IIMYC   23581
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES MARINAS Y COSTERAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Geographic distribution of the short-tailed river stingray (Potamotrygon brachyura): Assessing habitat loss and fishing as threats to the world's largest obligate freshwater elasmobranch
Autor/es:
LUCIFORA, L.; SCARABOTTI, P.A.; MABRAGAÑA E.; LLAMAZARES VEGH, S.; SOLARI, A.; BARBINI, S. A.; VARGAS, F.; DÍAZ DE ASTARLOA, J. M.
Revista:
MARINE AND FRESHWATER RESEARCH
Editorial:
CSIRO PUBLISHING
Referencias:
Lugar: Collingwood; Año: 2016 vol. 67 p. 1463 - 1478
ISSN:
1323-1650
Resumen:
Freshwater elasmobranchs are threatened but little is known about them. Potamotrygon brachyura is the world´s largest obligate freshwater elasmobranch. This makes it popular among fishermen and suggests a susceptibility to anthropogenic threats. We collected records of P. brachyura (n≤70) from media, fishermen and scientific sampling, to estimate its global geographic distribution (using both generalised additive and MaxLike models). Then, we estimated the species´ exposure to habitat modification and fishing pressure, by applying multinomial ordinal models with threat levels as response and the presence or absence of P. brachyura as an independent variable. Distance to coast, depth, water temperature range, salinity range and mean water temperature were the main determinants of the distribution in the Río de la Plata. This resulted in a narrow coastal distribution. In the Uruguay and Paraná River basins, the probability of occurrence was positively associated with flow accumulation, percentage of open water and submerged vegetation, and lowland ecoregions, and negatively to wetness index and altitude. This limited the distribution to large lowland rivers. Approximately 41% of the range of P. brachyura in the Río de la Plata was subject to high habitat modification. In the Uruguay and Paraná River basins, this percentage reached 7%; however, the overlap with high fishing pressure was 59%. For conservation purposes, P. brachyura may function as an umbrella species.