First record of a Critically Endangered species, European sturgeon, in the stomach of harbor porpoises from the North Sea
Author: Eileen Heße, Jörn Gessner, Ursula Siebert, Anita Gilles
Redactor:
Year: 2024
Country: Germany
Language: English
Type: Text Document
Keywords: Acipenser sturio, Phocoena phocoena, Conservation, Reintroduction, Foraging ecology, Predator-prey interactions, Cetacean, Biodiversity
Description: The European sturgeon Acipenser sturio has been of substantial commercial interest in the past. Today it is considered Critically Endangered, with only one remaining population in Europe. Fulfilling national conservation strategies and aiming for the conservation of biological diversity, Germany has released European sturgeons into their former habitats (Elbe River and its tributaries) as part of experimental measures to restore the population. However, little is known about their biology, sensitivity of life-stages to threats or trophic interactions within their former habitats. Here, we report on the first known predation of reintroduced sturgeons by harbor porpoises Phocoena phocoena and discuss predator-prey interactions in the light of sturgeon conservation.
Copyright: No (Public Domain or Creative Commons)