legal Status of Canadian Species
• COSEWIC Status Definitions in NatureServe Explorer
• Status Due to Taxonomic Relationship ("Implied COSEWIC Status")
• Status of Geopolitically or Administratively Defined Populations

Legal Status of Canadian Species

Since 1977 the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) (http://www.cosewic.gc.ca/index.htm) has been providing advice to the Canadian federal government on the status of wildlife species. With the passage of the landmark Species at Risk Act (SARA) in 2003 (http://www.speciesatrisk.gc.ca), the Government of Canada will now take COSEWIC status into consideration when establishing the legal list of species at risk. Species that were designated at risk by COSEWIC prior to October 1999 must be reassessed using revised criteria before they can be considered for addition to the list of species at risk. Under SARA, the listing process begins with a species assessment that is conducted by COSEWIC. Upon receiving an assessment, the Governor in Council may on the recommendation of the Minister, amend the List and add a wildlife species; reclassify a listed wildlife species; or remove a listed wildlife species. When the Governor in Council has not taken a course of action within nine months of receiving the assessment, the Minister shall amend the List in accordance with COSEWIC's assessment. Once listed, the measures to protect and recover a listed wildlife species are implemented.

COSEWIC is composed of qualified wildlife experts drawn from the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, wildlife management boards, Aboriginal groups, universities, museums, national non-governmental organizations and others with expertise in the conservation of wildlife species in Canada. The role of COSWEIC is to assess and classify the status of wildlife species using the best available information on the biological status of a species, including scientific knowledge, community knowledge, and Aboriginal traditional knowledge. Specifically, COSEWIC determines the national status of wild Canadian species, subspecies and separate populations suspected of being at risk. The current mandate includes all native mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, molluscs, lepidopterans (butterflies and moths), vascular plants, mosses and lichens. COSEWIC holds an annual meeting to review status reports prepared for each species under consideration for official status. The Committee reviews the situation of each species concerned and assigns status to each species under review. Updated status reports that re-examine pertinent information may result in a species' status being confirmed, upgraded to a more serious risk category, or downgraded to a less serious risk category, or the species may be removed from the list. The Canadian Species at Risk list (http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/ ) is the annual product of this review process.

Within one month of receipt of the annual Canadian Species At Risk list, NatureServe staff update the central databases to account for all changes and additions to the COSEWIC status for all species records affected. The date the species' status was reviewed (the most recent status assignment or confirmation) accompanies vertebrate and invertebrate records. NatureServe Explorer is updated periodically from the NatureServe Central Databases and reflects the status current at the time of update.

COSEWIC Status Definitions in NatureServe Explorer

For most species that have COSEWIC status, any available distribution, conservation, and management information is maintained in records under the same scientific name as the one used in the Canadian Species at Risk list. For some animal subspecies and populations that have COSEWIC status, most of this information is maintained in the species record associated with the subspecies or population. Where the names used by COSEWIC and NatureServe differ, data in NatureServe Explorer can be found using either name.

Status Due to Taxonomic Relationship (Implied COSEWIC status)

The taxonomic relationships between species and their infraspecific taxa may determine whether a taxon has COSEWIC status. The assignment of status to a taxon includes lower taxonomic units that occur in Canada. Also, if an infraspecific taxon or population has COSEWIC status, then by default, some part of the species also has status. NatureServe Explorer data for some taxa show values indicating COSEWIC status, even though the taxonomic entity may not be specifically named in the Canadian Species at Risk list. Where status is implied due to a taxonomic relationship alone, the status abbreviation appears with a flag ().

Status of Geopolitically or Administratively Defined Populations

COSEWIC status has been assigned to some populations that are defined by geopolitical boundaries within Canada (i.e., the status applies to the species or subspecies within those boundaries, even though it may range more broadly). Since these populations typically do not have individual records in NatureServe Explorer, the COSEWIC status is recorded for the species or subspecies to which that population belongs. In these cases, the status abbreviation appears with a flag (), after the abbreviation "PS" for "partial status" - indicating that the status applies only to a portion of the species' range.