The NDF Support Tool brings together data from a number of sources, notably Species+, the CITES Checklist, the CITES Trade Database and the IUCN Red List, as well as additional sources of life history data. All data sources are cited in the tool where they are provided.
With the exception of the trade over time and life history trait elements, all data in the NDF Support Tool are displayed unchanged as they appear in the original source data. All amendments to the trade and life history trait data have been made for the purpose of standardising the data so that they are comparable within and between datasets.
Methods relevant to individual elements are described below.
The NDF Support Tool trade over time is based on the trade data as reported by the Parties to CITES in their official annual reports to CITES and included within the CITES Trade Database. The codes that are used for source, purpose, trade term, etc. are based on the official codes used by CITES Parties (see Guidelines for the preparation and submission of CITES annual reports). To ensure that the reported trade in CITES-listed taxa is comparable across time and can be meaningfully visualised, some conversions were applied to standardise terms and units of measure. These are briefly described below.
A pdf table of term conversions applied to the trade data with relevant notes can be accessed at the bottom of the page.
Term codes are used to describe the type of item that is in trade; these can vary from live animals and plants to their parts and derivatives (e.g. bones, leather products, roots, timber products). CITES terms codes have evolved over time, with some older codes no longer used. Where possible, redundant term codes were converted to current CITES terms codes to enable comparisons over time (e.g. belts, handbags, wallets, etc. converted to “LPS - small leather products”). A table of term conversions applied to the trade data with relevant notes can be found in this table of term conversions (PDF download).
A full list of the official CITES term codes and their corresponding description can be found in the Guidelines for the preparation and submission of CITES annual reports.
Where necessary, units of measure were converted to standardised metric units (e.g. m, kg and l) to make trade data more comparable. Trade reported without a unit or with a unit that could not be equated to a standardised unit of measure (e.g. bags, bottles, boxes, flasks, etc.) were considered to be traded as “number of items” and are displayed in the NDF Support Tool as such. Trade reported in number of pairs was multiplied by two to give the correct number of items in trade (i.e., one pair of shoes equates to two individual shoes). Other taxon-specific conversions were made for units of measure relating to trade in corals, reptile skins and timber. A table of term conversions applied to the trade data with relevant notes can be found in this table of term conversions (PDF download).
The NDF Support Tool displays standardised trait values for ten life history traits relating to body size (adult length, adult weight, adult snout-to-vent length), reproductive output (number of offspring per reproductive event, number of reproductive events per year, number of offspring per year), age at maturity (female age at first birth, female age at maturity, plant age at maturity) and growth rate. These data were compiled from peer reviewed life history datasets and databases. A full list of all life history datasets used can be found in this table (PDF download).
Species were assigned a relative measure for each trait based on how they compared to all other species within the same order for which data were available. For example, species that had relatively high trait values were assigned relative measures of ‘large size’ (body size), ‘many offspring’ (reproductive output), ‘long time’ (age of maturity) or ‘fast rate’ (growth rate), depending on the trait. Species were then assigned a relative vulnerability for each trait based on whether their relative trait measure made them more or less vulnerable to overharvesting; species that are relatively larger, produce fewer offspring and take longer to reach reproductive maturity are considered to have ‘slower’ life history strategies and to be more vulnerable to overharvesting than species that grow at a faster rate and produce more offspring. Full details of the calculations for relative measure and relative vulnerability, as well as the trait taxonomic coverage can be found in this table (PDF download).
To ensure that the reported trait data can be meaningfully compared between species and different data sources, conversions were applied to the units of measure. Unit conversions, as well as methods for calculating the relative vulnerability of a species are briefly described below.
Species individual and mean trait values are converted to and displayed in the most relevant unit (e.g. weight as 100g rather than 0.1kg) for ease of interpretation. However, where necessary, units of measure were converted to standardised metrics of weight (kg), length (m) and age (year) to allow the species mean trait value to be compared to others within the order when calculating the relative value and relative vulnerability.