Chinese Paddlefish.... Is it really doomed?

[Plec123]

its still natural selection...and if your right then nature wont be selecting the people living down stream for much longer lol

call me crazy but isnt natural selection when members of the same species pick the best mate? that way the stunted ones or the ones with bad traits get naturally culled? im pretty sure natural selection doesnt have to do with species outcompeting each other.

 

[peewee]

I think most of the animals, especially the aquatic ones, that are considered extinct, are...like...not really extinct. It's not exactly hard for a fish with infinate water space to go unnoticed.

i agree. we couldn't even find osama bin laden considering the fact that land occupies a smaller part of earth than water.

 

[Plec123]

i agree. we couldn't even find osama bin laden considering the fact that land occupies a smaller part of earth than water.

i agree as well, though in this situation we're talking about a huge fish that inhabits a relatively small area.

 

[SimonL]

i agree as well, though in this situation we're talking about a huge fish that inhabits a relatively small area.

Agreed, for a fish that inhabits only a single river, and is reported to grow to 7 m in length, "infinite water space" isn't a particularly accurate description.

 

[peewee]

yang ze is big right?

 

[SimonL]

Yes, but it's still a river running through one of the heaviest populated countries on the planet. There is an enormous difference between this and a fish like the coelecanth which lives in a isolated location in deep, marine environments.

 

[sostoudt]

well the problem with animals in general, the smaller the population the less of a chance for reproduction of the animals. less reproduction means a smaller population in the future. its a snowball effect.
so theres a certain threshold, below which a population of animals has a extremely good chance of going extinct.

i remember reading about this exact same thing about pandas, a conservationist said that there a lost cause and money should be redirected to endangered species with a better chance.

i severally doubt the paddlefishes population is big enough to repopulate, since they havent been seen in years. they live in a river so its not like its as huge as the ocean.

 

[Here Fishy Fishy]

I think most of the animals, especially the aquatic ones, that are considered extinct, are...like...not really extinct. It's not exactly hard for a fish with infinate water space to go unnoticed.

Agreed, for a fish that inhabits only a single river, and is reported to grow to 7 m in length, "infinite water space" isn't a particularly accurate description.

I agree, deffinately not infinite space. However it is not only an organisms imediate space that is important. They migrate at different times of year because of season changes or for breeding. The creation of dams disrupts this migration. If the migration is critical to the survival of the species, it's only a matter of time before extinction.

call me crazy but isnt natural selection when members of the same species pick the best mate? that way the stunted ones or the ones with bad traits get naturally culled? im pretty sure natural selection doesnt have to do with species outcompeting each other.

Natural Selection - Process by which individuals that are better suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully.

 

[Here Fishy Fishy]

Yes, but it's still a river running through one of the heaviest populated countries on the planet. There is an enormous difference between this and a fish like the coelecanth which lives in a isolated location in deep, marine environments.

Good point! Pollution will also play a major role.

well the problem with animals in general, the smaller the population the less of a chance for reproduction of the animals. less reproduction means a smaller population in the future. its a snowball effect.
so theres a certain threshold, below which a population of animals has a extremely good chance of going extinct.

i remember reading about this exact same thing about pandas, a conservationist said that there a lost cause and money should be redirected to endangered species with a better chance.

i severally doubt the paddlefishes population is big enough to repopulate, since they havent been seen in years. they live in a river so its not like its as huge as the ocean.

Agreed!

 

[Plec123]

Natural Selection - Process by which individuals that are better suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully.

i presume this refers to individuals of the same species.