Astroblepus biology
Posted: 18 Nov 2004, 10:49
Vélez-Espino, LA, 2003. Taxonomic revision, ecology and endangerment categorization of the Andean catfish Astroblepus ubidiai (Teleostei: Astroblepidae). Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 13: 367-378.
Abstract
Categorizing a species of concern as endangered requires basic information about habitat, population trends, life history, metapopulation structure, and geographic distribution. The Red List and Red Data books of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) are among the most widely used tools to identify speciesâ?? levels of threat. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the endangerment status of the Andean catfish Astroblepus ubidiai (Pellegrin, 1931) based on data about population growth rates, effective population size, abundance, area of occupancy, extent of occurrence, number of subpopulations, and habitat quality assessed through the IUCN criteria. All studied populations of A. ubidiai were categorized as â??critically endangered" based on the area of occupancy criterion. However threats exist from the perspective of other criteria such as habitat quality, number of adults in the population and effective population size. This paper clarifies some aspects of the taxonomy and the geographic range of this unique high-altitude Andean siluriform, and also provides the first description of its basic ecology.
Abstract
Categorizing a species of concern as endangered requires basic information about habitat, population trends, life history, metapopulation structure, and geographic distribution. The Red List and Red Data books of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) are among the most widely used tools to identify speciesâ?? levels of threat. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the endangerment status of the Andean catfish Astroblepus ubidiai (Pellegrin, 1931) based on data about population growth rates, effective population size, abundance, area of occupancy, extent of occurrence, number of subpopulations, and habitat quality assessed through the IUCN criteria. All studied populations of A. ubidiai were categorized as â??critically endangered" based on the area of occupancy criterion. However threats exist from the perspective of other criteria such as habitat quality, number of adults in the population and effective population size. This paper clarifies some aspects of the taxonomy and the geographic range of this unique high-altitude Andean siluriform, and also provides the first description of its basic ecology.
