Population viability analysis and potential of its application to Danube sturgeons

Abstract

Sturgeon species in the Danube River basin have experienced severe decline. Besides overexploitation, habitat loss, and pollution, they are further endangered by lack of efficient policy and management, as well as by serious lack of knowledge about their life history. Although population viability analysis (PVA) could represent an extremely valuable tool to cope with these problems, it has not so far been applied to Danube populations. This paper represents an assess­ment of different PVA methods and models developed for sturgeon species. It analyzes their results, main advantages, drawbacks, and problems, and discusses the possibility of applying PVA to sturgeon populations in the Danube River basin.Populacije jesetarskih vrsta u basenu Dunava su doživele ozbiljan pad brojnosti. Pored prekomernog izlova, gubitka staništa i zagađenja, dodatno su ugrožene nedostatkom efikasne legislative i upravljanja, kao i ozbiljnim nedostatkom znanja o njihovom životnom ciklusu. I ako analiza vijabilnosti populacija(PVA) može Predstavljati veoma koristan metod u rešavanju ovih problema, do sada nije primenjivana na dunavske populacije. Ovaj rad predstavlja procenu različitih PVA metoda i modela razvijenih za jesetarske vrste. U radu se analiziraju njihovi rezultati, glavne prednosti, nedostatci i glavni problemi na koje se nailazilo, i diskutuje se o mogućnosti njihove primene na populacije jesetri u basenu Dunava.Projekat ministarstva br. 14304