What is the minimum viable population (MVP) of a particular species? Besides the obvious implications for conservation, especially of endangered species, this question raises important issues in population biology. MVP obviously varies with demographic, life history and environmental factors, but also depends upon genetic load and genetic variability. This book addresses the most recent research in the rapidly developing integration of conservation biology with population biology. Chapters consider the roles of demographic and environmental variability; the effects of latitude, body size, patchiness and metapopulation structure; the implications of catastrophes; and the relevance of effective population size on inbreeding and natural selection. Other topics addressed include the role of decision theory in clarifying management alternatives for endangered species, and the opportunities for improved co-operation between agencies responsible for management. The book concludes with a forward-looking and plain-speaking summary on future research and its application for conservation practice.
Minimum viable population (MVP) refers to the smallest size allowable for the survival of a population and for the maintenance of its vigor and potential for evolutionary adaptation. Misunderstood and uncritically applied, the concept is tending to discourage efforts at maintaining small populations of endangered species. Now this timely book, the title of which wisely excludes the term minimum, clarifies the concept. It emphasizes that MVP varies with demography, life history, environmental conditions, and genetic variability of a species population and is not to be equated with some arbitrary population size. Chapters by 17 contributors cover such topics as demography and environmental variability, models of viable populations (to be used with care) that have been tested with actual data, uncertainties involved with MVP, spatial structure and effective population size, management alternatives for endangered species, and the role of interagency cooperation in the management of viable populations. This important book is a necessary supplement to O.H. Frankel and M.E. Soule, Conservation and Evolution (CH, Oct '81) and Conservation Biology: The Science of Scarcity and Diversity, ed. by M.E. Soule (1986), and is an essential addition to ecological and wildlife libraries.-R.L. Smith, West Virginia University--Choice Review.
