Application of the precautionary principle to taxa of uncertain status - the case of the Bellinger River Turtle.
Application of the precautionary principle to taxa of uncertain status - the case of the Bellinger River Turtle.
复制标题
预防原则在不确定状态的分类群中的应用——以贝林格河龟为例。
DOI：
10.3354/esr00350
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发表时间：
2011
影响因子：
3.1
通讯作者：
Xiuwen Zhang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
A. Georges;R. Spencer;Michael A. Welsh;H. B. Shaffer;R. Walsh;Xiuwen Zhang
保护生物多样性的立法和监管框架往往把物种作为保护的基本单位。在一个物种的分类或保护地位不确定的情况下，可援引预防原则将可疑但尚未描述的分类群列为易危或濒危物种。在本文中，我们提出了一个被认为是独特的，但尚未描述的淡水龟种，在澳大利亚爬行动物行动计划宣布濒危和脆弱的国家和联邦保护法案的时间表的分类地位的评估。使用线粒体序列变异，我们表明，贝林格河龟是一个不起眼的人口的一个共同的和广泛的物种，麦夸里。此外，我们提出的证据表明，它可能是最近引进的，或可能是一个最近的入侵者，贝林格河（澳大利亚新南威尔士州），它可能会来竞争Myuchelys georgesi，一个地方病只发现在贝林格河。我们的研究表明，在适应性管理背景下，需要将基础研究与早期的实地行动结合起来，特别是在目标物种的分类地位不确定的情况下。不这样做的短期成本节省可能会大大超过长期的机会损失，保护美元是有限的。
Legislative and regulatory frameworks for conserving biodiversity often focus on the species as a fundamental unit for protection. In cases where the taxonomic or conservation status of a species is uncertain, the precautionary principle may be invoked in listing suspected but as yet undescribed taxa as vulnerable or endangered. In this paper, we present an evaluation of the taxo- nomic status of what has been regarded as a distinctive but as yet undescribed species of freshwater turtle, declared endangered in the Action Plan for Australian Reptiles and vulnerable in the sched- ules of state and federal conservation acts. Using mitochondrial sequence variation, we show that the Bellinger River turtle is an unremarkable population of a common and widespread species, Emydura macquarii. In addition, we present evidence suggesting that it may have been recently introduced to, or may be a recent invader of, the Bellinger River (New South Wales, Australia) where it may come to compete with Myuchelys georgesi, an endemic found only in the Bellinger River. Our study illus- trates the need to couple fundamental research with on-ground action early in an adaptive manage- ment context, particularly where taxonomic status of the target species is uncertain. Short-term cost savings of failing to do so may come to be greatly exceeded by longer-term opportunity loss where conservation dollars are limited.