Abstrak An Evaluation of Fluctuating Asymmetry For Identifiying Imperiled Mahseer (Tor tambroides) Populations

Chapter 2014 with 340 download times

Authors

,Arif Wibowo,Agus Djoko Utomo,

The growth of human populations has led to an increase in habitat loss and degradation through activities such as land conversion for agriculture, urban growth, deforestation and overfishing, potentially impacting species viability. All of these factors can have negative impacts which may result  in  reduced  performance  of  fitness components.  The  developmental  stability represents  an integral component of individual fitness and is most often estimated by their level of fluctuating asymmetry.  The  aim  of  this  study was  to  test  whether  levels  of fluctuating  asymmetry,  reflect developmental  stress caused by overfishing due to the absence and the presence of the regional mahseer conservation strategies. If imperiled populations could be identified early and management actions taken to prevent declines, the benefit to the conservation of biodiversity is profound. Three bilateral meristic characters were counted on each side of the fish: number of gill rakers on the lower first branchial arch, eyes diameter, and number of pectoral-fin rays. The result showed that adverse conditions   found   in  unprotected   environments   such   as   Manna   River   affect   morphological development of trait of functional importance for fish. There were differences in fluactuating asymmetry among mahseer, Manna River mahseer exhibited higher value of fluactuating asymmetry for almost all characters studied with the significant reduced development of locomotive (fins length) character. Fluctuating asymmetry appears to be a useful indicator for stress-induced developmental instability in mahseer.

Key words : Fluctuating asymmetry, mahseer, manna and Batang Tarusan