RIVER BANK HABITAT ASSESSMENT OF THE YANGTZE FINLESS PORPOISE IN THE MAIN STEM OF MIDDLE-LOWER YANGTZE RIVER

Habitat quality can directly affect population abundance and distribution of the Yangtze finless porpoise. This study investigated habitat status of both south and north banks of the main stem of the Yangtze River by taking high-resolution digital photos systematically during the 2017 Yangtze Freshwater Dolphin Expedition from 10th November to 17th December, 2017. The survey area covered the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River from Yichang to Shanghai (1669 km in length) and a total of 794 photo samples were collected. We recorded 318 sightings with 631 individuals of the Yangtze finless porpoise. The Chi-squared goodness of fit test revealed that proportions of observed frequency are significantly higher than the expected frequency in natural river banks (χ²=69.81, P<0.001). Whereas the result is opposite in the semi-natural and solidified river banks (χ²=39.26, P<0.001; χ²=12.15, P<0.001), indicating that the natural river banks were the preferred habitat of the Yangtze finless porpoise. The length of the semi-natural river and solidified banks accounted for 45.47% of the total length of the river bank, which intermingled with the patches of the natural river banks, demonstrating that the natural habitat was severely degraded and highly fragmented to impact the distribution of the Yangtze finless porpoise. Our study suggested that habitat degradation and fragmentation pose a significant threat to the survival of the Yangtze finless porpoise. Future conservation research and practice should focus on habitat restoration of the solidified river banks to reestablish and enhance habitat connectivity.