Knowledge gaps in the assessment of species in the wildlife trade

The international trade in wildlife is a major threat to biodiversity, driving some species to the brink of extinction. Trade includes species of all IUCN Red List categories from Critically Endangered through to Data Deficient, and is predicted to impact thousands more. Knowledge gaps prevent the assessment of extinction risk of traded Data Deficient species, and potentially cause them to be ineligible for international trade regulation. The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) aims to protect species from unsustainable trade, however certain biological criteria must be met for a species to be listed. As such, many species predicted to become impacted by trade may lack the necessary biological data. This thesis contributes to filling two knowledge gaps: the extinction risk for traded Data Deficient species, and whether they are currently protected by CITES; and if species predicted to become present in trade have sufficient biological data to be listed in CITES. First, I analyse the new threat category of all IUCN Red List Data Deficient species reclassified between 2007 and 2021, and compare the overall results to the subset of traded Data Deficient species. Second, I review the literature for two sample families of species predicted to become impacted by trade: Alsodidae, a family of frogs from South America; and Gerrhosauridae, lizards distributed across Madagascar and sub-Saharan Africa. I synthesise the current knowledge, and assess it against the CITES biological criteria for listing in Appendices I and II. The results indicate that traded Data Deficient species are likely to have a higher extinction risk than Data Deficient species as a group, with 56.2% and 45% reclassified species respectively now considered threatened. Only one traded Data Deficient species (Pudu mephistophiles) is CITES listed at species level but others inherit protection through three different taxonomic level listings. Whilst data gaps exist for many species predicted to become impacted by trade, threatened species should meet the CITES biological criteria. Data Deficient species, and some species already present in trade, are ineligible for CITES or may only gain protection through the 'lookalike' criteria of Appendix IIb. Most traded Data Deficient species are located in the tropics, where data is also scarce for species likely to become present in trade. Future research efforts on filling data gaps should focus on tropical Data Deficient species that are already traded or predicted to become so, particularly amphibians, reptiles, and species that do not resemble any others, in order to protect potentially threatened species from overexploitation.