Regional Extinction Risk and Conservation Priorities for Persian Gulf Marine Bony Fishes

<p>Around the world, protected areas are the primary conservation measure used to combat biodiversity loss; however, these are often established without comprehensive species-specific information, leading to placement in areas that often do not address the processes that threaten biodiversity. To address this, International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List assessments are being utilized to determine species-specific threats and population status at the global and sub-global levels. This study examines the regional extinction risk for all known marine bony fishes of the Persian Gulf. About 8.3% of the 471 marine bony fishes assessed are at elevated risk of regional extinction. The distribution of threatened species is primarily linked to coastal areas with high human activity and environmental extremes. Evaluation of the Persian Gulf marine protected area network identified limited coverage, with most marine bony fishes having 5% or less of their ranges covered. Given this limited coverage, the offshore islands of Saudi Arabia and near-shore areas around Abu Dhabi and the Kuwait/Iraq border, which contain high concentrations of endemic and threatened species as well as critically important habitats, are recommended for future conservation prioritization. With efficient and effective management and protection, there is potential for the status of the threatened species to improve within this globally important region.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biological Sciences

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Buchanan, Jack Ryan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kent Carpenter (Advisor)
• Holly Gaff
• Heather Harwell

• Arabian Gulf
• Extinction risk
• IUCN Red List
• Marine bony fishes
• Marine conservation
• Persian Gulf
• Biology
• Marine Biology
• Natural Resources and Conservation

Statement dc:rights

• <p>In Copyright. URI: <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).</p>

Identifier

9781369143706

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.odu.edu:biology_etds-1011