Preservation of endangered species is now recognized as a relevant component of regional and global conservation actions achieved through the maintenance of the remaining populations in a favourable conservation status. The Mediterranean common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) is listed as an Endangered subpopulation in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, with declining numbers

Giant guitarfishes (Glaucostegidae) and wedgefishes (Rhinidae) are some of the most threatened marine taxa in the world, with 15 of the 16 known species exhibiting global population declines and categorized as Critically Endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The recent inclusion of all species in Appendix II of the Convention

No abstract is available for this article.

The largest changes in the circulation of the South‐eastern Pacific resulting from global warming are associated with the southward shift and intensification of the anticyclone and with coastal surface warming. Coastal upwelling is projected to be increase off central Chile, due to an increase in equatorward winds, although increased oceanic stratification and associated enhanced nearshore turbulence

The Juan Fernandez Ridge, a vulnerable marine ecosystem located far off the coast of central Chile and formed by several seamounts, guyots and three islands (Robinson Crusoe, Santa Clara and Alejandro Selkirk), has recently been declared a Coastal Marine Protected Area of Multiple Uses with several National Parks embedded in it. Recent studies have highlighted the influence of remote and local oceanographic

The structure of food webs provides important insight into biodiversity, organic matter (OM) pathways, and ecosystem functioning. Stable isotope analysis (δ13C and δ15N) was used to characterize the trophic structure and the main OM pathways supporting food webs in the Rapa Nui coastal marine ecosystem. The trophic position of consumers and isotopic niche metrics were estimated for different assemblages

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are becoming a widely used tool for the conservation of biodiversity and for fishery management; however, most of these areas are designed without prior knowledge of the basic ecological aspects of the species that they are trying to protect. This study investigated the movement of two top predators: the Galapagos shark, Carcharhinus galapagensis, and the yellowtail amberjack

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

Explorations of the Mediterranean deep sea using remotely operated vehicles have shown that the sea bed hosts rich habitats, supporting high biodiversity. However, there have been only a few studies dealing with the southern part of the basin, leading to limited protection and conservation efforts in this area. This study aimed to explore the sea bed off Linosa Island (Sicily Channel, southern Mediterranean

Extensive and dense macroalgal fields can compromise the ecosystem function of habitat mosaics on reefs owing to their limiting effect on patch connectivity. Macroalgae can maintain and increase their dominance with effective self‐reinforcing feedback mechanisms. For example, macroalgae can form dense beds, supressing coral settlement and grazing by herbivores. This compromised ecosystem function can

Species distribution models for marine organisms are increasingly used for a range of applications, including spatial planning, conservation, and fisheries management. These models have been constructed using a variety of mathematical forms and drawing on both physical and biological independent variables; however, what might be called first‐generation models have mainly followed the form of linear

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are used as fisheries management and conservation tools. Well‐enforced no‐take zones allow the rebuilding of natural populations of exploited species; however, there is still controversy on the role of buffer zones. The effectiveness of MPAs could be underestimated, as fish population assessments depend largely on traditional methodologies that have difficulties in detecting

In 1949, Aldo Leopold formalized the concept of the ‘land ethic’, in what emerged as a foundational and transformational way of thinking about natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, and stewardship in terrestrial systems. Yet, the land ethic has inherent linkages to aquatic ecosystems; Leopold himself conducted research on rivers and lakes, and freshwater ecosystems figured widely

Calls for global action on environmental issues have been popular since the 1970s and public interest in them has been raised by rallying people to the notion that we all share one world. One need look no further than the COVID‐19 pandemic to realize that sharing a world does not mean an equally felt impact or equally shared burden among all people when that world is threatened. Despite the initial

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

The 13 California sea lion breeding colonies in the Gulf of California (GoC), Mexico are each characterized by different population growth trends, including a variable number of births. Despite being located in a highly productive marine area, both the species’ population and the number of births have declined significantly over the past few decades. The goal of this study was to assess the effects

The Balbina hydropower dam in the Central Amazon basin, established in the Uatumã River in the 1980s, is emblematic for its socio‐environmental disaster. Its environmental impacts go far beyond the reservoir and dam, however, affecting the floodplain forests (igapó) in the downstream area (dam shadow), which have been assessed using a transdisciplinary research approach, synthesized in this review

Ecological stability based on statistical variability was contrasted with the asymptotical local stability of transient states during successional changes in community structure in kelp forests and barren grounds. Simplified semi‐quantitative ecological models with different levels of complexity were constructed to represent transient successional states in kelp and barrens, and Routh–Hurwitz's criteria

Evidence‐based decisions relating to effective marine protected areas as a means of conserving biodiversity require a detailed understanding of the species present. The Caribbean island nation of St Lucia is expanding its current marine protected area network by designating additional no‐take marine reserves on the west coast. However, information on the distribution of fish species is currently limited

The European Natura 2000 (N2K) network of protected areas stands out as the main conservation strategy in the European Union to preserve biodiversity under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The management of N2K sites is mainly focused on protecting the biological elements as Special Areas of Conservation for habitats or species listed in the European Habitats Directive, or as

Dendrophyllia ramea is a poorly known arborescent scleractinian coral, whose worldwide distribution is limited to the southern part of the Mediterranean basin, and to the Atlantic Ocean between Macaronesia and Gulf of Cadiz. The geographical distribution and abundance of D. ramea were herein updated, considering a total of 19 records, seven of which have never previously been reported in scientific

Sites and periods of spawning aggregations of two important fishery resources, the mutton snapper, Lutjanus analis, and the dog snapper, Lutjanus jocu, were identified and validated along the Brazilian north‐east coast (latitude 8–15°S) using exploratory analysis of catch per unit effort (CPUE) data, gonadosomatic index analysis, and gonad histology. The CPUE analysis for both species allowed the identification

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

Crayfish play a crucial ecological role and are often considered a keystone species within freshwater ecosystems; however, North American crayfish species face disturbance and ecological threats including invasive species and intensified drought. Demographic models can allow examination of population dynamics of a targeted species under a wide variety of disturbance scenarios. In this study, crayfish

Juvenile Pacific salmon exhibit diverse habitat use and migration strategies to navigate high environmental variability and predation risk during freshwater residency. Increasingly, urbanization and climate‐driven hydrological alterations are affecting the availability and quality of aquatic habitats in salmon catchments. Thus, conservation of freshwater habitat integrity has emerged as an important

The European Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) defines the ecological status of aquatic systems as the deviation between their present biological state and that which would be expected in the absence of any major human disturbance, referred to by the WFD as the ‘reference condition’ (RC). It assumes that their biotic composition should remain balanced and constant over time. This study tested

The presence of threatened or endangered species often strongly influences management and conservation decisions. Within the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), Australia, the presence of threatened native fish affects the management and allocation of water resources. In New South Wales, these decisions are currently based on traditional fisheries data and a predictive MaxEnt model. However, it is important

Organisms utilize suitable habitat patches wherein they optimize fitness. For marine megafauna such as cetaceans, foraging is generally the explanation for their utilization distribution. However, an explicit link between cetaceans' distribution and spatio‐temporal pattern of food resource is usually lacking. The Indo‐Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis; VU listed in the IUCN Red List) inhabits

The waters of the Patagonian Shelf in the south‐west Atlantic are nutrient rich, support large concentrations of wildlife, and are exploited by several fisheries, including the large Asian squid‐jigging fishery. Although the squid‐jigging fishery has previously been observed to have few problems with the accidental mortality of seabirds, the deliberate catch for consumption of seabirds by the crew

Hydromorphological rehabilitation through installing large woody material (LWM) is increasingly being used to reverse degradation of stream ecosystems. There have been many criticisms of stream rehabilitation projects, because many have not met their goals and many others have not been monitored well enough to assess whether their goals were met. In a before–after–control design (with samples collected

The Amazon basin has been subjected to extreme climatic events and according to climate change projections this hydrosystem could face changes in the natural dynamic of flood cycles that support the feeding and reproduction of many fish species, threatening aquatic biodiversity. Protected areas (PAs) are the main tools used to safeguard the biodiversity in the long term; however, they are fixed areas

