The importance of habitat-forming species, particularly cold-water corals like Dendrophyllia ramea, cannot be overstated as they provide crucial physical structures that offer shelter, food, and breeding habitat for a range of other species. We studied the spatial distribution and abundance of D. ramea, its associated species and the impact of human activities in a population of the Herradura, Granada in the western Mediterranean. Video transects were conducted at different depths, and epibiont samples were collected to describe the coral assemblage and the diversity of associated organisms. Dendrophyllia ramea presented high abundances at an unusually shallow depth in the Mediterranean, ranging from 30 to 48 m, despite typically being found between 50 and 500 m, with recordings indicating occurrences as deep as 1000 m, and hosting a high number of epibionts and macro-benthic organisms associated with coral reefs. Bryozoans showed a close relationship with D. ramea as they are important components of both the reef and the epibiont community. This study identified 63 new species and 15 new genera associated with cold-water corals. This study showed the importance of D. ramea as a nursery site, even for other habitat-forming species. The major threat to this community is human activity (fishing, littering and free anchoring), with the most abundant types of waste being rubber, glass/ceramics, and plastic polymers, and many fishing lines and nets damaging the corals. Overall, this study emphasises the urgent need to protect cold-water corals and their associated species and reduce the impact of human activities on marine ecosystems.

Sea turtle populations have significantly declined in recent years due to anthropogenic causes. Historical stranding records in the Canary Islands archipelago (Spain) reveal a high frequency of Caretta caretta and Chelonia mydas strandings. Our study aims to comprehensively characterize and explore these stranding records. Additionally, we have investigated the interactions between sea turtles and the island's professional fishers, seeking insights from small-scale artisanal fishers to understand the current state of sea turtle populations. The results have shown that Tenerife stands out with the highest number of sea turtle strandings, recording 1875 strandings over a span of 23 years. The primary cause of sea turtle stranding's is the interaction with fishing gear, specifically nets and hooks. Moreover, our research has highlighted the need for improved knowledge and training on how to handle stranded sea turtles within the fishing sector. Consequently, raising awareness and implementing conservation plans for sea turtle populations in Tenerife is of outmost importance in addressing and improving the current situation.

This study describes the presence of the royal cucumber Parastichopus regalis (Cuvier, 1817) in The Natural Park of Ria Formosa (NPRF), Portugal. A single individual was observed during a monitoring scuba dive at a depth of 3 m inside this shallow mesotidal lagoon. The most plausible explanation for this occurrence is attributed to the rejection by trawlers when returning to their home port from their fishing grounds. This marine species has a deeper distribution outside the lagoon and is commonly captured as by-catch and subsequently discarded. This study also alerts us to the growing presence of non-indigenous species and the emergent threat of new invasions, highlighting the need to adopt biosecurity measures, like good practices for fishers when dealing with discards to avoid new species introductions in this fragile coastal marine habitat.

To capture prey more efficiently, cetaceans can display a wide range of foraging tactics to separate individual prey. Barrier feeding tactics are performed to restrict prey movements, using natural and non-natural barriers and some species can even create barriers with their own bodies. Mud ring feeding has been observed in bottlenose dolphins in Florida Bay and in Chetumal-Corozal Bay, where ring-maker dolphins create ring-shaped mud plumes to encircle fish schools. Here, we document for the first time Guiana dolphins performing the mud ring feeding behaviour in the Cananéia estuarine system, in the southern portion of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. A total of 11 dolphins were recorded in four expeditions through aerial footage engaging in the behaviour. These findings expand our knowledge about the behavioural plasticity of the species and builds upon existing records of mud ring feeding behaviour in cetaceans.

