Third of Czech flora and fauna at higher risk

About a third of the 80,000 species of plants and animals in the Czech Republic are at risk of eventual extinction, the Environment Ministry reports. According to a conservation status inventory compiled by the ministry, only a fifth of the species monitored have a status of ‘least concern’. Among the hundreds of species that have already disappeared are 627 invertebrates, 22 vertebrates, 118 higher plants and 84 types of mushroom. Already endangered species have suffered particular decline, with the number of critically endangered plants and animals doubling between 1979 and the year 2000 to roughly 500.