Population structure of the endangered franciscana dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei): reassessing management units.

ABSTRACT: Franciscanas are the most endangered dolphins in the Southwestern Atlantic. Due to their coastal and estuarine habits, franciscanas suffer from extensive fisheries bycatch, as well as from habitat loss and degradation. Four Franciscana Management Areas (FMA), proposed based on biology, demography, morphology and genetic data, were incorporated into management planning and in the delineation of research efforts. We re-evaluated that proposal through the analysis of control region sequences from franciscanas throughout their distribution range (N = 162), including novel sequences from the northern limit of the species and two other previously unsampled localities in Brazil. A deep evolutionary break was observed between franciscanas from the northern and southern portions of the species dist

SUBMITTER: Cunha HA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3908959 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature