1Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, 210 023Nanjing, China.
2Fisheries Research Institute of Jiujiang city, 332 000, Jiujiang, China.
3Aquatic Biology Protection and Rescue Center of Jiangxi Province, 330 000Nanchang, China.
*Corresponding Author: Wang Jianmin, Fisheries Research Institute of Jiujiang City, 332000, Jiujiang, China. Email: wangjianmin783@163.com
Online published on 24 January, 2022.
China is paying more attention to ecological systems within the Yangtze River has provided great opportunities to the conservation of the Yangtze finless porpoise (YFP). The rapid population decline of YFP in the main steam appears to have slowed, but the infrequent movement of porpoises represents a considerable threat to the long-termviability of this species in this region. We studied the population viability of YFP in the Yangtze main steam, based o published ecological and genetic information.
Vortex model was used to analyze the population viability of the YFP. The simulations were started from the year 2017 when the initial population size was 445 animals in baseline scenario. We examined the population viability for the species under demographic fluctuations and conservation scenarios.
Baseline model showed the probability of extinction was 0.245; deterministic growth rate was -0.023; stochastic growth rate was -0.036. Sensitivity analysis showed differences in population trends between the baseline and each alternative scenario and the most sensitive parameters were the percentage of females breeding and mortality rates. Under different conservation scenarios, the population of the YFP in the main stream will increase by 11.0%-181.2% in 100 years.
Conservation strategies, Dispersal, Extinction, Neophocaena asiaeorientalis, Vortex model
