Tag: biodiversity

Pensoft at ESA 2026: Connecting with the Ecology Community in Salt Lake City, USA

Between 26-31 July, Pensoft Publishers joined more than 2,600 ecologists, researchers, and conservation professionals in Salt Lake City for the 111th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America (ESA2026).

Pensoft Publishers joined more than 2,600 ecologists, researchers, and conservation professionals in Salt Lake City for the 111th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America (ESA2026) between 26-31 July.

Table of Contents

Ecology in an Era of Uncertainty
The Opening Session
Pensoft’s booth
Two Interactive Activities at Our Booth
1. The Pensoft Species Quiz
2. The Agricultural and Environmental Modelling Poster Award
Looking Ahead

Ecology in an Era of Uncertainty

Opening ceremony of ESA 2026.
Opening ceremony of ESA 2026.

This year’s conference theme, “Ecology in an Era of Uncertainty,” could not have felt more timely. Uncertainty is nothing new to ecological research – it’s built into measurements, mechanisms, and predictions.

But new sources of uncertainty are now reshaping the field: the rise of artificial intelligence, post-pandemic shifts in career development, and growing instability in research funding. Throughout the week, the ESA community came together not only to share cutting-edge ecological research, but also to think collectively about how to navigate these emerging challenges – trading multidisciplinary, creative solutions to keep the field resilient in the face of what’s next.

The Opening Session

The Grand Ballroom was packed for the opening session, where Conference Chairs Daniel Stover and Andrea Swei welcomed attendees. Despite a challenging year for funding and travel, the 111th annual meeting of ESA 2026 hosted 2,600 registered attendees 330 sessions and 884 posters,

The opening address was delivered by Diane Pitaki, Chief Scientist and Vice President for Science at the National Wildlife Federation, who spoke about ecology standing at a crossroads amid the biodiversity crisis and shifting political headwinds, urging the community to actively “defend conservation science.”

Among the meeting’s standout moments was the plenary from Tanya Berger-Wolf, Professor of Computer Science and Ecology at Ohio State University and a leading figure in AI for ecology and biodiversity.

Notably, Berger-Wolf will be a keynote speaker at TDWG 2026 in Oslo (20-25 September) – where Pensoft Publishers will once again be exhibiting, so stay tuned for future updates.

Pensoft’s booth

Situated right at the entrance of the exhibition hall, Pensoft’s booth revelled in attention from attendees throughout the week.

Pensoft’s team at ESA 2026 in Salt Palace Convention Center.
Pensoft’s busy stand at the 111th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America.
Pensoft’s busy stand at the 111th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America.
The beautiful Denitsa Peneva’s illustrations at ESA 2026.

A particular highlight was our trio of diamond open-access journals – free to publish in and free to read – that drew considerable interest from attendees:

Individual-Based Ecology promotes a distinctive individual-based perspective on ecology, aiming to bridge individual behaviour and broader ecological patterns.
Advances in Pollinator Research is designed as an innovative platform for the full spectrum of pollinator science, from pollination ecology and pollinator-plant interactions to molecular ecology, conservation, and more.
Agricultural and Environmental Modelling (AEM), meanwhile, offers an innovative approach to publishing, dedicated to advancing both the science and practice of modelling across agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and environmental sciences.

Brochure of the diamond open-access Individual Based Ecology Journal.
Close up photo of the Advances in Pollinator Research brochure at ESA 2026.
Nicole Nogoy, managing editor of Agricultural and Environmental Modelling at ESA 2026.

Attendees curious about AEM had the chance to speak directly with its Managing Editor, Nicole Nogoy, who was on site throughout the conference to discuss publishing opportunities and promote the journal’s search for Subject Editors.

The booth also gave visitors a window into the rest of Pensoft’s open-access portfolio. On the conservation side, that meant Nature Conservation and Neotropical Biology and Conservation; on the ecosystem side, One Ecosystem, Frontiers of Biogeography, and NeoBiota.

NeoBiota brochure presented at ESA 2026.
Neotropical Biology and Conservation brochure at ESA 2026.

Attendees also had the chance to learn more about our diamond open-access journal Estuarine Management and Technologies, which was accepted into the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) earlier this year.

Estuarine Management and Technologies brochure.

Rounding out the display were several more specialised titles: Biodiversity Data Journal and Metabarcoding and Metagenomics; Quite popular amongst the visitors were also our our fungi-focused IMA Fungus and MycoKeys journals; and our vegetation titles, Vegetation Classification and Survey and Vegetation Ecology and Diversity.

We also introduced attendees to our newest addition, the diamond open-access Journal of Regeneration. For those interested in sharing early-stage research or project outcomes, Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) offered another avenue worth exploring, publishing everything from project proposals and data to policy briefs and null results.

Those looking for a new publisher or white-label solutions had the opportunity to explore ARPHA, Pensoft’s own publishing platform, which supports the full journey from manuscript writing and peer review to publication, dissemination, and archiving – all in one seamless workflow.

Combined brochure of EU-Funded project in which Pensoft participates.

Beyond the journals and publishing solutions, the team took the opportunity to spotlight some of Pensoft’s ongoing EU-funded projects, including our pollination initiatives and our continued work with eLTER.

Two Interactive Activities at Our Booth

Building on the success of interactive formats at previous events, namely the Fortune Wheel at the 8th European Congress of Conservation Biology in Leiden, our team brought two activities to ESA2026.

The Pensoft Species Quiz

Attendees taking our fun quiz at ESA 2026.

