Regionally rare animal species of Lviv region

Growing anthropogenic pressure and changing climate conditions create new reality in which more and more native fauna species require our attention. That is the reason for scientists to compile Red Lists or Red Data Books on different levels. The main factors of negative impact on animals nowadays are as follows: destruction and/or transformation of natural ecosystems (habitats), illegal removal from nature, commercial overuse, natural disasters and climate change, as well as military actions. The Red Data Book of Ukraine includes 140 species of animals which appear in Lviv region. However, there are also other species within the region that deserve protection. The latest Lviv region list of rare species was approved in 2007 – two years before the publication of the third edition of Red Data Book of Ukraine, and is somewhat outdated. For more than 15 years the animal habitats have changed, and the list of species in the new edition of the Red Data Book of Ukraine (2021) has changed significantly. According to this, a new list of regionally rare animal species is objectively needed. Such a list has been compiled and is presented in the article. The main species criteria for being included into it are: vulnerability to the environmental changes, a sharp decline in the number of individuals or rapid population area shrinkage, low occurrence frequency within the region, relic origin, endemic or sub-endemic status, species on the edge of their distribution ranges or with the complex life cycles, etc. We believe that our knowledge about regionally rare species and their distribution can be one of the reasons for the establishing of new protected areas. This will help to preserve rare ecosystems in the structure of national ecological network and strengthen the conservation of species and coenotic diversity both in some separate territories or regions, and in Ukraine as a whole. After additional, detailed scientific research some of the regionally rare animal species will obviously be recommended to be included into the next edition of the Red Data Book of Ukraine. Thus, at least 106 animal species are proposed to became regionally protected in Lviv region. 64 of them are already under the protection of Bern Convention, 26 – under Bonn Convention, and 13 under the protection of Washington Convention.