Habitat protection planning for Indo‐Pacific humpback dolphins (<scp><i>Sousa chinensis</i></scp>) in deteriorating environments: Knowledge gaps and recommendations for action

1. For threatened marine megafauna, such as the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis), sound conservation planning should aim to ensure demographic and ecological persistence of populations. One method to address this challenge is through ecosystem-based conservation planning (ECP) based on threatened marine megafauna distribution, biodiversity richness, and ecosystem functionality. 2. ECP exercises for the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin in Chinese and adjacent northern Vietnamese waters were conducted based on the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin distribution, Hill-2 biodiversity index, and marine net primary productivity. Habitat protection priorities were scored using the program MARXAN and were used to identify special areas for conservation (SACs) for the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin. 3. To ensure the minimal risk of local extinction, the SACs enclosed a total of 26,858 km 2 of waters, accounting for 49.9% of core habitats of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and 24.3% of the IUCN Red List species in the study region. To enclose 30% of biodiversity richness and ecosystem functionality, a total of 40,179 km 2 SACs was required. 4. In the context of threatened marine megafauna conservation, megafauna distribution can be used to highlight focal areas, while information on biodiversity richness and ecosystem functionality should be factored in. Using surrogates with different ecological niches would be a better tactic to ensure sufficient protection coverage by minimizing the omission bias. 5. The conservation of threatened marine megafauna in coastal and estuarine waters shares similar objectives with global marine biodiversity conservation. The challenges to conduct ECP exercises come from data scarcity and poor data quality in representing distributions of biodiversity features. A certified openaccess database that shares survey effort, occurrence, population density, and habitat mapping at national and local scales is recommended. Such a result requires national planning, investment, and policing. Shiang-Lin Huang and Haiping Wu contributed equally to this article.

Section: Objective Targeting Surrogate Selection and Sac Scoping In C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Objective Targeting Surrogate Selection and Sac Scoping In C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Objective Targeting Surrogate Selection and Sac Scoping In C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Objective Targeting Surrogate Selection and Sac Scoping In C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Conservation planning for threatened marine megafauna: Moving forward with a better approach

Huang

et al. 2022

“…On the other hand, coastal engineering such as ports and artificial river banks on both sides of the river permanently occupy a large proportion of the potential habitats for the Yangtze finless porpoise (Chen et al, 2018; Zhang et al, 2019). Coastal engineering can also change habitat functionality by altering ecosystem processes (Jickells, Andrews & Parkes, 2016; Wisha et al, 2018; Gong et al, 2019), as reported for coastal delphinids (Huang et al, 2022), which leads to further habitat deterioration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Seasonal and diel activities of the Yangtze finless porpoise in natural and highly disturbed habitats: Implications for conservation planning of freshwater cetaceans

Chen

Wang

et al. 2022

1. Knowledge of fine-scale seasonal and diel activity patterns of animals provides insights into habitat utilization dynamics and informs conservation action planning against potential human impacts. Such information is particularly important for riverine cetaceans, such as the Yangtze finless porpoise, which is threatened by habitat loss and disturbances by a variety of human activities.2. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) techniques were used to survey the seasonal and diel activities of the Yangtze finless porpoise in two natural habitat patches of the Anqing Yangtze Finless Porpoise Natural Reserve, and in one highly disturbed area adjacent to the reserve.3. In the two natural habitat patches, significantly higher detection rates of porpoises were observed during autumn and winter. The detection rates during

Unstated impacts of the green energy industry on the habitat of a coastal delphinid: Turbid‐turbulent wakes induced by offshore wind turbine foundations

Huang

2022

1. Offshore wind farms (OWFs) are a green energy solution to reducing CO 2 emissions, but often encroach on major habitats of coastal delphinids. Clustered OWF construction in shallow waters may have cumulative negative impacts on coastal delphinids and marine ecosystems. Although the impacts of piling noise have been discussed extensively, the potential impacts of oceanographic alterations induced by wind turbine foundations are rarely discussed. 2. Two OWFs were constructed near the core habitat of a critically endangered subspecies of humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis taiwanensis) in the eastern Taiwan Strait. Turbid-turbulent wakes induced by wind turbine foundations were inspected using Landsat images. Sighting rates of the humpback dolphin that were obtained from boat-based line-transect surveys near the northern OWF (OWFn) since the late 2000s were examined. 3. Indicators of surface turbidity were used to highlight turbid-turbulent wakes extending in the direction of the main current. Sighting rates of the humpback dolphins near the OWFn have been declining since the 2000s, but decreased significantly after the OWFn was constructed and began operating. 4. The long-term decline in sighting rates implies an alarming decline in the population size of humpback dolphins. Decreased sighting rates after the OWFn installation indicate the reduced utilization of a once-important habitat. Offshore wind farm construction may influence prey abundance and composition and cause acute stress from piling noise; operational noise may mask the chorus of prey fish and turbid-turbulent wakes may disturb the benthic ecosystem. 5. Site selection committees for future OWFs should avoid the habitats of coastal delphinids and areas subject to strong ocean currents. Ecological impact assessments for OWF projects should examine the impacts of turbulent wakes on benthic ecosystems and of acoustic disturbance on marine mammals. Long-term environmental monitoring programmes are recommended, which can be funded by wind energy companies as a compensatory measure.