• The search function
• Examples of search scenarios
• Default search settings
• Text search
• Modifier
• What part of the database would you like to search?
• What taxa would you like to see?
• Using the systems to search
• Red list categories
• Red list assessment dates
• Regions of the world
• Marine regions of the world
• Select one or more countries
• Major habitat types
• Major threat types
• Show extended results
• Expert search interface
• The search results screen
• Detailed results
• Printing results
• Exporting results
• Linking to the Red List
• Unsuccessful searches
• Feedback

The search function provides numerous ways in which the database can be interrogated to retrieve information. This help file attempts to provide some guidance to users on how the various search options work and how best they should be used. The term 'species' is used throughout this help file in a general sense to indicate any taxonomic level, but specific searches for 'subspecies and varieties' or 'stocks and subpopulations' need to be specified under 'What taxa do you want to see?'

As discussed in the Introduction on the main page, it is important to note that NOT every animal and plant species will be found in this database. The database contains ONLY those species which have been evaluated using the 1994 or 2001 IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria and which have been listed as Extinct (EX), Extinct in the Wild (EW), Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), Vulnerable (VU), Near Threatened (LR/nt or NT), Lower Risk/conservation dependent (LR/cd), Data Deficient (DD) or Least Concern (LR/lc or LC). The vast majority of species, particularly of plants, reptiles, fishes and invertebrates, will be Not Evaluated (NE). In addition, as mentioned in the Introduction, a large number of Least Concern (LC) species have not as yet been recorded in the Red List database. Searches for any species in these latter two categories will be unsuccessful. Column 2 of Table 1 under the Summary Statistics provides an indication of the numbers of species that have been evaluated in the major taxonomic groups. When this is compared to the numbers of species described in each group (column 1 of Table 1), the gaps in the data set should be evident.

It is possible to search for species that appeared in past editions of the IUCN Red List but which have since changed name or are now considered to be the same as another species (i.e., they are conspecific) the name of which takes precedence. All names on the Red List have been tracked since 1996 and names from lists published before then are slowly being added (provided there is an assessment for whatever the species is now known as). These past names are termed synonyms and searches for such names will indicate either the correct name or a range of potentially correct names (with the synonym/s shown in parentheses below each name).

• If you would like to find the status of the Southern White Rhinoceros
• If you would like to find a list of species in United Kingdom 
• If you would like to find all the threatened terrestrial species in South Africa
• If you would like to find all the threatened mammals in Argentina
• If you would like to find the status of all the species which belong to the Family Cupressaceae
• If you would like to find all the Extinct species which belong to the Class Gastropoda
• If you would like to find a species (e.g. the fish Phoxinellus handlirschi) that was listed on a past Red List

Unless one is searching on a particular geographic region and/or threatened category, the search function relies on a certain degree of knowledge and understanding about plant and animal taxonomy. The most accurate searches are best made using whole or parts of taxonomic names (i.e. the scientific names). However, in order to make the database more widely usable for the general public, the search function allows the user to search by common name (if one exists) in English, French or Spanish. The list of common names is by no means exhaustive and is not in any way standardized. In some cases, alternative spellings such as 'Grey Whale' and 'Gray Whale' are provided, but this is not universally the case. To improve the intelligence of the searches a preliminary list of keywords for all the animal groups on the Red List has been compiled. This will allow users to search using more general words like "animals", "cats", "game birds", "cracid", "snails", "birds of prey", "insects", "beetles", "bats", etc. This is very much a work in progress and the list requires much refinement and additions especially for the plants. Further improvements to the functionality and user-friendliness of the search functions are being investigated.

The default settings for all the search parameters are listed below:

Parameter	Setting
Text Search Modifier:	Exact
What part of the database would you like to search?	The entire database
What taxa would you like to see?	Species
Red List Categories	All Evaluated (including Least Concern)
Red List Assessment Dates	All
Select one or more Countries	All
Marine Regions of the World	All
Regions of the World	All
Major Habitat Types	All
Major Threat Types	All

 

If the defaults are changed during a search and you want to revert back to the default settings click on the button.

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This Text search entry box is where you type in a keyword to search the Red List database. Keywords include name of organism (scientific or common), name of person or organization (assessor/s or evaluators), and other commonly-used English words to describe groups of animal species such as those listed in the paragraph above.

