NATURE CONSERVATION RESEARCH, vol.4, no.3, pp.117-123, 2019 (ESCI)
Red Listing is a valuable tool for raising the awareness about those taxa which face the risk of extinction. It is the first step towards highlighting the problem of species decline and loss, as well as encouraging policy makers. In this study, a new or revised threatened status of five rare and two endemic Crepis taxa from Turkey were presented, based upon IUCN red list categories and criteria. The following taxa are analysed: Crepis amanica, C. aurea subsp. olympica, C. bithynica, C. dioscoridis, C. foetida subsp. glandulosa, C. rubra, and C. syriaca. The area of occupancy (AOO) has been calculated for each taxon using the software GeoCAT (Geospatial Conservation Assessment Tool) and according to 2 x 2 km grid cell size. A distribution map has been drawn with ArcGIS version 10.3. Current IUCN red list categories and criteria were used to assess the conservation status of the taxa. New field observations and the population sizes were presented for each taxon. The taxa were placed into the group of critically endangered or endangered because of their small geographical distribution, narrow habitat specificity and non-abundant within the territory of Turkey. Based on the IUCN categorisation, our results show that all the taxa studied are directly and/or indirectly threatened by human activities, such as tourism, agriculture, grazing, pollution or urbanisation and competition with woody or invasive plants.