Assessing the conservation status of a species is important for designing effective conservation measures. Consequently, it is often vital to review it to update biodiversity management initiatives. The Parana Antwren Formicivora acutirostris is a bird found in pioneering formations (coastal marshes) of Brazil’s southern flood plains. It is considered threatened in Brazil but near threatened globally. In 2007, its distribution, habitat, and population size were estimated based on aerial photographs from 1978 and 1980. Since the species is threatened and occupies a small area across a region under pressure, we aimed to reassess its conservation status and assess its Green Status. We compiled new records, conducted new density estimates, and compared them with the previous mapping with satellite imagery to estimate the current distribution in terms of extent of occurrence (EOO), area of occupancy (AOO), area of habitat (AOH), habitat loss, and population size, and review its conservation status. The species is distributed across 10 populations, including two new populations further south. We estimated the EOO at 26,655 km², AOO at 320 km², AOH at 41 km², and the population as 6,285 mature territorial individuals. The previously mapped AOH decreased by 15.35 km² due to ecological succession. The loss of habitat due to invasion by exotic grasses is the main anthropogenic impact. We recommend that the species be considered “Vulnerable”. The Green Status indicates that the Conservation Legacy of actions taken thus far and the Conservation Dependence of ongoing actions are inefficient due to their small scales, but it highlights the importance of future actions for species conservation. We propose the establishment of exotic-free zones as small areas with a significant amount of minimally invaded environments, which we suggest as priority areas for the conservation of the species due to their cost-effective management potential. We also propose assisted colonisation to enhance its long-term conservation.

The Secretarybird Sagittarius serpentarius is a charismatic raptor of the grasslands and open savannas of Africa. Evidence of widespread declines across the continent has led to the assessment that the species is at risk of becoming extinct. Southern Africa was identified as a remaining stronghold for the species, but the status of this population requires reassessment. To determine the status of the species in South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini, we analysed data from a citizen science project, the Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP). We implemented novel time-to-detection modelling, as well as summarisation of changes in reporting rates, using standard metrics, to determine the trajectory of the population. To cross-validate our findings, we used data from another citizen science project, the Coordinated Avifaunal Roadcounts (CAR) project. While our results were in agreement with previous studies that have reported significant declines when comparing SABAP1 (1987–1992) and SABAP2 (2007 and onwards), all analysis pathways that examined data within the SABAP2 period only, as well as CAR data from this period, failed to show an alarming declining trend over this more recent time period. We did, however, find some evidence for decreases in Secretarybird abundance in urban grid cells. We used random forest models to predict probability of occurrence, as well as probability of abundance (reporting rates) for the assessed region and provided population estimates based on these analysis pathways. Continued monitoring and conservation efforts are required to guard this population stronghold.

Lough Hyne (LH) Marine Nature Reserve in Ireland is a globally recognised biodiversity hotspot that hosts mesophotic-like communities in shallow water, however, major changes have occurred to most of the rocky cliff (>6 m) communities in one or more events between 2010 and 2015. To provide insights into these changes, we compared the sponge assemblage composition on the undersides of different sized, shallow (<1 m) subtidal boulders between 2000 and 2022 at two sites in LH. We also measured sponge species richness at seven sites in 2018. We found that unlike earlier reports from the deeper subtidal reef sponge assemblages, there was no evidence for changes in sponge assemblage composition on the undersides of boulders at either site. We also found high levels of sponge species richness at all seven sites sampled in 2018. We did find differences in sponge assemblages between sites and for different boulder sizes, which we propose is a result of site-specific environmental conditions and disturbance and size–area relationships. Since we found no changes in the shallow subtidal sponge assemblages between 2000 and 2022, our results support the hypothesis that changes to the deeper subtidal sponge assemblages at LH are driven by local processes associated with deeper water in LH, potentially related to the seasonal oxythermocline that forms within LH. Given the national and global importance of LH, understanding the drivers of change is critical to determine if management actions can prevent any future alterations to the LH sponge assemblages and support wider mesophotic community management.

Evidence-based conservation can be hindered by limited field data, but historical archives have the potential to provide unique insights into conservation-relevant parameters, such as identification of suitable habitat for threatened species. The Manumea or Tooth-billed Pigeon Didunculus strigirostris has declined on Samoa and only a tiny remnant population still persists, and a key first step for conservation is to locate surviving birds. Numerous Manumea records are available from the nineteenth century onwards, and we used historical and modern records to generate a series of species distribution models to predict the distribution of suitable habitat across Samoa to guide new field searches. Manumea distribution is closely associated with forest cover or its proxies. Preferred Manumea food plants are suggested to be low-elevation trees, but elevation provides relatively low percentage contribution in most models, thus not excluding the possibility that Manumea might occur at high elevations. There is also little evidence for elevational change in records over the past century. Models based on visual versus acoustic records exhibit differences in predicted habitat suitability, suggesting that some purported acoustic records might not actually represent Manumea calls. Field searches should target areas representing high habitat suitability across all models, notably the forested central axis of Upolu.