• Scientific names from any of the following taxonomic levels can be used: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, subspecies or variety. For example, "plantae" (for the plant kingdom), "aves" (for the class birds), "rodentia" (for the rodent family). "lemur catta" (for a particular genus and species) and "africana" (as a species, subspecies or variety name). [Note that although searches on binomials (i.e. genus + species) are possible, searches on trinomials (i.e. genus + species + infra-specific name) are not possible].
• Common names in English, French or Spanish can be searched for. For example, "whooping crane", "Southern White Rhinoceros" which will pull up specific examples, whereas "bat" may (depending on other selections) result in a list only of species which have "bat" as part of the common name. Avoid using the plural term when entering a species' common name (e.g., "dodo" rather than "dodos"). See also the fourth bullet point below.
• Names of people or organizations can be used to find all the assessments or Red List evaluations done by a particular person or organization e.g., "Baillie" (for the surname of a person), "Mollusc Specialist Group", "BirdLife International" or "Cetacean Red List Authority" (sometimes abbreviated as RLA).
• Other keywords may be entered as plural terms, but singular terms can also be used e.g., "snail" or "snails". The plural e.g. "bats" (with a modifier of 'Exact phrase') should be used when wanting a complete list of all the bat species on the Red List. Searches on the singular may produce incomplete lists. For some taxonomic groups there is no single broad term to describe them and instead multiple terms have been used e.g., the words "mice", "rats", "voles", and "gerbils" are all used to describe members of the rodent family Muridae. For examples of other terms, see above.

IMPORTANT: The keywords can be written in part or in full, but must be used in conjunction with the radio buttons specifying what part of the database you would like to search and the modifiers to help broaden or refine the scope of the search. Keywords are not case-sensitive, similarly accents and similar characters can be included or left off. No wild card characters may be used for searches as they are automatically set by the modifier selected.

See also
Modifier
What part of the database would you like to search?

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These radio buttons are used in conjunction with theText search method to help broaden or refine your search. Use, "Exact phrase", when you wish to find records that contain all of the words in your text search box in the specified order (note that this is not the same as an "Exact match" search in other database systems). This produces the narrowest possible collection of matches. Use, "Any term", if you wish to find species records containing words that match any of the individual words specified in your text search box. This modifier produces the broadest possible collection of matches. Use, "All terms", to identify records containing the combination of words listed in your text search string. This modifier produces fewer matches and is useful when you wish to match all of the specified words but do not care about order. Use "contains" if you are not sure of the exact spelling. Use "starts with" if you are certain that any word in the name you are searching for starts with the text string you typed in. It is best to use "Exact phrase" if you are certain the text string you entered is correctly spelled.

Examples:
To find all whales, porpoises and dolphins specify the text search string, "whale porpoise dolphin", and the modifier, "Any term". To find each turtle with "yellow" in its common name, enter the text search string, "turtle yellow", and select the modifier, "All terms". Finally, to search for an organism by its scientific name, say, "Cuora aurocapitata ", enter the scientific name into the text search box and select the modifier, "Exact phrase".

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This is used in conjunction with the Text Search option. This group of radio buttons lets you specify which part of the database you would like the search to be based on. You must select one of the options available by clicking on the appropriate button. If unsure, click on the radio button named "The entire database" (this is the default setting).

The "Special animal keywords" option is a feature to help users locate specific groups of animals by widely used common names, for example "animals", "cats", "game birds", "cracid", "snails", "birds of prey", "insects", "beetles", "bats", "worms", "albatrosses", "sharks", "frogs", etc. This option is best used in combination with the modifier "Exact phrase".

The Synonym option allows searches specifically for names of species that formerly appeared on the Red List but are now included under another name. In some cases widely used alternative scientific names may also be included in the synonym list and, if so, can be used in searches. The synonym list is by no means comprehensive nor is intended to be so, but will be become more extensive with each update of the Red List.

Examples:
If you are entering a common name of an organism, click on the radio button named "Common name". "Assessor" refers to the individual or organization that is responsible for making the assessment or the subsequent evaluation of the assessment. Use this option if you typed in a person or organization's name. "Taxonomy" refers to the biological nomenclature (kingdom down to subspecies or variety, depending on what options are selected under What taxa would you like to see?). Select this option when you type in "Gastropoda" or "Ginkgo biloba" in the text box. To find all the Red Listed species of "bats", type in the latter word, click on the radio button "Special animal keywords" and the modifier "Exact phrase", this should produce a list of 546 Red Listed species of bat in the database. Selecting "All Evaluated (including Least Concern)" under the Red List Categories selection box with the special keyword "bats" produces a list of 1,024 species.

