Research lines to support the conservation of sturgeons in Europe

European species of sturgeon are threatened and conservation plans have been established for most of them listing actions to improve their status. However our present knowledge about these species limits the range of the actions. We did a work dedicated to A. sturio identifying key researches to conduct (whatever the discipline) to help the conservation of this species and in this talk we enlarge the scope to consider the situation of most European populations.

We need to know more about available habitats and to assess their quality and carrying capacity. We particularly lack of information about the spawning grounds and we have a poor knowledge about the adaptability of embryos and juveniles to water and substratum quality. These aspects are crucial and the climate change context strengthens these needs, in most extreme cases assisted migration could be an option to consider. Ex situ stocks have been established to produce juveniles for stocking. Even if present practices enable to produce juveniles, we have to know more about quality of the juveniles produced and their adaptability to the wild. As we need support to restore these species their importance in terms of goods and services associated have to be identified more precisely.