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Number of species in Switzerland facing global extinction (Z4)
 

Switzerland offers habitats to many plants and animals that are critically endangered worldwide and therefore facing extinction. The indicator reflects this country’s ability to conserve populations of such threatened species within its territory.

Species conservation measures prioritize species facing global extinction, since they — unlike species threatened at a national level — will be gone forever once they have disappeared from the face of the Earth. Currently, at least 60 of the species redlisted by the IUCN as “threatened” or “vulnerable” occur in Switzerland, a number that has remained constant for the past 15 years. The occurrence of 22 additional endangered species in this country cannot be verified thoroughly enough to be confirmed or refuted. In 1998, a small population of a tulip species already believed to be extinct worldwide was discovered in the canton of Wallis. Furthermore, a moss species restricted to six localities worldwide and believed to be regionally extinct was rediscovered in Central Switzerland.
 
 
Development in Switzerland
 
 
1990
1995
2000
2005
Losses in previous years (last evidence)
Vertebrates
7
7
7
7
sturgeon (before 1900), river char (around 1980), long-fingered bat (around 1910)
Mollusks
6
6
6
6
Articulates*
17
17
17
17
predacious diving beetle (before 1935)
Mosses
2
2
2
2
marsh earwort (1894)
Vascular plants*
28
28
28
28
Armeria alpina var. purpurea (before 1960), Saxifraga oppositifolia ssp. amphibia (1956)
Total
60
60
60
60

* The occurrence of 21 additional articulate species and 1 plant species in Switzerland cannot be verified in a thorough manner.

Example
In 1990, Switzerland’s wild fauna comprised seven vertebrate species classified as facing global extinction. This number has remained the same up to 2005.

 

Individual Species Facts

For more detailed information on individual species, please refer to the complete Z4 data sheet.
 
 
Development in the Regions
 
For the development in Switzerland’s six biogeographical regions, please refer to the complete Z4 data sheet.
 
 
Significance for biodiversity
 
While the Z4 indicator covers only a very small portion of Switzerland’s biodiversity, this very small portion is all the more important. If species not facing global extinction, such as the tawny pipit, the mew gull, or the otter (cf. Z3 indicator), vanish at a national level, the loss may be bitter for this country, but it carries no great weight for global population sizes as a whole. However, occurrence in Switzerland is of vital importance for the survival of many other species. For this reason, it is very encouraging that none of the 60 species facing global extinction which are being monitored in Switzerland have become extinct here within the past 15 years. On an even more inspiring note, Tulipa aximensis, a wild tulip species already classified as globally extinct, has been rediscovered in the canton of Wallis. Still, several species populations considered to be highly important on a global scale remain critically endangered in Switzerland.
 
 
Further Information
 

Responsible for Z4
Darius Weber, weber@hintermannweber.ch, +41 (0)61 731 18 45

Additional information to download
> List of the Species of Switzerland: Species Facing Global Extinction, 1990 - 2005 (PDF, 264KB)

Additional sources of information
> IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
> Cartography of the Fauna
> Datenverbundnetz der Schweizer Flora (not available in English)
 
 
Data sheets
 
> Complete Z4 data sheet (PDF, 68 KB)
 
 
Status
 

The information contained in this condensed Z4 data sheet is based on the complete Z4 data sheet 624 Produkt Z4_2005 v1_en dated May 24, 2006. It will be updated again in 2011 (using data gathered in 2010).
 
 
 
     
       
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