Note: Care should be taken when selecting which parts of the database to search under and what terms are used, as they may not be exclusive. For example, to find all the Red Listed species of cats on the database, type the word "cats", click on the "Special animal keywords" option, and select the modifier "Exact phrase". This should produce a list of the species of Red Listed cats in the database but the Search results will also include a number of Australasian marsupials because they have the special keyword "marsupial cats". If you had selected the "Common name" option instead of "Special animal keywords" and selected subspecies, you would end up with a very different list of taxa. Similarly, if you typed in the word "cat" and selected "Common name", you would receive a list with another group of taxa including a species of otter known as the "Sea Cat", and a species of fish known as the "Spoonbill Cat" and several other non-cat species.

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The default setting for this group of check boxes is 'species', which means that the results of a search, specifying whatever combination of other search criteria, will produce a list of 'species' only, if the search is successful. The search can be expanded to include 'subspecies and varieties' and/or 'stocks and subpopulations', by checking the appropriate boxes. Searches can also be performed for just 'subspecies and varieties' or just 'stocks and subpopulations', or any combination of all three options.

It is possible to use these search options in conjunction with the name of a subspecies, variety, stock or subpopulation in the Text search box. To retrieve these, the relevant name has to be specified, and then by selecting 'Subspecies and varieties' and/or 'Stocks and subpopulations', a list of all subspecies and varieties and/or stocks and subpopulations in the database that match the name specified will be displayed.

Example:
A search on the genus name "Balaena", using all the default settings, produces only a single record for the Bowhead Whale. Checking, the 'stocks and subpopulations' box in addition to the 'species' box produces six records, five of which are for subpopulations or stocks of the Bowhead Whale.

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This group of check boxes lets you retrieve only those records that match the type of environment(s) an organism inhabits. You can select one or more by just clicking on the box. If searches are made on more than one of these systems, the results are for species found in both or all three of the environments selected.

Example:
If you are interested in inquiring the status of certain aquatic species, you can check both "Marine" and "Freshwater" options before you click on to conduct a search.

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Use this list box to limit search results according to the Red List Category of the species, including those listed as Least Concern (LR/lc or LC). The first (default) option is "All Evaluated (including Least Concern)", which produces results for all of the categories listed in the second option below plus LC (or LR/lc). The second option in the list "All evaluated (except Least Concern)" produces results for categories EX, EW, CR, EN, VU, LR/cd, NT (or LR/nt) and DD. To get complete lists of taza or complete lists for areas, the default option should be used. However, it is important to note that Least Concern species are not considered to be "Red Listed".

The remaining options are used to search on each Red List Category individually (or on combinations of categories). Hold down the Ctrl-key when making multiple selections. A commonly used selection is to select CR, EN and VU (the three threatened categories).

Note that the search results, using the country search option (see below), exclude any species that have been introduced to the country or countries concerned (i.e. only native species are included), irrespective of their Red List status.

Example:
If you are interested in finding all the Endangered or Critically Endangered species, select "CR - Critically Endangered" first and then holding down the Ctrl key select "EN - Endangered", then click on to conduct a search.

Note: For definitions of the Red List Categories, please see the Categories & Criteria section.

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The default setting of "All" in this list box searches all the assessments in the current Red List. Selecting a year (or combinations of years) confines searches only to those assessments made in that particular year or group of years. For example, selecting "2004" will confine searches to those assessments on the Red List that were made in the year 2004. It does NOT produce all the assessments that appeared in the 2004 edition of the Red List (i.e., the 2004 Red List). Hold down the Ctrl-key when making multiple selections.

Example:
If you are interested in knowing how many of the assessments of threatened species in the current Red List date back to 1996, scroll down the list of years and select 1996; under the Red List Categories box (see above) hold down the Ctrl-key and select "CR – Critically Endangered", "EN – Endangered" and "VU – Vulnerable"; then click on to conduct the search.