Eve Caroline Southward (1930–2023) was a multi-talented scientist, motivated by her curiosity and love of nature. Since she was never paid as a scientist, Eve was an amateur, in the best sense of the word. She was highly proficient at transmission electron microscopy and made lasting contributions to polychaete taxonomy, morphology and ecology. Eve was internationally respected, especially for her studies on the Siboglinidae, mouthless and gutless tubeworms (formerly called Pogonophora) that are found worldwide in the deep-sea. She described how the siboglinids obtained nutrition from symbiotic, sulphur-oxidising bacteria and described similar symbiotic relationships in several bivalve species. Eve wrote over 140 scientific publications and described 56 new benthic species, 47 being mouthless and gutless ‘pogonophores’. Eve assisted her husband Alan Southward in starting broad-scale intertidal surveys around the British Isles and Northwest Europe. These surveys formed the foundation for the time-series, later continued by others, that allowed assessments of the influence of climatic fluctuations, using intertidal rocky shore biota as indicators. Eve contributed, with Alan, to what became a 50-year study describing the long-term effects on intertidal communities of the oil pollution and excessive dispersant use resulting from the Torrey Canyon oil spill in 1967. Eve also co-wrote the Linnaean Society Synopsis on Echinoderms of the British Isles and helped complete unpublished work by Alan Southward and others on barnacle taxonomy.

Collision with powerlines is a major cause of mortality for many bird species, including bustards and sandgrouse. In this work, we used GPS tracking data to identify the hour of collision of three threatened steppe birds, i.e. Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax, Black-bellied Sandgrouse Pterocles orientalis, and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse Pterocles alchata. Out of a data set of 160 GPS-tracked individuals collected over a 13-year period, we detected eight collision events with powerlines or fences. Of these, we were able to determine the timing of 87.5% of the collision events with a resolution accurate to within two hours. Our results reveal that collisions occurred throughout the year and at different hours of the day, presenting a challenge for implementing effective mitigation strategies. The use of dynamic and reflective or luminescent devices may therefore be appropriate to prevent collision of steppe birds with powerlines during the day and night. Overall, this study adds evidence to the utility of using tracking data to better understand anthropogenic mortality in birds.

Between 1750 and 1850, at least twenty versions of the Greenlandic Bible were published through the efforts of Greenlandic catechists, Danish Lutherans, German Moravians, the Danish Bible Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS). This article assesses the role of Greenlandic and other Inuit translators as they were engaged in the colonial project of devising a complete version of the scriptures in their own language. Using the relatively untapped correspondence of the BFBS, it considers how and why the status of Inuit translators changed over the course of the missionary translation project. In one response to the reception of new Bibles, Inuit people offered gifts of blubber to the BFBS to support translations for other mission communities. To understand the meaning of this exchange, this essay brings together the methodologies and perspectives of missionary linguistics. It uncovers the unique role played by Greenlandic and other Inuit translators and catechists, foregrounding their contribution to a successful national project, the creation of a national language for independent Greenland and the emergence of literate Christian communities. By reading along and against the grain of colonial archives, it seeks to recover something of the names and motivation of Inuit scripture translators.

In 1949, human skeletal remains discovered by RCMP Inspector Henry Larsen near Cape Felix, King William Island, Nunavut, were identified as an adult male of European ancestry and a member of the 1845 Franklin Northwest Passage Expedition. The identification has never been questioned and is considered significant to reconstructions of the fate of the Franklin expedition because the sailor’s death presumably pre-dated the desertion of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror in April 1848 and because no other human remains of expedition personnel have ever been found between Victory Point and Cape Felix. The aim of this study was to re-examine the basis on which the ancestry of the skeleton was interpreted to be European. A review of archival records revealed previously unpublished details concerning the location and context of the discovery, and re-assessments of the antiquity and of key morphological attributes of the bones suggest they are those of an adult male Inuk and have no connection to the 1845 Franklin expedition.