This time around, our team created “Pensoft Species Quiz,” challenging booth visitors to identify the correct Latin name for a series of species beautifully illustrated by Denitsa Peneva. Being more than just a fun activity, it became a natural conversation starter – leading into deeper discussions about Pensoft’s journals, services, and potential collaborations with attendees.

Some of the winners from our quiz at ESA 2026.
Some of the winners from our quiz at ESA 2026.
Happy winners from our interactive quiz game at ESA 2026.
Attendees interacting with our fun quiz.

The Agricultural and Environmental Modelling Poster Award

AEM’s Managing Editor – Nicole Nogoy ran a poster competition at the meeting, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of our week. Three researchers stood out:

Julian Resasco (University of Colorado, Boulder) took home the prize for overall best presentation with a hand-drawn comic-book poster on climate change effects on Basque country thistles;
Gwendolyn Lloyd (Indiana University) impressed us with her research on arthropods and mites in agricultural soils;
Emily Redding (Fort Hays State University, KS) joined in with a poster on fire suppression’s effects on Juniper-dependent bird species, having been inspired to bring modelling into her own research.

We also took part in a raffle organised by ESA, to which each exhibitor contributed a prize.

Kanchana Balasubramanian one of the winners of Pensoft Publishers’ raffle prizes at ESA2026.
Elizabeth Afkhami Searcy received our book “Mapping Ecosystem Services” as part of the Ecological Society of America’s conference raffle.

Looking Ahead

ESA2026 was a strong reminder of just how much energy – and uncertainty – is currently shaping the ecology community. Between thought-provoking plenaries on AI and conservation science, engaging conversations sparked by our species quiz, and the enthusiasm we saw around the AEM poster competition, it was a week full of meaningful connections for Pensoft.

We’re already looking forward to the next time, and we hope you’re looking forward to it, too!

Keep up with future updates and news by following us on Bluesky, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.

China’s First Cave-Dwelling Freshwater Snail Named After A Mythical Mountain God

This study marks the first freshwater cave snail ever recorded in China, and it represents the highest-altitude distribution known among cave-dwelling species in the family Erhaiidae.

Recently published in the journal Subterranean Biology, the research marks a major milestone for the study of subterranean aquatic life in East Asia. Prior to this discovery, there were no records of freshwater cave snails within Chinese territory, and the region’s subterranean freshwater mollusks were generally poorly studied.

Mythological Namesake and Unique Adaptations

Perfectly suited to its pitch-black environment, Erhaia dijiang is a true troglobiont, having evolved without eyes entirely while its ocular structures show total degeneration. Its shell is small, conical, and highly translucent, while its body is delicate and unpigmented, with slender tentacles.

Natural habitats of *Erhaia* *dijiang*. Credit to He et al., 2026.

Fittingly, researchers named the species dijiang after “Di Jiang,” a mountain patron god from ancient Chinese mythology described as a faceless beast in the classic text Classic of Mountains and Seas (山海经). The name suits the animal’s habits: in laboratory observations, the snails proved highly photophobic, actively seeking out dark crevices beneath rocks to escape light.

Beyond its mythological namesake, the species is also notable for where it was found. Discovered at an elevation of 2,062 meters, Erhaia dijiang sets a new record for the highest-altitude distribution among all known cave-dwelling snails in Erhaiidae, evidence that freshwater cavesnails can survive in karst caves at altitudes exceeding 2,000 meters.

According to the researchers, the species inhabits underwater gravel and crushed stone at depths of less than one meter, where cave water temperatures remain consistently near 20°C. While rapid water flow during the rainy season occasionally flushes a small number of snails out through the cave’s outlet, they are never found in nearby surface streams and stay strictly within two meters of the cave entrance. In the lab, the snails fed on diatoms growing on rock surfaces as well as artificially supplied fish food.

Urgent Call for Conservation

Erhaia dijiang new cave snail from China — *Erhaia* *dijiang*. Credit to He et al., 2026.

However, despite marking a significant advance for the study of subterranean aquatic life in East Asia, the research team warns that the survival status of this newly discovered species is “far from optimistic.”

During their initial field survey in August 2025, the population density of Erhaia dijiang was found to be extremely low. The team was only able to locate three live adult individuals and a single empty shell in the shallow underground waters, and no juvenile snails were observed.

The researchers are urgently calling for extensive surveys of Chinese caves to improve our understanding of these complex ecosystems, along with the rapid formulation of conservation measures to protect these vulnerable, endemic mollusks.

Original study:

He Y-M, Xiang H-Q, Yang J-M, Zheng H, Yang S-Z, Zhou Y-F, Zheng J (2026) A new eyeless species in Erhaiidae (Gastropoda, Truncatelloidea) from a cave in Yuxi City, Yunnan, China. Subterranean Biology 56: 127-136. https://doi.org/10.3897/subtbiol.56.188075

Hidden Freshwater Giants Could Become The World’s Next Climate Observatories

International research team identifies South America’s unique coastal lake system as a global hotspot for tracking environmental change

More than 100 shallow lakes stretching over 1,000 kilometers along the Atlantic coast of southern Brazil and Uruguay could become one of the world’s most important natural laboratories for understanding how climate change and human activities reshape freshwater ecosystems.

An international team of researchers reports that these largely overlooked subtropical lakes offer an unparalleled opportunity to monitor biodiversity, water quality, pollution, and ecosystem resilience in a rapidly changing world.

Published in One Ecosystem, the study is the first comprehensive assessment of the Southern American Coastal Shallow Subtropical Lakes, highlighting their global scientific importance and outlining a roadmap for long-term international monitoring.

