Red List of Biotopes and Habitats

1. Red List ofBiotopes and Habitats HELCOM HABITAT Riga, Latvia 14-17 May 2013 Lena Avellan Project Officer HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

2. Presentation content • HELCOM Red List of Biotopes and Habitats- current status, products to complete • Presentation to changes of Initial Threat Assessments (document 4/11 Add.1) HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

3. Red List of Biotopes and Habitats– products to complete • Red List Report BSEP XXX; rough outline discussed by RL Biotope Expert workshop 10/2013, to be completed by the end of July, HOD 42/2013 to accept for publication • Biotope Information Sheets (BIS) to be done for every red listed (CR-NT) biotope; first example to be discussed by the Meeting, input by national experts needed, to be completed by end of July,HOD 42/2013 to accept for publication HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

4. Red List of Biotopes and Habitats- current status • Red List Report currently only roughly drafted • Threat assessments underway, the final assessments to be decided by e-mail discussion 20.-24.5. by RED LIST Biotope Expert Group • Suggested to ask for any national expertise outside the RED LIST Biotope Expert Group, national experts to be contacted by the Secretariat to complete the Red List products; Report and Biotope Information Sheets HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

5. Red List of Biotopes and Habitats- current status • Questionnaire 1circulated in December 2012 – January 2013Recieved 11 answers, two additional answers later • Initial Threat Assessments made by RED LIST Biotope Expert Group 9/2013 meeting • Questionnaire 2circulated 26 April – 12 May 2013No official answers by the DL,some expert comments HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

6. HELCOM Red List categories- current status HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

7. HELCOM Initial Red List of Biotopes and Biotope Complexes- current status HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

8. HELCOM Red List Assessment Criteria- current status • Semi-quantitative criteria applied to best available data or expert inference to classify a biotope in a category • The proposed IUCN criteria for assessing ecosystems were applied and combined with HELCOM criteria from previous red list assessments HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

9. HELCOM criteria based loosely on IUCN red list criteria- current status Article published 8.5.2013 Keith DA, Rodríguez JP, Rodríguez-Clark KM, Nicholson E, Aapala K, Alonso A, Asmussen M, Bachman S, Basset A, Barrow E.G., Benson J.S., Bishop M.J., Bonifacio R, Brooks T.M., Burgman M.A., Comer P, Comín F.A., Essl F, Faber-Langendoen D, Fairweather P.G., Holdaway R.J., Jennings M, Kingsford R.T., Lester R.E., Mac Nally R, McCathy M.A., Moat J, Oliviera-Miranda M.A., Pisnau P, Poulin B, Regan T.J., Riecken U, Spalding M.D., Zambrano-Martínez S (2013) Scientific Foundations for an IUCN Red List of Ecosystems. PLoSONE8(5): e62111. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0062111 HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

10. Changes to Initial Threat Assessments • “Confidence of threat assessment” a statement for every red listed biotope, aid for management Low (L) Moderate (M) High (H) • Level of confidence depends on how much data there are for the biotope, whether there are also historical data, and on the degree of agreement among the experts HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

11. Changes to Initial Threat Assessments- categories Shell gravel on Level 3, VU → LC → B-criterion not applicable as shell gravel patches occur in several places in the northern Baltic Sea • AA.E1C4 Baltic photic shell gravel dominated by kelpLC → NT (NT – VU), confidence: L • AA.E1E1 Baltic photic shell gravel dominated by Mytilidae LC (same for aphotic), confidence: L • AA.E1F1 Baltic photic shell gravel dominated by vase tunicate (Ciona intestinalis):? → VU (NT – EN) criteria rarity B1, confidence: L • AA.E4U Baltic photic shell gravel characterized by no macrocommunity LC,confidence: L Aphotic shell gravel – Same threat and confidence categories apply HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

12. Changes to Initial Threat Assessment- confidence Biotope complexes; • 1110 Sandbanks which are slightly covered by sea water all the time, 1170 Reefs:conficende: L → MBoth are HD-habitats, quite a good amount of data in all countries should be available, variation in the threat category is similar to other complexes. HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

13. Changes to Initial Threat Assessment- confidence Biotopes; • AA.K3L9/AB.K3L9 and AA.L3L9/AB.L3L9Macoma calcarea, Mya truncata biotope; conficence: L (most were L, one was M)varies between photic and aphotic, and the reason for this is not quite clear. HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

14. Biotope Information Sheets- completion • Currently 36 initially red listed biotopes and 10 biotope complexes • June-July to collect information and compose the BIS, Secretariat tasked to do this work • National experts will be asked to contribute with gathering information HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013

15. Biotope Information Sheets- completion Habitat and Ecology - Distribution and status in the Baltic Sea region - Description of Major threats - Assessment justification - Recommendation for actions to conserve the biotope photographs of the biotopes, to be published on-line Figure 1. Biotope AB.C1E4 Aphotic hard clay dominated by Astarte spp. (Photo Jan Warzocha) HELCOM HABITAT 15/2013