5-Year Status Review of the Desert Pupfish
About the Document
Title: Desert Pupfish 5-Year Review
Purpose: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is conducting a 5-year status review of the endangered desert pupfish (Cyprinodon macularius) under section 4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act). The purpose of the 5-year review is to ensure that the listing classification of the species on the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants (50 CFR 17.12) is accurate. The 5-year review document is an assessment of the best scientific data available at this time and will be the basis for a recommendation by the Service on whether or not to propose a change in the listing status (see Federal Register notice, 71 FR 20714). In Arizona, this family was historically represented by two recognized subspecies, (Cyprinodon m. macularius) and (C. m. eremus), and an undescribed species, the Monkey Spring pupfish. Minckley et al. (2002) raised C. m. eremus to a species, C. eremus and described the Monkey Springs pupfish as the Santa Cruz pupfish (C. arculatus). These are all considered C. macularius for the purposes of this review.
About the Peer Review Process
Type of Review: Influential
Estimated Peer Review Timeline:
Peer Review Initiated: April 2008
Peer Review to be Completed: May 2008
Estimated Dissemination Date of the Final 5-Year Review: September 2008
Process: The Service will conduct external peer review of the scientific background information with at least three or more independent scientific reviewers with expertise in native fish ecology, with emphasis in the genus Cyprinodon.
Peer reviewers will be selected based on the following criteria:
Expertise: Reviewers should have knowledge in one or more of the following areas: fish biology, fish demography, conservation biology, conservation genetics, nonindigenous species, and land management activities and their effects on native fishes.
Independence: Reviewers should not be employed by the Service. Academic and consulting scientists should have sufficient independence from the Service or the Department of the Interior if the government supports their work.
Objectivity: Reviewers should be recognized by their peers as being objective, open-minded, and thoughtful. Reviewers should be comfortable sharing their knowledge and identifying their knowledge gaps.
Advocacy: Reviewers should not be known or recognized for an affiliation with an advocacy position regarding the protection of this species under the Endangered Species Act.
Conflict of Interest: Reviewers should not have any financial or other interest that conflicts or that could impair their objectivity.
The Service will consider the information received from the peer review in the conclusions and recommendations for the desert pupfish 5-year review.
About Public Participation
Public input on the 5-year review of this species was sought with a Federal Register announcement (71 FR 20714) and the distribution by mail and press release of this announcement to interested parties.
The Service will post the final 5-year review document and recommendation for the desert pupfish, including a summary of the results of the peer review on its web site at: http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/SpeciesReport.do?spcode=E044
This peer review plan is made available on this website to allow the public to monitor our compliance with the Office of Management and Budget’s Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review.
If this 5-year review results in a recommendation to change the status of the desert pupfish, additional public review and comment will be sought with the publication of a proposed rule in the Federal Register to change the species status.
Contact:Doug Duncan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arizona Ecological Service Office, Tucson Sub-office, Doug_Duncan@fws.gov, 520-670-6150, (x236).