Selection Criteria for Wild Species

The Kyoto Prefecture Red Data Book uses selection criteria (Kyoto Prefecture categories) to categorize wild species, geographic features, geological features, and regional ecosystems according to their threatened or endangered status. However, it is difficult to develop definite criteria that consistently apply to every taxonomic group due to differences in the volume of information on target taxonomic groups and in the accumulated knowledge from existing studies. For this reason, especially for wild species, common categories have been established on the basis of fundamental criteria. For definitive selection, most criteria have been chosen according to the actual circumstances of each taxonomic group. However, because past wild species data in Kyoto Prefecture contain many ambiguities, it is difficult to develop quantitative criteria usable for comparisons to past conditions. Because of this, wild species are consistently categorized using qualitative criteria.

Categories

Kyoto Prefecture Red List Categories (Wildlife 2015)

* The term "species" refers to species and subspecies for animals or to species, subspecies, and variant species for plants.