Professionally trained conservation detection dogs (CDDs) are taught to locate biological targets, including cryptic and low‐density plant and animal species, but have been largely underused in acknow detecting endangered invertebrates. This pilot study assessed the ability of four volunteer CDD/handler teams to detect the endangered Alpine stonefly (Eustheniidae: Thaumatoperla alpina). Once trained

The protection of ecosystems with high diversity, such as coral reefs, is not an approach that guarantees their conservation. Thus, maintaining connectivity among coral populations over the long term is a strategy that should be adopted in order to protect diversity and ecological processes. Although coral reefs in Colombia are highly diverse, the population genetics baseline data of keystone species

Detailed knowledge about the distribution of species in need of protection is required for the management of Marine Protected Areas, a major tool to reduce marine biodiversity loss. Such knowledge is deficient for most marine invertebrates. Axinella polypoides is a marine sponge included on the list of protected species by the Barcelona Convention (1976) and the Bern Convention (1987). This large and

The Adriatic Sea is one of the Mediterranean areas most heavily impacted by fishing and other human stressors. The northern part of the basin has been certified as an Important Marine Mammal Area because of the regular occurrence of common bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus. Boat surveys, totalling 76 days at sea and 10,711 km of navigation, were conducted between April 2018 and October 2019 to

River regulation has extensively changed the ecology and hydrology of rivers worldwide, particularly downstream of dams, affecting the viability of freshwater species. The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a semiaquatic monotreme, endemic to eastern Australia, with a distribution overlapping Australia’s most regulated rivers. Dams and changes to flow regimes have affected critical platypus habitat

Translocation is used to conserve mussels, yet there remains a debate about its merit owing to poor understating of its effects on transported mussels. This study evaluated survivorship, body condition, and total glycogen and lipids for one common and widely distributed species (Cyclonaias pustulosa), two rare species (Cyclonaias petrina; Lampsilis bracteata), and one species complex (Fusconaia sp

In the past, sturgeons played an important role in commercial and recreational fisheries in the Danube River and its tributaries. Human impacts in the Danube River Basin coupled with exploitation of sturgeon stocks led to all species being either locally extinct, critically endangered or of unknown status. Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus, Linnaeus 1758) is the last known sturgeon species occurring in the

No abstract is available for this article.

Humanity is facing a biodiversity crisis, with freshwater‐associated biodiversity in a particularly dire state. Novel ecosystems created through human use of mineral resources, such as gravel pit lakes, can provide substitute habitats for the conservation of freshwater and riparian biodiversity. Many of these artificial ecosystems are subject to a high intensity of recreational use, however, which

Detecting rare species is often a necessity for conservation and management, yet challenging for many field survey methods. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a highly promising solution that has been shown to outperform many established survey methods. Macquarie perch (Macquaria australasica) is an endangered native species that has declined significantly in range and abundance. Detection of M. australasica

Freshwater organisms inhabiting arid ecosystems are imperilled by human alterations to water‐limited landscapes. This is especially true among desert‐dwelling cyprinodontid fishes, 90% of which are imperilled by habitat destruction within limited or shrinking ranges. Constructing habitats that mimic natural habitat form and function may provide a tool for species conservation, especially within freshwater

Whale sharks collect in predictable seasonal aggregations across the tropics. South Ari Atoll in the Maldives is one of a few aggregation sites where whale sharks can be encountered year‐round. Here, areas with high levels of tourism‐related boating traffic overlap with the whale shark hotspot, increasing the probability of anthropogenic injury. Whale sharks have been reported to remain faithful to

Freshwater ecosystems are essential to human well‐being and most have high biodiversity. However, this biodiversity has been suffering severe declines owing to the expansion of human activities. Protected areas (PAs) are essential for biodiversity conservation and have proved to be successful in stopping species extirpation if managed properly. Unfortunately, they are usually focused on terrestrial

Understanding the factors driving population structure in marine mammals is needed to evaluate the impacts of previous exploitation, current anthropogenic threats, conservation status, and success of population recovery efforts. Sperm whales are characterized by a worldwide distribution, low genetic diversity, complex patterns of social and genetic structure that differ significantly within and between

