Vulnerability and susceptibility in conservation biology

In conservation biology, susceptibility is the extent to which an organism or ecological community would suffer from a threatening process or factor if exposed, without regard to the likelihood of exposure. It should not be confused with vulnerability, which takes into account both the effect of exposure and the likelihood of exposure.

For example, a plant species may be highly susceptible to a particular plant disease, meaning that exposed populations invariably become extinct or decline heavily. However, that species may not be vulnerable if it occurs only in areas where exposure to the disease is unlikely, or if it occurs over such a wide distribution that exposure of all populations is unlikely. Conversely, a plant species may show low susceptibility to a disease, yet may be considered vulnerable if the disease is present in every population.

References

Threatened species
Template: Threatened species by region
IUCN Red List	Categories1 Extinct Extinct (EX) Extinct in the Wild (EW) Threatened Critically Endangered (CR) Endangered (EN) Vulnerable (VU) Lower risk Near Threatened (NT) Least Concern (LC) Lower Risk (LR) Conservation Dependent (LR/cd) Not fully assessed Data Deficient (DD) Not Evaluated (NE) Species Lists Extinct Extinct in the Wild Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable Near Threatened Least Concern Data Deficient WP categories Extinct Extinct in the Wild Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable Near Threatened Least Concern Data Deficient
By taxa	Endangered arthropods / spiders Threatened Banksia / rays / sharks / sturgeons The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates The world's 100 most threatened species
Conservation	Biodiversity action plan Biodiversity threats Conservation biology CITES ARKive Bird conservation Conservation status Conservation-reliant species Ecoregion conservation status Habitat destruction Latent extinction risk Rare species Vulnerability and susceptibility
1 Pre-2001 categories and subcategories shown in italics.