Abstract: The category of endangerment is an important reference for determining conservation priority of rare and endangered species. The assessment of endangerment status is considered to be one of the most important steps in biodiversity conservation by the Convention on Biological Diversity, related international organizations and many countries. This paper introduces the selection criteria for species endangerment assessment, assessment procedure, information collection, and the application of Internet technology in species endangerment assessment. Based on the above, the development trends in the endangerment assessment include: (1) the assessment criteria are developing from qualitative to quantitative ones; (2) the assesement procedures are becoming more and more formal and open; (3) data collection is becoming more and more standardized, and the information storage and processing further computerized; (4) species endangerment criteria are published and updated mainly through Internet, and (5) species endangerment assessment is attracting international attention, and it is widely used in the conservation and management of wildlife resources. At last, we put forward some suggestions on the species endangerment assessment in China: (1) establishing species endangerment criteria; (2) setting up assessment procedure and related regulations; (3) standardizing data collection, improving data management on the Internet and data sharing.

Key words: Chinese egret, breeding ecology, nest site selection, Wuzhishan Archipelago