Abstract
AbstractWith the rapid expansion of human activities, natural environmental systems are under severe threat. Yangtze River, the largest river in China, contains abundant biological resources. However, the ecosystem of the Yangtze River has been threatened by the rapid rise of human activities due to economic development in the 1990s. The Yangtze finless porpoise Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis is a critically endangered flagship species in the Yangtze River. Although scientists have conducted surveys studying the abundance of Yangtze finless porpoise, the length of the investigation period of these studies was restricted. Here, we reported our meta-analysis results by collecting data on the abundance of the Yangtze finless porpoise population from published papers over 33 years. We found that the pooled effect size using the random effect model across all these studies was – 0.36 (95% confident interval (CI) – 0.48,– 0.24, P < 0.05), indicating that the porpoise population has undergone a declining pattern after the year 2003. The operation of the Three Gorges Dam was one important but not the only factor resulting in the decline of the porpoise population. More actions should be taken for porpoise and habitat protection and more studies should be done to assess the impact of dams on the porpoise population in Poyang Lake. Only in this way can marine life be better protected, and the marine environment can better achieve sustainable development.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC