A distinct population segment is the smallest division of a taxonomic species permitted to be protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Species, as defined in the Act for listing purposes, is a taxonomic species or subspecies of plant or animal, or in the case of vertebrate species, a distinct population segment (DPS).
Read more about Distinct Population Segment: Criteria For Designation, Priorities, Relationship To Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESU's)
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