The Tramandaí Lagoon estuary, located between the municipalities of Imbé (left side of the channel) and Tramandaí (right side of the channel) in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, connects a complex of more than 40 coastal lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Credit: CECLIMAR Collection (Photo credit: Acervo CECLIMAR).

“Most of what we know about lakes comes from the Northern Hemisphere,” says lead author Mariana Kluge of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

The lake network forms one of the largest continuous coastal shallow-lake systems on Earth. Despite its extraordinary size and diversity, it has received far less scientific attention than well-known freshwater systems elsewhere in the world. Yet the region is already experiencing many of the environmental challenges, expected to intensify in the coming decades – including a direct impact of the El Niño Southern Oscillation – alongside heavy urbanisation, which has driven eutrophication, agricultural and wastewater pollution, emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and microplastics, and increasingly frequent extreme rainfall and flooding events.

Coastal lakes from South America — Overview of the environmental heterogeneity found across South America’s unique coastal lake systems. Credit: Kluge et al., 2026.

Christian Wurzbacher of the Technical University of Munich argues that these lakes can serve as “sentinel ecosystems“- natural observatories that reveal early signs of environmental change. By combining microbial ecology, environmental DNA, remote sensing, water chemistry, and long-term ecological monitoring, scientists hope to develop new indicators capable of detecting ecosystem stress before irreversible damage occurs.

lakes in South America — Despite their high ecological value, these lakes are under increasing pressure from eutrophication, urban growth, and competing human uses such as water supply, irrigation, navigation, fishing, recreation, and sewage disposal. Credit: Kluge et al., 2026.

The publication emerged from an international workshop held at two universities – PUCRS and UFRGS – in Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil, bringing together researchers from Brazil, Uruguay, Germany, and Sweden to define future research priorities. The team identified four representative large-scale lake regions that together capture the broad environmental gradients across the system and offer ideal sites for coordinated long-term observation.

As climate change accelerates and pressures on freshwater resources continue to grow, the researchers believe that protecting and studying these remarkable lake systems will generate knowledge extending far beyond South America – informing global strategies for safeguarding biodiversity, improving water management, and strengthening resilience to environmental change.

Original source:

Kluge M, Shubeita A, Uchaikina A, Alonso C, Herrman B, Menegotto-Silva C, Lopes C, Pagani D, Marques D, Moreira-Silva E, Kristiansson E, Quintana I, Cavalcanti J, Fleck J, Ribeiro K, Varghaei L, Oliveira L, Rodrigues LR, Ramilo L, Crossetti L, Stockenreiter M, Cabezudo M, Lima M, Gonçalves NP, Mazzeo N, Schneider R, Utz LP, Bertilsson S, Wurzbacher C, They NH, Medina-Silva R (2026) Coastal subtropical Southern American shallow lakes as unique ecosystems for monitoring anthropogenic induced ecosystem changes. One Ecosystem 11: e186107. https://doi.org/10.3897/oneeco.11.e186107

Connecting Science and Conservation: Pensoft at the 21st Eurasian Grassland Conference

As a longstanding supporter of vegetation science publishing, and publisher of Vegetation Classification and Survey, Pensoft was proud to sponsor EGC 2026 and attend throughout the week.

From 19 to 23 July 2026, Sofia hosted the 21st Eurasian Grassland Conference (EGC 2026), organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG), a working group of the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS). EDGG is dedicated to research on, and the conservation of, natural and semi-natural grasslands across the Palaearctic biogeographic realm, spanning any taxonomic group, whether plants and vegetation, animals or fungi.

This year’s conference was held under the theme “Connecting science and conservation for grassland sustainability”, with the aim of highlighting how research into grassland ecosystems connects with management practices and conservation goals on the ground.

Grasslands, particularly species-rich semi-natural grasslands and Eurasian steppes, are among the most threatened habitat types in one of the most heavily urbanised and intensively managed regions in the world, despite providing a wide range of ecosystem services. Bringing scientific knowledge together with conservation practice was therefore a central thread running through the week.

The conference was hosted by the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (IBER) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. IBER conducts research across fundamental and applied ecology, biodiversity, nature conservation and the sustainable use of biological resources. The institute also provides scientific and methodological support to state institutions and NGOs, making it a fitting host for a conference concerned with the practical application of grassland science.

As a longstanding supporter of vegetation science publishing, and publisher of Vegetation Classification and Survey (VCS), one of IAVS’s official journals, Pensoft was proud to sponsor EGC 2026 and attend with an information stand throughout the week.

Pensoft’s stand at the 21st Eurasian Grassland Conference.

A gathering of the grassland community

EGC 2026 brought together around 60 participants, from early-career researchers to established names in vegetation science. Among the attendees were several members of the editorial board of VCS, including Editors-in-Chief Idoia Biurrun and Jürgen Dengler, as well as members of the IAVS council:

We were also delighted to catch up with authors who have published with us across several of our journals, including Biodiversity Data Journal (Naim Berisha), PhytoKeys (Marcin Nobel) and VCS (Arkadiusz Nowak).

Naim Berisha, an author in BDJ, at Pensoft’s stand at EGC 2026.
Marcin Nobis, a subject editors for PhytoKeys, at Pensoft’s stand at EGC 2026.
Arkadiusz Nowak, an author and editorial board member for VCS, at Pensoft’s stand at EGC 2026.

Our stand attracted a steady flow of visitors over the course of the week:

Conference participants visiting Pensoft’s stand at the 21st Eurasian Grassland Conference.
Pensoft’s journal portfolio in vegetation science.

