"RED LISTING OF ANTS"
Dr.John Fellowes, Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden, Hong Kong ; Dr. Carsten Brühl, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University, Landau, Germany and Dr. Himender Bharti, Department of Zoology and Environmental Sciences, Punjabi University Patiala, Punjab India.
The IUCN Red List Index – the trend in threatened status of species – is now an influential indicator of sustainable development as recognised in the Millennium Development Goals. But invertebrates are highly under-represented on the Red List. The IUCN is open to ants as a suitable indicator group but the decision is down to myrmecologists whether and how ants will be included in current research questions on biodiversity, conservation and climate change. Assessing a representative sample of ant species could help draw conservation attention to the world's most threatened insect communities. For the first red listing of ants is taken up in South-east Asia and we aim to assess ant species for conservation purpose.
