Local population characteristics and habitat connectivity both have important influences on metapopulation persistence; however, the relative importance of each can vary depending on the ecological context, making it difficult to apply general ‘rules-of-thumb’ for conservation actions. This is particularly true in dendritic networks, where habitat connections are constrained. By constructing a metapopulation

The use of translocations to establish new or ‘refuge’ populations for species with high conservation value is controversial but widely used in conservation management. One of the risks of this approach is that an establishing population does not adequately capture the genetic diversity of the donor gene pool. This effect, rarely examined, is tested here. In this study the genetic consequences of two

No abstract is available for this article.

Arapaima (Arapaima sp.) are highly overexploited fish endemic to the Amazon basin. Because the fish are obligate air-breathers, it is possible to use surface-breathing events to count individuals visually for population censuses important for conservation, yet uncertainties remain about body size and environmental influences on air-breathing intervals, and thus count accuracy. This study examined relationships

The delimitation of conservation units may be supported by information on compositional (taxonomic), functional, and phylogenetic diversity of a given locality or region. In this context, systematic conservation planning and key biodiversity areas are promising approaches for biodiversity protection. Factors such as species representativeness and exclusivity may be used to identify geographical distribution

Human translocations of non-native aquatic species are a global conservation challenge. Aquarists and anglers are two hobbyist groups whose practices are particularly likely to translocate non-native aquatic species, especially fish. This article aims to stipulate a change of perspective among these hobbyists, who – by acting simultaneously as anglers and aquarists – establish novel pathways for non-native

Genidens barbus is a vulnerable marine migrant catfish with low fecundity, a complex life cycle (i.e. mouth breeding), and is the target of industrial and artisanal fisheries of several countries. This species regularly migrates from marine to freshwater environments of the south-western Atlantic. The aim of this work was to delve deeper into the migration ecology of G. barbus, characterizing both

Amphibian populations worldwide are in decline. Proactive conservation techniques such as translocations into created and restored wetlands have gained popularity in recent years but may fail owing to high predation and low environmental adaptability. The Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), affected by rapid urbanization, is now possibly extinct in the wild despite millions living in captivity throughout

Climate change has emerged as an increasingly important threat to freshwater systems. To cope with rapidly changing thermal regimes, freshwater fishes must either relocate or adjust through genetic adaptation and/or phenotypic plasticity. Short-term responses to elevated water temperature have been well studied in freshwater fishes; however, far less is understood about change induced by long-term

Many fish species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) in Iowa and Minnesota, USA, have been in decline for decades. A key reason for the decline is the alteration and degradation of naturally flowing streams owing to land use changes resulting from agricultural practices. Populations of several fishes have been adversely affected by widespread stream channelization that has resulted in more homogeneous

Mediterranean fin whales aggregating in the Pelagos Sanctuary in summer to feed are exposed to vessel collision risk, particularly from high-speed ferries. This study developed models to predict summer fin whale distribution using a generalized additive model (GAM) and MaxEnt, with the aim of providing a tool to identify potential high whale–ferry collision risk areas along ferry routes within the

Illegal wildlife trade is a major global threat to biodiversity. Environmental authorities around the world face many challenges enforcing and implementing laws intended to protect wild species. Wildlife forensic protocols can help to solve many of these implementation and enforcement issues. Matamata turtles comprise two different species that look identical (Chelus fimbriata, Chelus orinocensis)

Dosidicus gigas is an ecologically and economically important squid species extensively distributed in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Its habitat is extremely sensitive to climatic and environmental variability. The relationship between habitat pattern of D. gigas and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO, divided into the El Niño, ENSO-neutral, and La Niña events) was assessed from 1950 to 2015, using a

The recovery of overexploited populations is likely to reveal behaviours that may have been present prior to harvest but are only now reappearing as the population size increases. The east Australian humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) population (group V, stock E1) has recovered well from past exploitation and is now estimated to be close to the pre-whaling population size. Humpback whales were

Freshwater mussels (Order Unionida) are highly threatened. Interspecific competition for food sources with invasive alien species is considered to be one of the factors responsible for their decline because successful invaders are expected to have wider trophic niches and more flexible feeding strategies than their native counterparts. In this study, carbon (δ13C: 13C/12C) and nitrogen (δ15N: 15N/14N)

This study aimed to develop an integrated analytical framework to identify candidate sites for surface water protection that is applicable at broad scales and in data scarce regions, using Zambia as a case study. In the Zambian Water Resources Management Act of 2011, Water Resource Protection Areas are defined as areas where special measures are necessary for the protection of a catchment, sub-catchment

All five species of sawfishes (family Pristidae) are amongst the most threatened marine fishes in the world, with steep population declines and local extinctions documented across their ranges. Sawfishes have featured in Sri Lankan species checklists since 1889. However, landing records are extremely rare and little information is available on their status, diversity, and recent occurrences. Interviews

The expansion and intensification of marine uses have severe cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems and human well-being, unless they are properly managed with an ecosystem-based management approach. A systematic conservation planning approach, using marxan with zones, was applied to generate alternative marine spatial plans for the Aegean Sea. Relevant human uses were included and their cumulative

Rafting has been proposed as a dispersive mechanism for some species of seahorses. Juvenile Hippocampus patagonicus rafting on the sea surface have been reported. This life stage has high mortality in nature due to ecological and environmental factors usually affecting juvenile planktonic teleosts (e.g. predation). In this study, 50 juvenile seahorses were captured while rafting at the beginning of

Few conservation studies have examined fish communities in entire drainage basins, especially in developing regions such as Southeast Asia, one of the most diverse biomes globally. The aim of this study was to establish conservation projections for the whole of the Irrawaddy River system, based on fish diversity patterns, human impact, and environmental change. The Irrawaddy River is one of the five

Ecoacoustics is increasingly being used to monitor species populations and to estimate biodiversity in marine ecosystems, but the underwater soundscapes of freshwater environments remain largely unexplored in this respect. Few studies exist concerning the acoustic diversity of ponds, but because aquatic plants and many arthropods such as Coleoptera and Hemiptera are known to produce sound, there is

The dusky grouper Epinephelus marginatus is a large epinephelid species that occurs in the eastern and south‐western Atlantic and western Indian Oceans. Late maturity, protogynous hermaphroditism, site fidelity, and overfishing have all contributed to its demographic decline. Connectivity and demography within a broad sampling of dusky grouper populations throughout its distribution were assessed.

The mangrove horseshoe crab, Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda, has divergent populations between the east and west coasts of Peninsular Malaysia, with the southern coast acting as a land barrier. The actual position of such a genetic break along Peninsular Malaysia as well as the connectivity status of the southernmost C. rotundicauda populations with east and west coast populations remain unexplored,

Dolphins interact with many types of fishing gear, causing damage to fishing activities and in some cases facing harm and becoming entangled as bycatch. In this study, the behaviour of bottlenose dolphins during their interaction with set nets, equipped with and without interactive pingers, was investigated. Acoustic monitoring of the nets was conducted for a total of 56 hauls and 814.9 hr of recordings

High elevation lakes are extreme ecosystems and serve as sentinels of various global changes. An expedition to Volcán Llullaillaco in 1996 discovered an unstudied high‐elevation lake (6,170 m a.s.l.) that probably was formed as a result of the past eruptive events or climatic processes such as glacial retreat in the lake basin. This article describes an initial physical characterization of the lake

Interspecific competition may be particularly exacerbated when occurring between native and invasive alien species, with environmental conditions affecting drivers of natural selection and shaping spatio‐temporal dynamics of animal communities. The effects of invaders are particularly evident in aquatic ecosystems with delicate and complex balances, such as Mediterranean coastal wetlands, characterized

No abstract is available for this article.

Understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes that occur during range shift or (re‐)colonization is of critical importance for species whose ranges are changing due to human‐induced climate change or species such as New Zealand sea lions where their established colonies are significantly declining due to human impacts. The mechanisms underlying colonization are poorly understood. Observations

Although the network of national parks in Zambia offers a degree of protection for freshwater diversity, the protection status of numerous systems outside of these parks requires further action. The biodiversity associated with its freshwater systems, both lotic and lentic, is unique, covering a climatic gradient from tropical to subtropical across the Zambezi and Congo basins. Recent Zambian legislation

Human impacts on marine ecosystems are increasing and the number of fish species listed in the Red List is constantly growing. In the Mediterranean Sea, seven of the 10 bony fishes defined as Threatened by the IUCN are known to be vocal, including the target species of this study: the shi drum (Umbrina cirrosa Linnaeus, 1758) and the brown meagre (Sciaena umbra Linnaeus, 1758). As a result, non‐invasive

Artificial barriers on lowland rivers impede the spawning migrations of anadromous fishes, preventing access to historical spawning areas. In the cryptic European shads Alosa alosa and Alosa fallax (‘shad’ hereafter), this has resulted in population declines across their range. Conservation programmes aim to facilitate the passage of migrators over these barriers and so require baseline information

Wetlands in arid regions are characterized by their great heterogeneity, often including endemic species that contribute to regional aquatic biodiversity. In the Patagonian steppe, most lakes are naturally fishless and sustain a rich aquatic biodiversity, including endemics; however, many of these lakes have been stocked with Oncorhynchus mykiss (rainbow trout) during recent decades. The introduction

The illegal sale of endangered elasmobranchs has been recorded in a number of different Brazilian states, where sharks and rays are being marketed primarily as ‘cação’ or ‘viola’. Brazil is ranked among the top 10 nations worldwide that harvest most sharks, causing an immeasurable impact on the local elasmobranch populations. The present study applied the DNA barcoding technique, based on the cytochrome

River barrier removal is used increasingly as a conservation tool to restore lotic habitat and river connectivity, but evidence of its efficacy is incomplete. This study used a before–after methodology to determine the effects of removing a tidal‐limit barrier on the fishes, macroinvertebrates, and habitats of an English coastal stream. Following barrier removal, habitat diversity increased immediately

Species identification of sharks under catch or trade regulations is important for law enforcement and species conservation. Rapid detection of Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)‐listed species is needed for on‐site screening. Species‐specific primers were designed to target three mitochondrial genes (ND2, COI, and CytB) in both the simplex and multiplex loop‐mediated

Individual specialization in the foraging behaviour of marine predators can affect the ecology, evolution, and ability of a population to respond to environmental variability and human impacts. Here, blood serum and whisker stable isotope values from New Zealand (NZ) sea lion pups (Phocarctos hookeri) are compared with their mother’s values to identify whether they can be used as proxies to identify

Pressures on coastal ecosystems are increasing and aquatic species that are restricted to these habitats are facing the threat of extinction. However, the true extent of many threatened and rare aquatic species, especially elasmobranchs, remains unclear due to high levels of data deficiency and poor efficacy of traditional survey methods. Sawfishes (Pristidae), a family of shark‐like rays, are among

The Pyrenean desman (Galemys pyrenaicus) is an endangered stream‐dwelling insectivore endemic to the Iberian Peninsula and the north of the Pyrenees. It favours riffles over slow habitats such as runs or pools, yet it is still unclear whether habitat preference is based on prey availability or on other factors, such as mechanical constraints on its hunting habits. Desman diet and prey selection were

Horseshoe crab population sizes and trends have been previously studied using surveys of spawning adults and counts of eggs from surface (top 5 cm) and deep (20 cm) sediment samples. The correlations between surface and deep eggs were studied at two locations, Delaware Bay and Jamaica Bay, USA, and the correlations between egg densities and spawning counts were examined in Jamaica Bay. There were significantly

Local extinctions break species interactions and have cascading effects throughout ecosystems; parasites are often severely affected. The European bitterling, Rhodeus amarus, is a cyprinid fish that parasitizes unionid mussels by laying eggs into the mussel gill cavity, where embryos develop and emerge as active juveniles; this relationship is obligatory for the bitterling. This article describes a

Marine aquaculture, and its fast‐growing development, has the potential for wider environmental, ecosystem, and biodiversity impacts. This study assesses the impact of fish farming on a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) population within the Gulf of Ambracia (western Greece) between 2007 and 2018. Two different study areas were defined in order to investigate differences on occurrence, abundance

This study aimed to determine biological and distributional aspects of deep‐sea giant isopods Bathynomus giganteus and Bathynomus miyarei to assess their extinction risk. Bathynomus giganteus (663 specimens) and B. miyarei (649 specimens) were collected during five research cruises involving 265 h of sampling effort during 32 fishing operations of circular pots, baited traps, ranging from 400 and 1

Sawfishes (Family: Pristidae) are one of the most imperilled fish families worldwide. There is an increasingly urgent need to better understand the biology, ecology, and population status of the five sawfish species to develop more effective conservation measures. The dwarf sawfish, Pristis clavata, is one of the least researched members of the pristids, with literature limited to analysing disparate

Despite the current rates of deforestation and the expected climatic changes, protecting species in their natural habitats is still the simplest, cheapest, and most effective way of safeguarding biodiversity. Here, the network of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon was evaluated to assess its effectiveness in safeguarding species of Odonata. Ecological niche models were built to assess the suitability

The Amazon River basin contains a vast diversity of lotic habitats and accompanying hydrological regimes. Further understanding the spatial distribution of flow regimes across the Amazon can be useful for recognizing riverine ecohydrological processes and informing river management and conservation, especially in areas with limited or inconsistent streamflow monitoring. This study compares four inductive

Systematic conservation planning in freshwater ecosystems faces multiple challenges because of the dynamic nature of rivers and their multiple dimensions of connectivity. In intermittent hydrological systems connectivity is functional when water is available, allowing the exchange of aquatic individuals between isolated freshwater ecosystems. Integrating these isolated systems in their hydrological

Patterns and changes in the distribution of coastal marine mammals can serve as indicators of environmental change that fill critical information gaps in coastal and marine environments. Coastal habitats are particularly vulnerable to the effects of near‐term sea‐level rise. In California, Pacific harbour seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) are a natural indicator species of coastal change because of

The natural habitat of the western swamp turtle (Pseudemydura umbrina Siebenrock, 1901) – the ephemeral, winter wet swamps north of Perth, Australia – is in danger owing to climate change and habitat fragmentation. The decline in rainfall in this area over the last five decades is predicted to continue, shortening the annual activity period for the turtles and potentially shifting their optimal climate

No abstract is available for this article.

The white mullet, Mugil curema, is a widely distributed euryhaline species, the migratory behaviour of which is poorly understood. The objective of this work was to study the large‐scale habitat use of this species for the first time. Several environments were considered, such as euryhaline and hypersaline lagoons, the sea, and a river, distributed in the Central Pacific (Mexico) and Atlantic (Gulf

As a result of sea‐level rise (SLR), coastal anchialine pool habitats will be lost in some locations and will expand inland into low‐lying areas in others. New and existing habitats may risk additional SLR‐related degradation from non‐native species transmission, groundwater pollution, and increased contact with human infrastructure. Despite a worldwide distribution, anchialine ecosystems and biota

Conservation efforts have increased in response to global mussel declines, and effective surveys are a crucial step in assessing and monitoring mussel populations and in determining their conservation status. The burrowing behaviour of mussels can affect their detectability, and a better understanding of these behaviours would help to improve survey design and guidelines. The burrowing depth of mussels

Invaders affect native species across multiple trophic levels, influencing the structure and stability of freshwater communities. Based on the ‘trophic position hypothesis’, invaders at the top of the food web are more harmful to native species via direct and indirect effects than trophically analogous native predators are. However, introduced and native predators can coexist, especially when non‐native

Yangtze finless porpoise (YFP) is Critically Endangered, It relies on its biological sonar sensing system for important life activities. The rapid development of the Yangtze valley has brought busy shipping, which has resulted in increased noise. Two locations on the shipping channel and non‐shipping branch were selected. Passive acoustic monitoring was used to record the biosonar signals of porpoises

Aquatic mammals worldwide are highly threatened in freshwater ecosystems where they are affected by direct human activities (e.g. hunting) as well as indirect human alteration of freshwater ecosystems (e.g. dams, mining activity). Although aquatic mammals of the Amazon Basin are experiencing many growing threats, little is known about the escalating impacts on them, current limitations in protection

Many seabirds dive to forage, and the ability to use this hunting technique varies according to such factors as morphology, physiology, prey availability, and ambient light levels. Proficient divers are more able to seize sinking baits deployed by longline fishing vessels and may return them to the surface, increasing exposure of other species. Hence, diving ability has major implications for mitigating

Considering the deteriorated state of the ocean, maximizing the impact of scientists' media communication is essential for gaining public interest in, and support for, marine conservation initiatives. Unlike conventional news, that involves journalists' interpretation, the media Q&A offers scientists a way to convey insights on complex marine ecosystem issues in their own words. However, the Q&A approach

The implementation of marine protected areas (MPAs) has been widely used as a tool to manage and conserve marine resources and services. Yet, to date, the reserve effect is still weakly evaluated, particularly for soft‐sediment habitats. The Arrábida MPA, considered as a biodiversity hotspot, was fully established in 2009 on the west coast of Portugal and is characterized by large expanses of soft‐sediment

The knowledge and awareness that the general public has about aquatic invertebrates is often poor, even when they are highly threatened. The frequent lack of popular names and the unattractiveness of the scientific ones may be among the factors hindering the knowledge of these organisms and, consequently, the awareness of their conservation status and the willingness to conserve them. Linderiella baetica

The history of conservation of the Amazon can be viewed as a war involving many battles with interests in agribusiness on one side and in biodiversity conservation and sustainability on the other side. Trends in large‐scale deforestation in the 1970s spurred a series of policies, stakeholder alliances and international and grass‐roots movements, which decades later led to the establishment of protected