Throughout the event, we shared our vegetation science portfolio, including VCS and Vegetation, Ecology and Diversity (VED), with strong additional interest in our following open-access journals:

Biodiversity Data Journal (BDJ) – a community peer-reviewed journal, designed to accelerate publishing, dissemination and sharing of biodiversity-related data of any kind.
MycoKeys – dedicated to the taxonomy, phylogeny, biogeography, evolution and ecology of the fungal kingdom, including lichens, and publishing everything from new species descriptions to checklists, monographs and methodology papers.
Nature Conservation – a rapid, peer-reviewed journal spanning all aspects of nature conservation, from populations to whole ecosystems, and from microorganisms and fungi to higher plants and animals.

A new special feature on the way

We were pleased to learn, just ahead of the conference, of a forthcoming VCS special feature tied to the event: “Vegetation of the Balkan Peninsula”, edited by Jürgen Dengler, Erwin Bergmeier and Urban Šilc.

The special feature welcomes contributions on any vegetation type from the Balkan Peninsula, including syntaxon revisions at national or supranational level, regional vegetation monographs, synthetic overviews of a country’s or region’s syntaxa, nomenclatural proposals, habitat typologies and applications, and long and short database reports.

VCS offers Gold Open Access publishing, holds a Journal Impact Factor of 2.7, and provides reduced article processing charges for IAVS members, with the option of complete waivers. Further details on the special feature will be announced soon on the VegSciBlog and across Vegetation Classification and Survey’s channels.

Scientific highlights

The five-day scientific programme was organised around five sessions: patterns, classification and biogeography of Palaearctic grasslands; grasslands of the Balkan Peninsula; animals in Palaearctic grasslands; innovative methods, experimental approaches and open science in grassland research; and global change, conservation, restoration and management of Palaearctic grasslands.

Participants at the 21st Eurasian Grassland Conference.
Jürgen Dengler – Global change in European grasslands: insights from local to continental studies.
Anna Kuzemko – Impact ofmilitary actions on the steppe ecosystems of Ukraine.

One of the highlights of the week was our own Head of Journal Development and PR, Iva Boyadzhieva, presenting on how Pensoft supports FAIR publishing for biodiversity and conservation research. Her talk set out how, as biodiversity and sustainability research gains momentum through greater international and interdisciplinary collaboration and the pressures of an unfolding environmental crisis, bridging scientific knowledge and conservation practice has become ever more critical.

Iva Boyadzhieva presenting – “At the forefront of FAIR publishing for biodiversity and conservation research”.

We also enjoyed Editor-in-Chief of VCS Jürgen Dengler’s talk on global change in European grasslands, which drew on regional resurveys of historic vegetation plots, combined analyses of multiple resurvey datasets, and decades of plot data from the European Vegetation Archive (EVA).

Anna Kuzemko’s talk on the impact of military actions on the steppe ecosystems of Ukraine was another highlight of the week. Her research offered a valuable basis for prioritising and planning the restoration of Ukraine’s damaged steppe habitats going forward.

Anna Kuzemko – Impact of military actions on the steppe ecosystems of Ukraine.

Awards

Pensoft also sponsored a best presentation and poster competition at the conference. Best Presentation was awarded to Sara Nigro for her talk “Climate and management changes drive semi-natural grassland community assembly over twenty years”, based on the resurvey of 49 vegetation plots in central Italy over two decades, revealing how climatic warming and shifting management practices are reshaping mountain semi-natural grasslands.

Best Poster went to Nadiia Skobel for “Drivers of vascular plant diversity in cultural heritage sites: a case study of old cemeteries (southern Ukraine)”, which showcased how old cemeteries in the grass steppe zone of southern Ukraine act as important refuges for native and steppe specific flora amid widespread habitat loss elsewhere in the region.

Looking ahead

EGC 2026 offered a valuable opportunity to connect with the authors, editors and researchers who make up the vegetation science community, and to see first hand how grassland research is being put to work for conservation across the Palaearctic. The next Eurasian Grassland Conference will take place in 2027 in Dilijan, Armenia – stay tuned for further updates!

Closing ceremony of the 21st EurasianGrassland Conference.

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn for more future updates.

A New Checklist For The Birds Of Calabria: 363 Species At Mediterranean Crossroads

Calabria’s updated bird checklist now lists 363 species, 43 more than in 1993, including Italy’s first documented breeding White-rumped Swift and continued Egyptian Vulture nesting.

Guest blog post by Stazione Ornitologica Calabrese (StOrCal)

Calabria, the toe of the Italian peninsula, lies between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas, a short crossing from Sicily and the North African coast. That position has long made it a place where birds from very different regions turn up. Yet its avifauna had not been reviewed in full for more than thirty years.

Our study in Biodiversity Data Journal brings that picture up to date. Drawing on published papers, technical reports, ringing bulletins, museum specimens and validated citizen-science records up to 31 December 2025, we compiled an updated checklist of 363 species and nine subspecies.

That is 43 species more than the previous regional list of 320 (Scebba et al. 1993). None of the older records was dropped, so the additions represent a real gain in regional knowledge.

One addition stands out. At an inland site in the province of Crotone, White-rumped Swift (Apus caffer) was found nesting, the first documented breeding of the species in Italy and in the central Mediterranean Basin (Pucci et al. 2022). An African swift breeding this far north suggests Calabria may be a bridgehead for Afro-Iberian species reaching Europe.

Bird ringing at Punta Alice, where several of the region’s rare vagrants were first detected. Photo credit: Mario Pucci

Most of the other new entries tell a quieter story. Thirty-five of the 43 additions are accidental or vagrant birds, and they point to decades of more systematic fieldwork rather than to genuine range change. Targeted ringing at coastal stations such as Punta Alice (Crotone) and San Michele di Cetraro (Cosenza) has turned up Siberian warblers and flycatchers, among them Pallas’s Leaf Warbler, Dusky Warbler and Red-flanked Bluetail, that would otherwise pass unnoticed. In all, the vagrants recorded in Calabria come from Asia, Africa, northern Europe and even North America, a spread that makes the region a meeting point of separate migration systems.