Another more common use of this function will be to find out which assessments were done in a particular year, e.g. which assessments were new for 2006. This could retrieve a large number of records in very active years or relatively few in less-active years. The scope can also be narrowed down by specifying a particular taxon group in the Text Search box and/or particular Red List Categories, etc.

Note: In 2006, the first search described in the examples retrieved 3,150 records. Any of these still present in the Red List updates from 2007 onwards will be given an out-of-date flag.

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Use this list box to limit search results to a specific region or regions of the world. You can select one or more regions. Hold down the Ctrl-key when doing multiple selections. The list of countries found in each region and a list of all countries with the regions they occur in can be seen at http://www.iucnredlist.org/info/regions.

Example:
If you are only interested in retrieving a list of species found in East Asia, you can simply click on "East Asia" in the list box before you click on to conduct a search.

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Use this list box to limit search results to specific marine region or regions of the world. You can select one or more regions. Hold down the Ctrl-key when doing multiple selections. For a map showing the location of these marine regions see the FAO Fishing Areas.

Example:
If you are only interested in retrieving a list of aquatic species found in eastern Atlantic Ocean, you can simply select "Atlantic-eastern central", "Atlantic-northeast" and "Atlantic-southeast" in the list box before you click on to conduct a search.

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Use this list box to limit search results to a specific country or group of countries. You can select one or more countries. Hold down the Ctrl-key when doing multiple selections. Note that the search results, using this country search option, excludes any species that have been introduced to the country or countries concerned (i.e. only native species are included), irrespective of their Red List status.

Example:
If you are concerned about the status of a certain species or even all the species in Algeria, you can click on "Algeria" in the list box before you click on to conduct a search.

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Use this list box to search on species in particular habitat types. You can select one or more habitats. The numbering of the habitat types indicates that it is a two-level hierarchical system (see the Habitats Authority File for further details). Selecting habitat types from the second level, switches off the parents from the first level and vice versa, i.e. selecting "1. Forest" and "1.3 Subantarctic" will only produce results for "1. Forest".

Example:
To find out what Critically Endangered species occur in large freshwater lakes, click on "CR - Critically Endangered" in the Red List Categories box, and click on "5.5. Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)" from the list under Major Habitat Types. Then click on to conduct a search.

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Use this list box to search on major threats to species. You can select one or more threats. The numbering of the major threat types indicates that it is a four-level hierarchical system (see the Threats Authority File for further details). Selecting threat types from the second level and below, switches off the parents from the level above and vice versa, i.e. selecting "1. Habitat Loss/Degradation (human induced)" and "1.1.1. Crops" will only produce results for "1. Habitat Loss/Degradation (human induced)." Note that the threats may have been in the past, they may be creating an impact at present, they may only be future threats, or they may be ongoing (past, present and future). In a few instances the timing of the threats may be unknown. This Major Threat Types option does not include searches on the timing of the threats.

Examples:
To find out what Critically Endangered species are threatened by habitat loss or degradation due to the impacts of alien invasive species, click on "CR - Critically Endangered" in the Red List Categories box, and click on "1.5. Alien Invasive Species (directly impacting habitat)" from the list under Major Threat Types. Then click on to conduct a search.

Alternatively, to find out what Critically Endangered species are threatened directly by the impacts of alien invasive species, click on “CR – Critically Endangered” in the Red List Categories box, and click on “2. Alien Invasive Species (directly affecting the species)” from the list under Major Threat Types. Then click on to conduct a search.

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Note: Any combinations from the list boxes described above can be selected. For example, a search could be made for all Critically Endangered Or Endangered Or Vulnerable species that occur in the Mesoamerica region AND in the Arctic Sea marine region. Multiple selections within a list box are treated as 'or' situations i.e. Critically Endangered or Endangered or Vulnerable when CR, EN and VU are selected. Whereas selections between list boxes, are treated as 'and' situations i.e. Mesoamerica and the Arctic Sea marine region. An 'or' option here would have been meaningless as it would have produced a list of all the threatened species occurring in Mesoamerica and all the threatened species occurring in the Arctic Sea, rather than the intersection of the two data sets.

