First human-caused extinction of a cetacean species?

Biology Letters - Tập 3 Số 5 - Trang 537-540 - 2007
Samuel T. Turvey1, Robert L. Pitman2, Barbara L. Taylor2, Jay Barlow2, Tomonari Akamatsu3, Leigh A. Barrett4, Xiujiang Zhao5,6, Randall R. Reeves7, Brent S. Stewart8, Kexiong Wang6, Zhuo Wei6, Xianfeng Zhang6, L. Todd Pusser9, Michael Richlen10, John R. Brandon11, Ding Wang6
1Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of LondonRegent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK
2NOAA Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science CenterLa Jolla, CA 92037, USA
3NRIFE, Fisheries Research AgencyHasaki, Kamisu, Ibaraki 314-0408, Japan
4Baiji.org Foundation, Klosbachstrasse 1068032 Zurich, Switzerland
5Chinese Academy of Sciences Graduate School, Beijing 100039China
6Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of SciencesWuhan 430072, China
7Okapi Wildlife Associates, Hudson, QuebecCanada J0P 1HO
8Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, 2595 Ingraham StreetSan Diego, CA 92109, USA
9PO Box 122, West EndNC 27376, USA
10Department of Zoology, University of Hawai'i, Edmondson 152, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
11University of Washington, School of Aquatic and Fisheries SciencesBox 355020, Seattle, WA 98195, USA

Tóm tắt

The Yangtze River dolphin or baiji ( Lipotes vexillifer ), an obligate freshwater odontocete known only from the middle-lower Yangtze River system and neighbouring Qiantang River in eastern China, has long been recognized as one of the world's rarest and most threatened mammal species. The status of the baiji has not been investigated since the late 1990s, when the surviving population was estimated to be as low as 13 individuals. An intensive six-week multi-vessel visual and acoustic survey carried out in November–December 2006, covering the entire historical range of the baiji in the main Yangtze channel, failed to find any evidence that the species survives. We are forced to conclude that the baiji is now likely to be extinct, probably due to unsustainable by-catch in local fisheries. This represents the first global extinction of a large vertebrate for over 50 years, only the fourth disappearance of an entire mammal family since AD 1500, and the first cetacean species to be driven to extinction by human activity. Immediate and extreme measures may be necessary to prevent the extinction of other endangered cetaceans, including the sympatric Yangtze finless porpoise ( Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis ).

Từ khóa


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Biology Letters

Tập 3 Số 5

537-540

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