Executive Summary

Wild Species 2000: The General Status of Species in Canada reflects a commitment made under the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk, an agreement established in 1996 by provincial, territorial, and federal Ministers responsible for wildlife. The Accord commits the parties to “monitor, assess and report regularly on the status of all wild species” with the objective of identifying those species that may be in trouble, those for which more information is needed, or those for which a formal status assess-ment or additional management attention is necessary. The first of these Canada-wide reports is Wild Species 2000 - A collaborative overview of the condition of our wild flora and fauna. What we have, where they occur, and how they’re doing.

In this first report are the general status assessments for a broad cross-section of over 1 600 Canadian species, from all provinces, territories, and ocean regions. Species from eight major groups were evaluated, accounting for most of Canada’s vertebrate species (freshwater fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals), a representative invertebrate group (butterflies), and two very different plant groups (ferns, orchids). Assessments were done by integrating the best possible information on population sizes, trends, distribution, and threats, to generate an expert evaluation of the general status of the species. All species were classified as either Extirpated/Extinct, At Risk, May Be At Risk, Sensitive, Secure, Undetermined, Not Assessed, Exotic, or Accidental. As a result, species can be prioritized in terms of the effort and attention needed to prevent their loss: some species are apparently secure, others show early signs of trouble and should be watched, still others need attention now. Likewise, the general status process also identifies what we don’t know but need to find out: for some species there is not enough information to assess whether they are secure or already in trouble. Finally, general status assessments will be repeated periodically so that we can develop a picture of trends in species status: for some the situation over time will improve, for some it will worsen, for still others it will remain the same.

In terms of overall species richness - Canada contains more than 70 000 described species within the terrestrial and marine realms, yet only a small fraction (2%) of this variety is captured in the report. Birds comprise the largest species group studied (639 species), followed by butterflies (302 species) and freshwater fishes (237 species). Summary results indicate that the majority (about 65%) of Canada’s wild species are Secure at all geographic scales. However, across species groups, the proportion of Secure species is highly variable - ranging from a low of 40% for marine and terrestrial reptiles to a high of 67% for marine and terrestrial mammals. Considerable differences also occur among taxa in the number of Accidental and Not Assessed or Undetermined species. For example, 27% of birds on our list are considered Accidental species, and 45% of butterflies were either Not Assessed or Undetermined. The report also paints a more grave picture for other wild species in Canada - 5% are known to be At Risk and another 5% May Be At Risk. With our vast landscape and large number of wild species it is not surprizing that for some species we simply have too little information to evaluate their status. As such, five provinces and territories were unable to assess the status of their butterflies, making this the least well known taxon considered. In contrast, the status of our ferns, orchids, and amphibians appears to be relatively well known – at the national level no species in these groups were Undetermined or Not Assessed. As predators, parasites, and competitors of native species Exotics are considered one of the greatest emerging challenges for biodiversity conservation. Importantly, freshwater fish make up the majority of Exotics species recorded in this report – 21 species in total – many of which have the potential to cause ecological disturbance in aquatic communities.

The next Wild Species report requires new data to either expand, improve, or update the database of information on Canada’s wild species. Wild Species 2000 is built on the contribution of data and knowledge from individuals, institutions, and agencies across Canada. We hope that many of these same sources will be able to provide new information toward Wild Species 2005. We also hope that more people will be encouraged by the release of this first report to contribute data on their own or become involved with general status assessments in their home province or territory.