Sturgeon biodiversity and conservation, Reprinted from ENVIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY OF FISHES, 48, 1997
Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes Series, Vol. 17

Selected, reviewed and revised papers from the International Conference on Sturgeon Biodiversity and Conservation held at The American Museum of Natural History in New York on 28-30 July 1994

Prelude to Sturgeon Biodiversity and Conservation; E.K. Balon. Sturgeon Biodiversity and Conservation: An Introduction; W.E. Bemis, et al. Part 1: Diversity and Evolution of Sturgeons and Paddlefishes. An Overview of Acipenseriformes; W.E. Bemis, et al. Osteology and Phylogenetic Interrelationships of Sturgeons (Acipenseridae); E.K. Findeis. Phylogeny of the Acipenseriformes: Cytogenetic and Molecular Approaches; V.J. Birstein, et al. How Many Species are there within the Genus Acipenser? V.J. Birstein, W.E. Bemis. Part 2: Biology and Status Reports on Sturgeons and Paddlefishes. Sturgeon Rivers: An Introduction to Acipenseriform Biogeography and Life History; W.E. Bemis, B. Kynard. Past and Current Status of Sturgeons in the Upper and Middle Danube River; K. Hensel, J. Holcik. Endangered Migratory Sturgeons of the Lower Danube River and its Delta; N. Bacalbasa-Dobrovici. Present Status of Commercial Stocks of Sturgeons in the Caspian Sea Basin; R.P. Khodorevskaya, et al. Species Structure, Contemporary Distribution and Status of the Siberian Sturgeon, Acipenser baerii; G.I. Ruban. Endemic Sturgeons of the Amur River: Kaluga, Huso dauricus, and Amur Sturgeon, Acipenser schrenckii; M.L. Krykhtin, V.G. Svirskii. Biology, Fisheries, and Conservation of Sturgeons and Paddlefish in China; Q. Wei, et al. Biology and Life History of Dabry's Sturgeon, Acipenser dabryanus, in the Yangtze River; P. Zhuang, et al. Observations on the Reproductive Cycle of Cultured White Sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus; S.I. Doroshov, et al. Contemporary Status of the North American Paddlefish, Polyodon Spathula; K. Graham. Life History and Status of the Shovelnose Sturgeon, Scaphirhynchusplatorynchus; K.D. Keenlyne. The Status and Distribution of Lake Sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, in the Canadian Provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec: a Genetic Perspective; M.M. Ferguson, G.A. Duckworth. Lake Sturgeon Management in the Menominee River, a Wisconsin-Michigan Boundary Water; T.F. Thuemler. Life History, Latitudinal Patterns, and Status of the Shortnose Sturgeon, Acipenser brevirostrum; B. Kynard. Status and Management of Atlantic Sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrinchus, in North America; T.I.J. Smith, J.P. Clugston. Atlantic and Shortnose Sturgeons of the Hudson River: Common and Divergent Life History Attributes; M.B. Bain. Biological Characteristics of the European Atlantic Sturgeon, Acipenser sturio, as the Basis for a Restoration Program in France; P. Williot, et al. Part 3: Controversies, Conservation and Summary. Sturgeons in the Aral Sea Ecological Catastrophe; I. Zholdasova. Threatened Fishes of the World: Pseudoscaphirhynchus spp. (Acipenseridae); V.J. Birstein. Molecular Analysis in the Conservation of Sturgeons and Paddlefish; I.I. Wirgin, et al. Sensitivity of North American Sturgeons and Paddlefish to Fishing Mortality; J. Boreman. Alternatives for the Protection and Restoration of Sturgeons and their Habitat; R.C.P. Beamesderfer, R.A. Farr. Threatened Fishes of the World: Scaphirhynchus suttkusi Williams & Clemmer, 1991; R.L. Mayden, B.R. Kuhajda. Threatened Fishes of the World: Scaphirhynchus albus (Forbes & Richardson, 1905); R.L. Mayden, B.R. Kuhajda. Sturgeon Poaching and Black Market Caviar: A Case Study; A. Cohen. The Threatened Status of Acipenseriform Fishes: A Summary; B.J. Birstein, et al. Species and Subject Index.

This volume presents a synthesis of basic biological and conservation data for more than 30 species of sturgeons (Acipenseridae), paddlefishes (Polyodontidae) and their fossil allies in the order Acipenseriformes. Since the Jurassic, the four families of sturgeon-like fish have been restricted to the Holarctic, where until very recently they flourished in most major river systems. Today, however, virtually all species of sturgeons and paddlefishes face difficult conservation issues. Papers in the first section of this volume examine paleontology, systematics, evolution and basic biology of acipenseriformes. Recent evidence from fossil Acipenseriformes strongly supports a sister-group relationship of Acipenseridae and Polyondirae as the suborder Acipenseroidei. New molecular and karyologic