This check box option allows you to view more taxonomic information about the organism(s) of interest. The default display option will yield only the following information:

1. Scientific name of an organism (Genus + species + infra-specific name, if specified in the search criteria)
2. Common name/s of an organism (in English, French and Spanish)
3. Red List status of organism (i.e., Endangered, Extinct, etc)
4. The version of the Red List Categories and Criteria used
5. Annotations about any listings (e.g., a petition against a listing). This only displays if there are such annotations.
6. Current population trends

The Extended Results display option yields additional taxonomic information (i.e., it includes kingdom, phylum, class, order and family names for each taxon). Just simply toggle on the option before you conduct a search if you would like to see such additional information. This Extended Results option is useful, if you want to change the order of the results from the alphabetical one based on the genus and species name, for example you may want to sort the records by family name.

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This feature is only available in the Expert Search interface. For users who are knowledgeable about taxonomic hierarchies, this is another way of navigating through the database to find the status of organism(s) that belong to a certain hierarchy.

Example:
If you would like to find out the status of organisms that belong to the Endodontidae family, what you have to do is to go down the folder tree starting from Kingdom, select "ANIMALIA" then click on the Calculate Taxonomy button to expand the list, then on Phylum select "MOLLUSCA" and click on the Calculate Taxonomy button, then under Class select on "GASTROPODA" and click on the Calculate Taxonomy button, then under Order select "STYLOMMATOPHORA" and click on the Calculate Taxonomy button. Finally under Family select the "ENDODONTIDAE" and click on the Calculate Taxonomy button. From this point the user can specify any other options as on the Search Page, then click on to conduct a search. [Users can continue down the hierarchy and select the genus and the particular species, clicking the Calculate Taxonomy button after each selection made].

Selections can only be made down to the Species level. To include subspecies and/or subpopulations, the appropriate check boxes under "What taxa would you like to see?" need to be selected. Similarly, care needs to be taken to select the appropriate category from the Red List Categories box. Using the default i.e. "All evaluated (excluding Least Concern)" will not produce any results for Least Concern species, should your taxonomic selection include any of these. For example, when selecting Kingdom "Animalia", Phylum "Chordata", Class "Mammalia", Order "Rodentia", Family "Muridae" and Genus "Mus"; using the "All evaluated (excluding Least Concern" produces results for 8 species, whereas using "All evaluated (including Least Concern)" produces results for 37 species.

Note: It is important to click on the Calculate Taxonomy button on all the taxonomic levels required for the search. Simply highlighting the family "ENDODONTIDAE" would not result in it being selected. The banner at the top of the screen shows the options selected.

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Proceed with the following steps:

1. Choose the Search method.
2. Type in "Southern White Rhinoceros" in the Text Search box.
3. Click on the "Exact" radio button under the Modifier section. (Click on "contains" if you typed in "white" or "rhino", or click on "starts with" if you typed in "southern")
4. Click on the "Common name" radio button under the What part of the database would you like to search? section.
5. Click on the "Subspecies and varieties" option under the What taxa would you like to see? section to ensure both "Species" and "Subspecies and Varieties" are selected.
6. Click on to activate the search process.

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Proceed with the following steps:

1. Choose the Search method.
2. Select "United Kingdom" from the Select one or more countries list box.
3. Click on to activate the search process.

This search will produce a list of species. To include subspecies and varieties and/or stocks and subpopulations, the appropriate boxes under "What taxa do you want to see?" should be checked. If you want this search to include Least Concern species, then "All Evaluated (including Least Concern)" should be selected from the Red List Categories list box.

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Proceed with the following steps:

1. Choose the Search method.
2. Select "South Africa" from the Select one or more countries list box. 
3. Toggle on the "Terrestrial" check box under the Is the species considered section.
4. Select "CR – Critically Endangered", "EN – Endangered" and "VU – Vulnerable" from the Red List Categories list box. Remember to hold down the Ctrl-key when doing multiple selections.
5. Click on to activate the search process.

This search will produce a list of species, to include subspecies and varieties and/or stocks and subpopulations, the appropriate boxes under 'What taxa do you want to see?' should be checked.

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Proceed with the following steps:

1. Choose the Search method.
2. Type in "mammalia" in the Text Search box.
3. Click on the "Exact" radio button under the Modifier section.
4. Click on the "Taxonomy" radio button under the What part of the database would you like to search? section. 
5. Select "Argentina" from the Select one or more countries list box. 
6. Select "CR – Critically Endangered", "EN – Endangered" and "VU – Vulnerable" from the Red List Categories list box. Remember to hold down the Ctrl-key when doing multiple selections. (If a list of all mammal species was wanted, then this list box could be left on the default of "All Evaluated (including Least Concern)").
7. Click on to activate the search process.