In its nearly 80-year history, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has shifted from a “whalers club” to an international governance body chiefly focused on the protection and conservation of global cetacean populations. Drawing on recent scholarship on extinction and its entanglements, this article compares two addresses given by whalers at IWC meetings 40 years apart to problematise the way whaling and its relation to extinction is conceptualised in international environmental governance. Guided by practice-oriented document analysis and recent theorisation of extinction as an entangled process, this article analyses the personal stakeholder testimonies from two different representatives of the North Slope whalers of Northern Alaska to the IWC – one in relation to the 1977 Alaska bowhead whaling controversy and the other in the context of the 2018 negotiations over streamlining Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling management and supporting greater flexibility and Indigenous autonomy. By comparing these two statements from very different points of history for the IWC and the governance of Indigenous whaling, this article illustrates some of the ongoing struggles for environmental governance to recognise extinction as a complex, multifaceted process that reverberates throughout human and more-than-human communities.

The Scottish Small Isles – comprising Muck, Rùm, Eigg, Canna, and by extension, Coll – are geologically complex, with intersecting rock samples from the Archean (Lewisian Gneiss basements formed approximately 3 billion years ago), Proterozoic (Torridonian sandstone formed approximately 1 billion years ago), Mesozoic (sedimentation deposited approximately 200 million years ago) and Palaeocene (basalt formed approximately 55.8 million years ago as part of the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum event). This practice research article – drawing on palaeontology, kinaesthetic learning and creative writing – takes the Small Isles as a case study for what geologist Marcia Bjornerud defines as a discernible “timefulness” that humans should seek to attain: “an acute consciousness of how the world is made by–indeed, made of–time” (2020, Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World, 5). Through their lithic intrusions, and interruptive strata, the Small Isles offer an alternative form of pedagogy: where multiple epochs, tenses and tempos visibly converse with one another; where “polytemporality” can be witnessed and physically experienced; where the notion of linear time is destabilised.

Studies of extinction typically focus on unintended losses of biodiversity and culture. This study, however, examines an attempt to induce extinction of a parasite: human hookworm (Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale). Our interdisciplinary approach integrates medical history and epidemiology using records created by the Jamaica Hookworm Commission of 1919–1936. We show that the attempt to induce the extinction of hookworms was driven by its perceived effects on labour productivity and consequent status as an ideological and economic threat. We use spatial epidemiology to describe the relationships between parasites, environments and the working conditions of plantation labourers. Using data from 330 locations across Jamaica in which 169,380 individuals were tested for hookworm infection we show that the prevalence of hookworm infection was higher in districts surrounding plantations. Prevalence decreased with the temperature of the coldest month, increased with the amount of rainfall in the driest month, and increased with vegetation quantity (normalised difference vegetation index). Worm burden (and thus pathology) varied greatly between individuals, even those living together; hookworm infection varied between environments, socioeconomic conditions and individuals. Nevertheless, the conditions of labour shaped the distribution of hookworms. Plantations both spread and problematised hookworms, driving efforts to bring it to extinction.

Ergasilid copepods represent one of the commonest groups of fish parasites in Brazil. Within Ergasilidae, three genera share a peculiar latching mechanism on the antenna that completely encircles the gill filament, one of which is Acusicola Cressey, 1970. During a survey of estuarine fish from the Brazilian Amazon Coast, a new species of Acusicola was found on the gills of the largescale foureyes Anableps anableps (Linnaeus, 1758) (Actinopterygii: Anablepidae) in São Marcos Bay, State of Maranhão. Acusicola rochai n. sp. can be distinguished from its closest congeners mainly by three protrusions on the dorsal surface of third and fourth pedigerous somites, and by smooth interpodal plates. This work is the first report of a parasitic copepod infesting a fish from Anablepidae and, consequently, the host An. anableps. The existing dichotomous key proposed for the genus Acusicola includes only ten species, excluding the eight species subsequently described. Therefore, in the present work, a new dichotomous key is provided based on reliable and well-documented features.

