The International Mammalogical Congress, held every 4 years, took place during 14–20 July 2023 in Anchorage, Alaska, USA, as a joint meeting with the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM). This event was a valuable opportunity for the IUCN Species Survival Commission Small Mammal Specialist Group (small-mammals.org) to share knowledge, expand membership and raise the profile of small mammal research, with four of the group's leaders hosting workshops and a symposium, and presenting several papers. These workshops—Assessing the Taxonomic and Geographic Shortfalls in IUCN Red List Assessments: Guidelines for ASM Researchers (TL, RK and NU), and Mammal Species of the World Next: Workshop for Extended Taxonomic Data Curation (NU and colleagues)—were well-attended and generated new interest in membership of the Small Mammal Specialist Group. Author ST also co-hosted a symposium with Small Mammal Specialist Group member Alexis Mychajliw that focused on the special issues associated with the extinction risk and assessments of island species, including small mammals, in The Death and Life of Island Mammals: Extinction, Change and Resilience From Past to Future. Individually, we presented eight research talks, covering a range of topics related to small mammals, such as Shade Cocoa Agroforests as Refuge Zones for Mammals (TL), Saving Island Mammal Biodiversity: Looking to the Future (RK), Holocene–Modern Mammal Extinctions in Hainan, China (ST), and Mammal Taxonomy Over the Ages: Analysis of Species Distributions and Updating the Mammal Diversity Database (NU).
The Mammal Diversity Database (mammaldiversity.org) has been adopted as the Small Mammal Specialist Group's official taxonomic reference, to ensure consistent taxonomy when carrying out small mammal Red List assessments. The significance of the decision to use the Mammal Diversity Database was recognized at the Congress, but the Small Mammal Specialist Group also stressed the need for new data (e.g. on distributions) as key for updating assessments. The Congress provided an opportunity to recruit Red List assessors who are experts on certain taxa and to emphasize the relevance of Specialist Groups to researchers in fields such as taxonomy, systematics and biogeography.
The Small Mammal Specialist Group is exploring a reorganization of its structure, to be more efficient and comprehensive in future reassessments, and we spoke to mammalogists at the Congress who can assist in improving our goals. We view participation of Specialist Groups at international conferences as critical and it is important to present our mission and activities to the researchers who work closely with small mammals. It is through them that we will gather the necessary data to enhance the quality of Red List assessments, develop plans and implement viable conservation actions, addressing the Assess–Plan–Action priorities of the Species Survival Commission.
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