Provisional Red List of European Charophytes

A commonly used method for assessing priorities in species conservation is by drawing up a Red List, aimed at identifying the species most at risk of decline and extinction. Many European countries have drawn up such lists. This chapter is an attempt to produce an overall Red List assessment for European charophytes based on the IUCN system. Although such an assessment has been under consideration for many years, the information gathered together for this book and by individual countries as part of Red Listing and other conservation-priority processes has made it possible to make an authoritative assessment of all but a few European charophytes. The problems with the application of the IUCN criteria to charophytes are also discussed with an explanation of how they have been interpreted for this assessment.