The morphology of female bopyrids is adapted to parasitism, but understanding the function of their thoracic and mouth appendages is hindered by their small size and cryptic lifestyle, limiting detailed examination. This study aimed to clarify the function of the first oostegites and maxillipeds in bopyrid isopods infesting the branchial chamber of caridean shrimp through behavioural observations and morphological examination. We tested whether the movement of these structures was exclusive to ovigerous female parasites during brood ventilation. The results revealed that the beating of the maxillipeds and flapping of the first oostegites were not restricted to ovigerous females. However, the frequency of these movements was significantly higher in ovigerous females than in non-ovigerous females. The frequency of maxilliped beating increased with embryonic development, whereas that of flapping the first oostegites exhibited the opposite trend. Microscopic observation using dye showed that the movements of the maxillipeds and the first oostegites expelled residual dye from the female brood chamber through the dorsal surface or beneath the first oostegites. The dye was then transported by the water current generated by the scaphognathite of the host shrimp. These findings suggest that these structures not only facilitate ventilation but also serve as a grooming mechanism for female parasites, which is critical for embryonic survival. The results of the present study represent the first observation of embryo grooming in bopyrid isopods. This study also provides new information on the functional morphology of bopyrid isopods, which is important for understanding their ecological dynamics and adaptation to parasitism.

Saccular otoliths (sagittae) have long been shown to be species-specific and exhibit inland geospatial intra- and interpopulation morphological differences with variations in environmental conditions. Here, we analysed inland and outland geospatial variations in sagittae shape, length (Lo), width (Wo), perimeter (Po), and area (Ao), and fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in Chelon auratus males and females collected from Ghar El Melh (Tunisia) and Etoile Bay (Mauritania) stations to assess whether sagittae shape and morphometry differ between these two niches having different environmental conditions. At the intrapopulation level, a significant otolith shape asymmetry was observed between left and right and left–left and right–right otoliths among males and females of the Ghar El Melh (Tunisia) population and a significant symmetry among those of the Etoile Bay (Mauritania) population. At the interpopulation level, a significant asymmetry was found between left and right otoliths' shape among males and females of the two populations. Besides, a discriminant function analysis of otoliths' contour shape separated left and right otoliths among males and females at the intra- and interpopulation levels and also separated those of the two populations. Moreover, differential significant asymmetry in Lo, Wo, Po, and Ao between left and right otoliths was observed among males and females at the intra- and interpopulation levels. Therefore, the geospatial variations in environmental conditions between the two ecological niches effectively induced differences in otolith morphology. These significant asymmetries were discussed in terms of FA caused by environmental stress conditions resulting from variations in abiotic factors between the two ecological niches.

We investigated how environmental conditions translate into reproductive success or failure in Aurelia aurita from the medusa to the polyp life stage. This study examined how: (i) settlement success and development of planula larvae and polyps vary across the year, (ii) the role of temperature in determining the successful settlement of larvae and growth of polyps, and (iii) the influence of maternal provisioning in the successful settlement of larvae and growth of polyps. Medusae were collected monthly from February to December 2019 from Horsea Lake, UK. Planula larvae were settled in conditions mimicking the in situ temperature and salinity of collection. For the individual treatments, planula collected in August settled most rapidly. Early development rates (<8 tentacles) were significantly higher than later growth rates (>8 tentacles) and were positively correlated with temperature, unlike later growth rates. Planula length, used as an indicator of maternal provisioning, varied significantly across the year. In July 2019, a high temperature anomaly coincided with an increased time spent by planula larvae in the water column. Increasing temperatures past thermal limits through the increasing occurrence of temperature anomalies is likely to be detrimental to larval settlement and indirectly to the replenishment of temperate polyp populations.

Egg masses from an unknown mollusc have been found in South-West Iceland since 2020, but it was not until September 2023 that the adult organism was collected. Morphological analysis of both adults and egg masses pointed towards the identification of the species as Melanochlamys diomedea. This was further confirmed through DNA analyses using COI, H3, and 16S rRNA markers, which established the presence of a new non-indigenous species in the North Atlantic. Members of the genus Melanochlamys have predominantly been found in the Indo-Pacific basin and the Pacific Ocean, with only one species known to exist across the Madeira Islands, Canary Islands, and Cape Verde in the Atlantic. The known distribution range of M. diomedea extends from Alaska to California on the Pacific side of North America, where it typically inhabits sandy-muddy areas of the littoral in the tidal zone and below. It is not known how the species arrived in Iceland. However, maritime transport through either ballast water or biofouling is being considered as the most likely mode of dispersal.