This search will produce a list of species, to include subspecies and varieties and/or stocks and subpopulations, the appropriate boxes under 'What taxa do you want to see?' should be checked.

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Proceed with the following steps:

1. Choose the Search method
2. Type in "Cupressaceae" in the Text Search box.
3. Click on the "Exact" radio button under the Modifier section.
4. Click on the "Taxonomy" radio button under the What part of the database would you like to search? section. 
5. Select "All Evaluated (including Least Concern)" from the Red List Categories list box.
6. Click on to activate the search process.

OR

1. Choose the Expert Search method
2. Select "PLANTAE" under Kingdom.
3. Follow on by selecting "TRACHEOPHYTA", "CONIFEROPSIDA", "CONIFERALES" and finally "CUPRESSACEAE" under the relevant taxonomic groups.
4. Select "All Evaluated (including Least Concern)" from the Red List Categories list box.
5. Click on  to activate the search process. 

This search will produce a list of species, to include subspecies and varieties and/or stocks and subpopulations, the appropriate boxes under 'What taxa do you want to see?' should be checked.

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Proceed with the following steps:

1. Choose the Search method
2. Type in "Gastropoda" in the Text Search box.
3. Click on the "Exact" radio button under the Modifier section.
4. Click on the "Taxonomy" radio button under the What part of the database would you like to search? section. 
5. Select "EX - Extinct" from the Red List Categories list box.
6. Click on to activate the search process.

OR

1. Choose the Expert Search method
2. Select "ANIMALIA" under Kingdom.
3. Follow on by selecting "MOLLUSCA" and finally "GASTROPODA" under the relevant taxonomic group.
4. Make sure the word " GASTROPODA " appears in the banner at the top for the selected items.
5. Select "EX - Extinct" from the Red List Categories list box.
6. Click on to activate the search process.

This search will produce a list of species, to include subspecies and varieties and/or stocks and subpopulations, the appropriate boxes under 'What taxa do you want to see?' should be checked.

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Proceed with the following steps:

1. Choose the Search method [the Expert Search method can also be used].
2. Type in "Phoxinellus handlirschi" in the Text Search box.
3. Click on the "Exact" radio button under the Modifier section. (Click on "contains" if you typed in "handlirschi" or click on "starts with" if you typed in " Phoxinellus ")
4. Click on the "Synonym" radio button under the What part of the database would you like to search? section.
5. Click on to activate the search process.

If you typed "Phoxinellus handlirschi" the search will return a result for: Pseudophoxinus handlirschi (Oreoleuciscus handlirschi (Pietschmann, 1933), Phoxinellus handlirschi (Pietschmann, 1933))

Typing just "Phoxinellus", the search may produce multiple records (3 records in the case of the 2006 Red List). But from the synonyms indicated in parentheses it is easy to identify which is the correct record.

The above searches could also have been run without clicking on the "Synonym" radio button, but instead using the default radio button for "The entire data base". That would have retrieved the same result when "Phoxinellus handlirschi" was typed in, but if "Phoxinellus" were typed in, many more records would be retrieved (18 in the 2006 Red List), which may make the correct name harder to spot.

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If a search is successful, the Search Results are displayed and the number of records retrieved, e.g. "Viewing results 1 to 50 of 263" is shown at the top. Only 50 records are shown at a time and users must click the Next Page, Previous Page, First Page and Last Page buttons at the bottom of the 'Search Results screen to scroll through the whole list. The limitation on the number of records retrieved per page is to ensure that speed is maintained especially for users with very narrow internet band width.

The Search Results are automatically sorted alphabetically by scientific name (genus and species) i.e. this is the default option. However, this order can be modified using the options provided in the pull-down menu for Sort. All sorts are in ascending order.

Please note that the layout and contents of the Search Results page changes slightly if the Extended Results option is selected (i.e. more fields are visible). The Sort option under the Extended Results also includes more options for sorting the records than under the default option above.

The Red List Category and Criteria and Annotation fields on both the Search Results and Detailed Results pages are hyperlinks that take one to the relevant definitions. Note that two different versions of Red List Categories and Criteria are used, and the hyperlinks link to the appropriate version.

