Minimum Viabel Population Size: A Meta-Analysis of 30 Years of Published Estimates

First meta-analysis of a key measure in conservation biology was presented. By implementing a unique standardization to make reported minimum viable population (MVPs) comparable, a cross-species frequency distribution of MVP with a median of 4169 individuals was derived. The results showed that MVP...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological conservation 2007-09, Vol.139 (1), p.159-159
Main Authors: Traill, Lochran W, Bradshaw, Corey JA, Brook, Barry W
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:First meta-analysis of a key measure in conservation biology was presented. By implementing a unique standardization to make reported minimum viable population (MVPs) comparable, a cross-species frequency distribution of MVP with a median of 4169 individuals was derived. The results showed that MVP was an appropriate measure of the viability of populations that had declined deterministically to a small size, but subsequently stabilized. The results indicated that context-specific factors such as variability of the local environment were more relevant for determining MVP than the broad-scale extinction drivers that caused endangerment. The results concluded that a species' or population's MVP was context-specific, and there were no simple short-cuts to its derivation.
ISSN:0006-3207