Status Review for North American Green Sturgeon, Acipenser Medirostris PDF Download

Author: Peter Burton Adams
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Green sturgeon
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Book Description
"In 2001, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) received a petition requesting Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing of North American green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) as a threatened or endangered species. In response to this petition, NMFS announced that it would initiate an ESA status review. The ESA allows the listing of ADistinct Population Segments© (DPSs) of vertebrates as well as named species and subspecies. The combined U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NMFS policy on recognition of DPSs outlines two tests to identify separate units: discreteness and significance. A DPS may be considered discrete if it is markedly separate from other populations of the same taxon as a consequence of physical, physiological, ecological, or behavioral factors or if it is delimited by international governmental boundaries. The significance of the population will be decided on the basis of considerations including, but not limited to its persistence, evidence that loss of the DPS would result in a significant gap in spatial structure, evidence of the DPS representing the only surviving natural occurrence of a taxon, or evidence that the DPS differs markedly in its genetic characteristics. Once a DPS has been identified, a risk assessment is preformed to determine whether a listing is warranted for that unit"--Executive Summary.