At the bottom of each Search Results and Detailed Results page a citation is provided indicating how to cite the information and the date the information was downloaded. Note: In citing such information some publications may require the appropriate internet address to be included in the citation. Additional guidance on the notation to use when citing specific Red List assessments is provided on the Contact Information page.

Every species on the Search Results is a hyperlink, which if clicked, takes one to a Detailed Results page. The information on the Detailed Results page varies considerably from species to species. For those with the most information, there are the following sections and fields:

Taxonomy – scientific names, authority, common name/s, taxonomic notes; synonyms;

Assessment Information – Red List Category and Criteria, year assessed, assessor/s, evaluators; justification, assessment history (this a summary of previous assessments of the species, when they were done, which Red List they appeared on, and if they appeared under a different name);

Distribution – countries (including sub-countries in certain instances) and aquatic areas;

Summary Documentation – system, major habitat/s, major threat/s, population trend, conservation action/s (note that the "terms" hyperlink below each of these headings takes one to the relevant Authority Files or definitions);

Detailed Documentation – range, a range map (available for certain species only . the thumbnail when clicked opens the full map in a new window), population, habitat and ecology, threats, conservation measures;

Links to Other Sources – databases and images; and

Data Sources – the list of references used for the assessment and the supporting documentation.

The links to other databases are usually links to the search engines on other web sites that have further information (e.g., BirdLife International, AmphibiaWeb, etc.). When any of the "Search" buttons for these external sites is clicked, a new window opens and a search using the taxon name from the Red List is automatically entered (in most but not all cases) thereby retrieving the relevant taxon page on that site if a match is found. In some cases you may need to enter the search term yourself, or may need to modify the term being used if initial searches are unsuccessful. The images section contains links to the Google™ and picsearch images search engines. Clicking the "Search" button runs a search for images based on the scientific name of the species. This search is run in a new window, and may or may not be successful. You may also need to modify the search parameters in the new window, for example you will probably need to delete subpopulation names or names of subspecies or varieties. You can also copy and paste in a common name from the Detailed Results page to use as your search parameter. If you keep the new window open, it will be refreshed the next time you run an images search, instead of opening a third window.

To print out the results, use the appropriate print function on your internet browser. Please note that ONLY the page currently displayed will print. So if more than 50 records are retrieved, then each page has to be printed in turn.

Selecting the Save as. function from your browsers File menu, will produce an HTML formatted file (please note that the extension may have to be changed to *.htm depending upon the browser being used). This would need to be repeated for each page of results. However, the best option for saving the results of a search is to use the Export function (click on the Export link at the top right hand side of the Search Results screen). Using this function will allow you to save the results as CSV or XML formatted file.

Clicking on the Export link takes you to a User Login page where you need to enter your login details (if a registered user) or if not yet a registered user follow the link to the sign-up page to become a user (only registered Red List Users are allowed to export results). In becoming a user we ask people to fill in a very simple form providing summary details about themselves and what they intend using the information for. This is so we get a better idea about the profile of our user audience, which will help us plan future changes to the information and functions on the Red List web site. The Export function has its own detailed help page that is available from the User Login screen and from other screens during the export process; please see that page for further details about exports.

Please remember to keep your user password details in a safe place in case you want to export the results of other searches in the future. The logins will automatically expire annually and you will be required to re-register as a user and will be assigned a new password.

For users who would like to link directly to a results page, it is possible to bookmark individual pages. We cannot guarantee the long-term validity of such bookmarks, but will endeavour to keep the web site as stable as possible. Permission to create such links is not required unless the site being linked from is a commercial one. It would be useful though to know about any sites that link to the IUCN Red List pages, as we can then post reciprocal links back to appropriate sites from the Links page or from individual species pages.

If a search is not successful, the Search Results screen indicates this and shows what search criteria were used. An example of such a message could be:

"No results were found for the criteria you specified:

• Text search: Bos
• Modifier: Exact phrase
• Search in: Common name

If these are correct, then the species you are searching for may not be in the database."

In the above example, a mistake was made in selecting "Common name", "Taxonomy" should have been selected instead. Using the back button it is easy to go back and rectify this. If all the settings are incorrect, it may be easier to click on Database Search to start from fresh.

For further information on species not in the database see under the search function.

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