The checklist also shows what is at stake for conservation. Of the 363 species, 125 are listed in Annex I of the EU Birds Directive, and national Red List categories are available for 230, including nine Critically Endangered.

Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus — Egyptian Vulture, one of the Critically Endangered raptors still breeding in Calabria. Photo credit: Pierpaolo Storino

Most of the Critically Endangered birds depend on wetlands, tied to a small and fragmented network of coastal marshes. Among the region’s emblematic raptors is the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), still breeding in Calabria but represented in Italy by a small population with worrying fluctuations in the number of breeding birds, a reminder of how precarious the country’s cliff-nesting and scavenging raptors remain.

The full dataset is openly available on Zenodo, and the work is coordinated by the Stazione Ornitologica Calabrese (StOrCal), which brings the region’s observers together under shared standards. Much is still missing: the inland massifs of Pollino, Sila and Aspromonte remain under-surveyed, and breeding densities are poorly known for most species. The checklist gives that work a verifiable point to build on.

Original source:

Urso S, Martino G, Muscianese E, Policastrese M, Pucci M, Vena M, Storino P (2026) Updated checklist of the birds of Calabria (southern Italy). Biodiversity Data Journal 14: e195967. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.14.e195967

New Snail Species Bolster Case For Protecting Montenegro’s Biodiversity

Scientists and citizen volunteers discovered two new snail species in northwestern Montenegro, highlighting the region’s hidden biodiversity and bolstering calls to protect Komarnica Canyon within Durmitor’s World Heritage Site instead of building a hydropower plant.

The descriptions of the two new additions to the European snail fauna, named Cochlostoma komarnica and Cochlostoma dobrido, have been published today in the open-access Biodiversity Data Journal.

A Cochlostoma snail crawling in Montenegro – video by Roman Willi | Wildreach Productions.

The elegant snails, which do not yet have English names, have conical shells of around 7 mm long and live on limestone rocks, where they graze algae and lichens. Unlike most land snails, they do not carry their eyes on the end of eye-stalks, but on the sides of their head. And their shells come with a circular disk stuck to the animal’s tail that can close off the shell like a door.

Shells of Cochlostoma komarnica and Cochlostoma dobrido — *Cochlostoma komarnica* (a, b) and *Cochlostoma dobrido* (c, d) – Photos by Enrico Zallot.

The snails were discovered by the teams of Taxon Expeditions, which run real scientific expeditions that anyone can join. Between 2018 – 2025, expeditions in Montenegro were organised as a collaboration of Taxon Expeditions, the non-profit Taxon Foundation, and local partners from the Montenegrin Ecologists Society.

Citizen scientists and researchers from Taxon Expeditions searching for land snails on the Dobri Do Plateau, Durmitor, Montenegro, where Cochlostoma dobrido was discovered. – Photo by Pierre Escobas | Taxon Expeditions.
Participants of the taxon expedition studying snails in the makeshift field lab near the Komarnica Canyon. – Photo by Marjolein Koster.

Mixed teams of international researchers, citizen scientists, local students, and conservationists studied the biodiversity of Durmitor National Park and Komarnica Canyon. The new snails were found at several sites during fieldwork in the rugged mountainous terrain, but their novelty only became clear once they were dissected and genetically analysed in the field laboratory.

Cochlostoma snail crawling in Montenegro – photo by Roman Willi | Wildreach Productions
Cochlostoma dobrido – Photo by Sotiris Kountouras | Taxon Expeditions.

During a voting session at camp, the team decided to name the species after the localities in which they were discovered: “Cochlostoma dobrido,” after the Dobri Do Plateau, which lies between the peaks of Durmitor National Park, and “Cochlostoma komarnica,” after the stunning but unprotected Komarnica Canyon, south of Durmitor.

Another author, biologist Jovana Đokić of the Montenegrin Ecologists Society (MES), explains that the rich biodiversity in the canyons, mountains, and gorges of this part of the Balkans is still largely unexplored and undiscovered.

The endangered Komarnica Canyon, Montenegro – Photo by Sotiris Kountouras | Taxon Expeditions.

Because of these threats, Komarnica Canyon has become a focus for structured biodiversity surveys, part of an effort to build a science-based case for its conservation.

That is why MES is calling for the canyon to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Durmitor and for the hydropower project’s plans to be scrapped.

Original source:

Schilthuizen M, Boomsma R, Faes S, Jousma M, Buisman J, Lankenau D-H, Kountouras S, van den Broek M, Hemelaar EM, Noomen J, de Vries R, Lopatriello G, Limongi AR, Maestri S, Kamchev P, van Manen S, Khalik MZ, Delledonne M, Đokić J, Mićanović A, Popović J, Njunjić I, Zallot E (2026) Two new Cochlostoma species from the Durmitor and Komarnica regions of northern Montenegro (Caenogastropoda, Cochlostomatidae). Biodiversity Data Journal 14: e196955. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.14.e196955

The Pensoft Biodiversity Cup 2026 comes to a close

Now that the 2026 FIFA World Cup is over, it’s time for us to blow the final whistle on Pensoft’s Biodiversity Cup.

The floodlights have dimmed, the confetti has settled, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup has officially come to an end. A huge congratulations to Spain, who saw off Argentina 1-0 after extra time to lift their second World Cup trophy.

