Risk of extinction of species due to human activity is one of the large environmental problems. To help in monitoring and managing threatened species, efficient methods have recently been developed to analyse the viability of populations. The purpose of population viability analyses (PVA) is to evaluate whether a potentially threatened species actually is in danger to go extinct in the near future and to find the factors that are most important causing the risk for extinction. The aim of the project “Population viability analyses for conservation of Baltic Sea shore plants: analysis under time and money restraints” is to use populations of Baltic Sea shore plants to develop population viability analyses for practical conservation work. The study systems, coastal habitats of the Baltic sea, have a high conservation value. They are species rich and there are many examples of plant species that have become rare and red-listed in these habitats. There is a lot of background information of the habitats and results can readily be applied to conservation.
Current population viability analyses are often too labour and time demanding under economical restraints of practical conservation. There is a need of lighter PVAs that optimise the fieldwork effort, total time needed and the resolution gained. Preliminary results show that PVA methods could, with some adjustments, well be applied to analyze the data that is currently produced in monitoring work of conservation administration.