Indiana's Imperiled Taxa

One of the most important aspects of conservation biology is the study and management of biodiversity, and individual species are a main aspect of biodiversity.  The species represented here were chosen from all of the endangered and threatened species in Indiana.  The taxa described below were chosen to provide a fair representation of all taxa that are imperiled in the state of Indiana.  Our first choice was federally listed taxa.  We then chose species based on a system that ranks the status of listed taxa on a global scale and a system that ranks the taxa within the state.  The global rankings follow the system of G1 is critically imperiled globally, G2 is imperiled globally, G3 is globally rare or uncommon, G4 is globally widespread and apparently secure, and G5 is globally widespread and secure.  The state system includes S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5; these categories have the same definition as the global categories except they are on a state level rather than a global level.  State threatened is represented by ST and state endangered is represented by SE.  The federal listings are noted as LT is federally threatened, LE is federally endangered, LELT is different listings for different populations, and E/SA is appearance similar to federally endangered or threatened species.