And with the football finished, it’s time for us to blow the final whistle on our own tournament too. Throughout the World Cup, we ran the Pensoft Biodiversity Cup alongside the real competition – a weekly knockout contest on our Instagram page, pitting some of the most remarkable species described in our journals against one another.

Every Thursday we opened the polls, and every Monday we brought you the result. Now that the dust has settled, we thought it was the perfect moment to look back at how the tournament unfolded.

Here’s how each fixture played out, with the winning species (as voted for by you!) shown in blue bold:

Date	Species #1	Species #2
11/06	Nadzikambia goodallae	Ferreiraella populi
18/06	Hellwigia opalina	Neohelicomyces coffeae
25/06	Thecacera sesama	Dolichopoda balrogi
02/07	Pikelinia floydmuraria	Trachischium lalremsangai
09/07	Theridion himalayana	Pyralis papaleonei
19/07	Iberoscia zaragozai	Echinodorus nenufar

General recap of Pensoft’s Biodiversity Cup.

Our first week’s competition kicked off with a cloud-forest chameleon named after Jane Goodall, which faced off against a public-named deep-sea chiton from the abyssal Pacific:

Nadzikambia goodallae vs Ferreiraella populi.

The chameleon, Nadzikambia goodallae, came out on top in this opening clash, advancing past the deep-sea chiton Ferreiraella populi.

Round two, meanwhile, pitted a turquoise-flowered jade ginger from Sulawesi against a newly identified fungus found on dead coffee branches in Yunnan:

Hellwigia opalina vs Neohelicomyces coffeae.

…and round two went to the fungi! Neohelicomyces coffeae ended up decisively defeating the jade ginger Hellwigia opalina in this Plant vs Fungi edition.

Round three brought Cave vs. Coast: a Balrog-named cave cricket unearthed on Kastellorizo faced a sesame-speckled nudibranch discovered off northeastern Taiwan:

Thecacera sesama vs Dolichopoda balrogi.

Our third round went to the underdog (or in this case, undercricket): Dolichopoda balrogi, which hopped past Thecacera sesama in a unanimous win.

Round four was our Animal Kingdom edition, with the newly described Pink Floyd spider Pikelinia floydmuraria facing off against the burrowing snake Trachischium lalremsangai for the top spot:

Pikelinia floydmuraria vs Trachischium lalremsangai.

The snake slithered through – Trachischium lalremsangai defeated Pikelinia floydmuraria, its burrowing lifestyle proving harder to top than a rock-star spider name in this round.

Our second-to-last round paired the smiley-faced Himalayan Happy-Face Spider, Theridion himalayana, against Pyralis papaleonei, a papal-named moth endemic to Crete’s White Mountains:

Theridion himalayana vs Pyralis papaleonei.

The moth flew past the competition! Pyralis papaleonei took the win over Theridion himalayana, its rare papal namesake and striking wing bands proving enough to edge out even a face full of smiles.

Our own final on 19 July ended up mirroring the World Cup final to a tee, with a species from Spain going head-to-head with one from Argentina:

Iberoscia zaragozai vs Echinodorus nenufar.

Representing Spain in the final was Iberoscia zaragozai, a newly described genus and species of cave-dwelling isopod, published only this April in our open-access journal Subterranean Biology.

Discovered in caves across Catalonia, Murcia and the Valencian Community, this blind crustacean measures barely 3-4 mm long, yet required a new genus to accommodate it, thanks to its unique features – right down to its antennal sensory structures.

Fittingly, it’s named in posthumous tribute to the Spanish arachnologist Juan Antonio Zaragoza-Miralles, in recognition of his decades of work on the cave-dwelling fauna of the Iberian Peninsula.

Standing in Argentina’s corner was Echinodorus nenufar, a new aquatic plant described in PhytoKeys back in January. Found in the temporary ponds and seasonal wetlands of the dry Chaco region of northern Argentina and western Paraguay, it earns its name – “nenúfar” being Spanish for water lily – thanks to its rounded floating leaves and creamy-white flowers, which give it an uncanny resemblance to a true Nymphaeaceae water lily.

Like the seasonal killifish it shares its ephemeral ponds with, it has evolved to complete its whole life cycle in habitats that can appear and vanish with the rains.

Two species, two countries, both barely a few months old to science. This is a proper final if ever there was one. And… just like their footballing counterparts, it was the Spanish contender that came out on top!

We had an absolute blast running the Biodiversity Cup alongside this year’s World Cup, and we hope it gave you a fun new way to discover some of the incredible species being described in our journals. Thank you to everyone who voted, shared and cheered along from the side lines.

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Pensoft awarded the FAO AGRIS Seal of Recognition for 2027

The seal recognises institutions that consistently share open-access agricultural research with the global community.

Pensoft has been awarded the Seal of Recognition for the FAO AGRIS Active Data Provider of the Year for 2027. The seal is granted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations through its AGRIS initiative, and it recognises institutions that consistently share open-access agricultural research with the global community.

Notably, Pensoft joined the FAO AGRIS network back in 2024, and the organisation has renewed our seal every year since, a recognition we’re proud to have kept.

What has changed is the scale of our contribution. In 2024, Pensoft’s records on AGRIS numbered just under 15,000. Today, that figure has doubled to nearly 30,000, drawn from all 51 of our journals that fall within the scope of FAO AGRIS. The subjects covered are wide-ranging, spanning taxonomy, biodiversity, conservation and biogeography – these are all areas that feed directly into sustainable agriculture and natural resource management.