The five global Mediterranean‐climate regions are experiencing alarming rates of freshwater biodiversity loss. Although freshwater mussels are recognized as important functional components in aquatic ecosystems, and are among the most threatened faunal groups globally, there has been no synthesis of the plight of this group within these regions. Data from the International Union for Conservation of

A spatial approach to coastal management, such as marine protected areas, is being increasingly used to address biodiversity and fishery declines resulting from habitat loss, degradation, and overfishing. This approach is especially applicable in regions and fisheries that are data poor, and which often lack regulations and adequate capacity for enforcement. In data‐poor situations, species that have

An aggregation of sandbar sharks Carcharhinus plumbeus occurs every summer around the remote uninhabited islet of Lampione (Pelagie Islands Marine Protected Area, south‐western Mediterranean Sea), attracting an increasing number of tourists for a shark watching experience. Despite the ecological and socio‐economic importance of this rare occurrence in Mediterranean waters, there is a lack of scientific

A high percentage of marine animals produce bioactive compounds that may play a leading role in the discovery of future compounds and drugs of marine origin. However, commercial fishing and other human activities leading to sea warming and pollution may affect these marine animals, even putting them in danger of extinction. To date, no comprehensive studies have evaluated the conservation status of

Biodiversity in turbid aquatic environments is commonly assessed using extractive sampling methods that damage the seabed. Underwater cameras equipped with clear liquid optical chambers (CLOCs) for the assessment of seabed habitats and species are a non‐extractive alternative and have been applied in turbid environments globally. A CLOC is a body of clear liquid positioned in front of a camera to reduce

India plays a significant role in dugong conservation by having the largest population within South Asia. The status of dugongs in India is largely unknown due to a paucity of reliable ecological data. This study generated mitochondrial control region sequences from ~10% of dugong individuals from existing populations within India. Furthermore, data generated in this study were compared with the global

The white‐spotted wedgefish (Rhynchobatus djiddensis) is a Critically Endangered shark‐like ray in the family Rhinidae. Throughout its Western Indian Ocean distribution, it is targeted for its valuable meat and fins and is reported to have undergone major population declines. However, there remains a need for species specific time‐series data to accurately assess localized population declines. This

Fisheries bycatch of non‐target species in the commercial fleet is a major source of anthropogenic injury and mortality for sea turtles and marine megafauna. The Río de la Plata maritime front (RLPMF) and its adjacent international waters – comprising part of the Argentine and Uruguayan exclusive economic zones, is a highly important fishing ground in the south‐western Atlantic Ocean as well as feeding

In the current context of climate change, benthic cnidarians of the genus Palythoa have been suggested to be resistant owing to their intrinsic biological characteristics. In tropical regions, some species are currently proliferating in areas where environmental conditions are less suitable for other organisms, even replacing hard coral ecosystems. Considering their tropical affinities, phase‐shifts

Although the frequency of occurrence of plastic ingestion in the large‐sized dolphinfish and tunas taken by the Hawai'i longline fishery is very low (frequency of occurrence < 5% of sampled individuals), the ingestion of plastic in smaller‐sized specimens caught with pole‐and‐line gear by commercial and recreational fishers has not been investigated. This study examined ingestion of >0.25 mm marine

For Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and its largest islet, Motu Nui, the change of the species assemblage over time was analysed, and a trait‐based approach to evaluate the potential losses in seabird function across the past centuries was applied. At a finer scale, the seasonal changes in seabird species composition in the current seabird assemblage was assessed to better understand the dynamics of the long‐term

No abstract is available for this article.

1. Feral pigs (Sus scrofa) are widespread and cause significant damage to the ecological and cultural values of wetlands through their rooting, pugging, and wallowing behaviour.

In the present study, the phylogeography of the only southern African freshwater crab listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, Potamonautes lividus, was investigated by surveying several localities in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu‐Natal provinces in South Africa. Both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (nDNA and mtDNA) markers were used and, as it was

The presence of a dam disturbs river flow, which in turn directly affects the communities and evolutionary potential of riverine species. To detect the ecological effects of a dam on genetic diversity, genetic structure, and their progress in time, two riverine fishes living upstream and downstream of an irrigation reservoir were studied at two periods after its construction in 2004 in central Chile