Through AGRIS, this research travels well beyond our own journals to researchers, policymakers and practitioners worldwide, adding to the shared pool of open knowledge that supports global food security and environmental sustainability. We’re glad to keep contributing to that effort, and look forward to continuing our work with FAO AGRIS in the years to come.

About FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Its goal is to achieve food security for all, ensuring that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With 194 members, 193 countries and the European Union, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide.

About Pensoft

Founded in 1992 “by scientists, for scientists,” Pensoft is an academic open-access publishing company well known worldwide for its cutting-edge publishing tools, workflows and methods for text and data publishing of journals, books and conference materials. In 2010, Pensoft became the first scientific publisher to introduce semantic enrichments in scholarly publications. Through its Research and Technical Development department, the company is involved in a range of research and technology projects.

Pensoft at the European Congress of Conservation Biology 2026 in Leiden

Highlights from Pensoft’s booth from the 8th European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB 2026) in Leiden.

Between 6-10 July, more than 850 participants from 25 countries gathered in Leiden, the Netherlands, for the 8th European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB) 2026.

Table of Contents

Effective Biodiversity Conservation
Pensoft’s booth
Our journal portfolio on display
Familiar faces at the stand
Looking ahead

The congress was organised by the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) and hosted at Leiden University (FWN/CML), in partnership with Hortus botanicus, Wageningen University & Research (WUR), and NIOO-KNAW, with support from the Leiden Biodiversity Network.

Opening ceremony of ECCB 2026
Head of PR and Journal Development representing Pensoft at ECCB 2026.
Exhibitor and poster hall at ECCB 2026.

Effective Biodiversity Conservation

Under the theme “Effective Biodiversity Conservation,” the congress brought together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to explore how biodiversity can be safeguarded over the long term. Its core message was that effective conservation cannot rest on the efforts of conservationists alone. It requires coordinated, multidisciplinary, science-based action across society.

Opening ceremony of ECCB 2026.
Prof. Dr. Geert de Snoo and his “1% of GDP for safeguarding nature!” presentation

Dr. Laura Bosco, President of SCB Europe, opened the congress and set the scene for the week ahead. Prof. Dr. Geert de Snoo, one of the congress’s co-organisers, followed with the presentation: “1% of GDP for safeguarding nature!” – a call to set aside 1% of global GDP to help close the biodiversity funding gap, given that half of the world’s GDP depends on natural ecosystem services, and to protect 30% of the Earth’s land and oceans by 2030.

From there, the programme ran packed with symposia, roundtables, and workshops covering policymaking and effectiveness, conservation planning, new methods for measuring and quantifying biodiversity, eDNA for conservation, citizen science, and remote sensing, alongside a poster session held each day.

Pensoft’s booth

Pensoft at he 8th European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB) 2026.

Our stand stood out with professionally designed booth walls and enjoyed a strong flow of visitors throughout the congress. Delegates met Pensoft’s Head of Journal Development and PR, Iva Boyadzhieva, who answered questions about publishing opportunities and scholarly resources, including Advanced Books, Pensoft’s platform for publishing open-access monographs, edited volumes, and other book-length scholarly works.

She also shared updates from the Horizon Europe-funded projects Biodiversity Meets Data and SpongeBoost.

Pensoft’s Fortune Wheel at ECCB 2026.
People spinning Pensoft’s Fortune Wheel to win prizes.
People signing up to Pensoft’s newsletter and spinning the wheel.

For the first time, our booth also ran an interactive game, where visitors could spin a wheel to win some prizes. The game rules were simple: visitors filled out a subscription form for one or more journals, spun a wheel featuring the names of journals relevant to the congress, and won a sticker matching the journal they landed on.

Visitor at Pensoft’s booth at the 8th European Congress of Conservation Biology, interacting with the wheel.

Curiously, the illustrations on the vivid stickers are not coincidental: each features a scientific illustration by Denitsa Peneva of a species discussed in a publication from across Pensoft’s scholarly portfolio – a nod to the authors who chose one of our journals to share their research.

Our journal portfolio on display

Visitors had the chance to explore Pensoft’s diverse open-access portfolio, from conservation-focused titles like Nature Conservation and Neotropical Biology and Conservation, to ecosystem-focused journals such as One Ecosystem, Frontiers of Biogeography, and NeoBiota.

Several journal materials at Pensoft’s booth at ECCB 2026.
Several journal materials at Pensoft’s booth at ECCB 2026.

The stand also showcased more specialised outlets, including Biodiversity Data Journal and Metabarcoding and Metagenomics, alongside our fungi-focused IMA Fungus and MycoKeys, and our vegetation titles Vegetation Classification and Survey and Vegetation Ecology and Diversity. Attendees also had the chance to learn more about our newly launched diamond open-access Journal of Regeneration.

Close up of Individual-Based Ecology and Agricultural and Environmental Modelling journals. — Individual-Based Ecology and Agricultural and Environmental Modelling on focus at ECCB 2026.

A particular highlight was our trio of diamond open-access journals, free to publish in and free to read, that drew considerable interest from attendees:

Individual-Based Ecology promotes a distinctive individual-based perspective on ecology, aiming to bridge individual behaviour and broader ecological patterns.
Advances in Pollinator Research covers the full spectrum of pollinator science, from pollination ecology to conservation, designed as an innovative platform for the full spectrum of pollinator science, from pollination ecology and pollinator-plant interactions to molecular ecology, conservation and more.
Agricultural and Environmental Modelling, meanwhile, offers an innovative approach to publishing, dedicated to advancing both the science and practice of modelling across Agriculture, Food Systems, Natural Resources, and Environmental Sciences.

Familiar faces at the stand

Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Nature Conservation, Dr. Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth, at Pensoft’s booth at ECCB 2026.
Prof. Davy McCracken, Subject Editor at Nature Conservation.
Dr. Niels Raes, project coordinator of Biodiversity Meets Data at ECCB 2026.
Martina Viti and Annika Zuleger, authors that have published across Pensoft’s journal at ECCB 2026.

Our booth was visited by Nature Conservation’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth. Earlier that week, she also co-organised a symposium, “How can Wildlife Detection Dogs contribute to effective biodiversity conservation in Europe?” As well as one of Nature Conservation’s Subject Editor, Prof. Davy McCracken and Dr. Niels Raes, the project coordinator of Biodiversity Meets Data.

We also met one of our authors, Andra Neagu, in person. We recently ran a PR campaign on her and her team’s research analysing more than 1,100 media reports from 2007 to 2024 to uncover patterns in wildlife poaching across Romania, which you can read here.

Andra Neagu, an author at Nature Conservation at Pensoft’s booth at ECCB 2026.
Andra Neagu next to her scientific poster at ECCB 2026.

Looking ahead

Closing ceremony of ECCB 2026.
Closing ceremony of ECCB 2026.

It was a pleasure to be part of ECCB 2026 and to connect with so many researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working toward effective biodiversity conservation.

Save the date: SCB’s 33rd International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB 2027) will be held in Puebla, Mexico, at the end of June or beginning of July 2027.

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn for more future updates.

A New Class Of Fungi Named After The King Of Sweden

A newly discovered fungal species has been named after the King of Sweden to mark the 50th anniversary of his reign.

Originally published by Uppsala University

Researchers at Uppsala University have discovered a completely new fungal species, which they chose to name after the King of Sweden. The species has been given the Latin name Semicentenialea rex, which means fifty-year anniversary of the King. It is the first known representative of a new class of fungi that will be called Semicentenialomycetes.

The new fungus was isolated from roots in the ground in Jädraås in the province of Gästrikland, and represents a new lineage among what are primarily rust fungi. Rust fungi are a type of fungi that causes diseases in plants, usually by infecting the leaves. Based on DNA sequencing from soil samples, the researchers know that the class occurs in soil and roots from different ecosystems across almost the entire world, but rarely at high abundance.

the new fungi Semicentenialea rex — The images show *Semicentenialea rex* both as a colony and under the microscope. After eight weeks of growth, the fungus forms a small colony on the culture plate. The microscopic images reveal a network of hyphae with so-called clamp connections – structures that connect adjacent cells in the hyphae of basidiomycete fungi. To follow fungal development, the researchers stained the nuclei pink and the cell walls blue. Three types of swollen cells can be observed within the hyphae: basidium-like cells, teliospore- or probasidium-like cells, and intercalary swellings. These structures are examined in greater detail in the following figures. Credit to Anna Rosling.

Several million species of fungi

phylogenetic tree of Semicentenialea rex — The researchers analysed hundreds of genes to determine where the newly discovered fungus *Semicentenialea rex* belongs in the fungal tree of life. The results show that *S. rex*, previously known as GS25, forms a distinct lineage within the *Pucciniomycotina*. To confirm its placement, genes from both closely related and more distantly related fungi were compared, including species from both the Basidiomycota and the Ascomycota. Credit to Anna Rosling.

The species diversity in kingdom Fungi is largely unexplored. Based on sequencing of environmental DNA, it is estimated that there are several million species of fungi across the globe. But because most live concealed in the soil, wood or insects for example, it has only been possible to describe and name a small proportion of them. Without names, it is difficult to communicate about these species, genera, classes and even phyla of hitherto unknown fungi.

It was during a study root fungal diversity, when the researchers were culturing fungi from pine tree roots collected from mineral soil at Ivantjärnheden field station near Jädraås that the researchers identified a new fungal species that turned out to represent a new class of fungi.

Exciting with a root-associated fungus

Veera Tuovinen-Nogerius and Anna Rosling, both of Uppsala University, have led an international team of researchers in the work of characterising the morphology of the new species and its phylogenetic placement. The results have now been published in the International Mycology Association’s journal IMA Fungus.

Suitably named after the King of Sweden

This figure presents additional structures that are likely to play a role in the fungal life cycle. Among them are intercalary swellings and teliospore-like cells, which contain spore-like structures with one or more nuclei. The researchers documented several stages of development, ranging from young swellings and spore formation to germination and the emergence of new hyphae. Some structures produce thick promycelium-like hyphae, while others release small yeast-like cells through budding. These observations suggest that *Semicentenialea rex* has a complex life cycle involving several different cell types and spore forms. This resembles rust fungi within the *Pucciniomycotina*, which are known for producing multiple types of spores. Credit to Anna Rosling/Uppsala University.

Finding names for new species is a pleasant challenge for all researchers doing this type of research. This particular one was named Semicentenialea rex to pay tribute to King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden when he celebrated 50 years on the throne in 2023.

Now that the species has a new name, it will facilitate future communication and studies of the role of Semicentenialea rex in the ecosystem.

Original source:

Nogerius VT, Sánchez-García M, Kluting K, Heinonsalo J, Ryberg M, Toome M, Haridas S, Mondo S, LaButti K, Nolan M, Lipzen A, Koriabine M, Bauer D, Barry K, Grigoriev IV, Aime MC, Rosling A (2026) Another dark taxon comes to light: Semicentenialomycetes, a new class within the Pucciniomycotina (Basidiomycota), and its first described representative, Semicentenialea rex. IMA Fungus 17: e189848. https://doi.org/10.3897/imafungus.17.189848