Titled “Otters as Bioindicators of Estuarine Health: Innovations in Monitoring and Management from Tropical Coastal Brazil,” the collection celebrates nearly four decades of pioneering otter conservation and estuarine stewardship in Brazil, while advancing global knowledge on sustainable coastal ecosystem management.
Since 1986, Projeto Lontra has stood at the forefront of tropical otter conservation, ecological monitoring, and community engagement. Over the years, its research has provided unprecedented insights into the health of estuarine and coastal ecosystems—making otters not only charismatic species of interest, but powerful sentinels of environmental change.
“2026 will mark the 40th anniversary of Projeto Lontra. This partnership represents a rare convergence of long-term field knowledge, cutting-edge methodology, and global outreach—precisely the kind of collaboration needed to scale impact in applied estuarine conservation.”
From hydrodynamic assessments and habitat connectivity studies to long-term behavioral monitoring, Projeto Lontra has generated one of the most extensive otter-focused datasets in the Western Atlantic.
EMT Editor-in-Chief Dr. Soufiane Haddout highlights the significance of this collaborative milestone:
“Otters aren’t just icons of biodiversity—they’re active barometers of estuarine resilience. Partnering with Instituto Ekko Brasil allows us to amplify voices from the Global South, transforming local stewardship into global action. This is more than a collection; it’s a call to reimagine how we protect our coasts through otter-inspired innovation.”
The new collection directly supports EMT’s mission to strengthen the exchange of applied research, technology, and management strategies that support the long-term sustainability of estuarine ecosystems worldwide.
All contributions to the Topical Collection come from the Projeto Lontra team and invited collaborators who have worked closely with the project over the years. The resulting series of articles will showcase the unparalleled long-term dataset built since 1986 and demonstrate how otters serve as powerful sentinels of estuarine and coastal health.
Guest Editors
Projeto Lontra – Instituto Ekko Brasil
Dr Oldemar Carvalho Junior– Coordinator, Projeto Lontra & Institutional Director, Instituto Ekko Brasil, Florianópolis, Brazil
Ms Alessandra Bez Birolo – Coordinator of Social Mobilization and Public Policies, Founding Partner, Instituto Ekko Brasil; Environmental Education Coordinator, Projeto Lontra, Brazil
Mr Marcelo Tosatti – President, Instituto Ekko Brasil; Field Researcher (20+ years), Projeto Lontra, Brazil
EMT Editorial Board
Dr Soufiane Haddout – Editor-in-Chief, Estuarine Management and Technologies, Ibn Tofail University, Morocco
Dr P.R. Jayachandran – King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia
The partnership between EMT and Projeto Lontra embodies a powerful message: long-term conservation succeeds when knowledge, people, and technology work together.
By elevating nearly 40 years of Brazilian conservation leadership to global research audiences, this Topical Collection aims to inspire new partnerships, operational tools, and policy actions that safeguard estuarine ecosystems for future generations.
Guest blog post from the University of Copenhagen. Read their press release here.
An international team of researchers have identified three new species of enchanting, pustular, tree-dwelling toads from Africa. Their solution for having offspring away from water? Skipping the tadpole phase altogether, and giving birth to live toadlets. The study is published in the open-access scientific journal Vertebrate Zoology.
One of the newly described toad species, Nectophrynoides luhomeroensis. Photo credit: John Lyarkurwa
Most textbooks will tell you only one story of frog reproduction: Eggs to tadpoles to froglets to adults. But for three newly discovered species found in Tanzania this is not the case. The three new species of frogs belong to an unusual group of African toads in the genus Nectophrynoides — commonly called “tree toads.”
Instead of laying eggs that hatch into tadpoles, the female tree toads carry their offspring inside their bodies and give birth to fully formed, tiny toads. This makes them among the very few amphibians in the world capable of internal fertilization and true live birth.
“It’s common knowledge that frogs grow from tadpoles—it’s one of the classic metamorphosis paradigms in biology. But the nearly 8000 frog species actually have a wide variety of reproductive modes, many of which don’t closely resemble that famous story” says Assoc. Prof. Mark D. Scherz, Curator for Herpetology at the Natural History Museum Denmark, a coauthor on the study.
Like its relatives, Nectophrynoides luhomeroensis has large skin glands all over its body. Photo credit: Michele Menegon.
Only a handful of frog species from South America and southeast Asia have developed similar strategies making these toads a rare case in the animal kingdom.
“Live-bearing is exceptionally rare among frogs and toads, practiced by less than 1% of frogs species, making these new species exceptionally interesting,” says H. Christoph Liedtke a co-author from the Spanish National Research Council, who has specialized in the evolution of amphibian reproductive modes.
120-year-old frog DNA
Back in 1905, a German researcher, Gustav Tornier, presented to the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin, the discovery of a toad from Tanzania that, astonishingly, gives birth to live young. At the time, it was the only known species of frog in the world to do so.
One of the newly described toad species, Nectophrynoides uhehe. Photo credit: Michele Menegon.
The frogs originally found by Tornier are today housed at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, and the research team were able to secure DNA from the original frogs using methods collectively known as ‘museomics’.
“Some of these specimens were collected over 120 years ago. Our museomics work was able to reveal exactly which populations those old specimens belonged to, giving us a lot more confidence for future work on these toads,” says Dr Alice Petzold of the University of Potsdam, who carried out the museomics portion of the study.
“Phylogenetic work from a few years ago had already let us know there was previously unrecognised diversity among these toads. But by travelling to different natural history museums and examining hundreds of preserved toads, I was able to get a better idea of their morphological diversity, so we could describe these new species,” says Christian Thrane from University of Copenhagen and first author on the study.
One of the newly described toad species, Nectophrynoides uhehe. Photo credit: Michele Menegon.
Protecting endangered species
Beyond its evolutionary interest, the discovery could have important implications for conservation. Many of these live-bearing toads inhabit small, fragmented habitats and are under threat from deforestation, mining, and climate change.
The new species are from the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAM) of Tanzania, an imperiled biodiversity hotspot famed for the many species that are found nowhere else on Earth. These mountains that rise from the plains are cloaked in lush forests, but Dr Michele Menegon, another coauthor on the study who works for a conservation organisation whose work focuses on forest protection, notes how highly fragmented these habitats are and that this is impacting the biodiversity, including the toads that dwell there.
Nectophrynoides species are often found near rainforest streams in the Eastern Arc mountains of Tanzania. Photo credit: Michele Menegon.
His colleague from the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzia raises the same concern.
“The forests where these toads are known to occur are disappearing quickly,” says John V. Lyakurwa, a researcher from the University of Dar es Salaam, who has been studying amphibians in the EAM, including these toads, and a coauthor on the study.
Most of the tree toads are already on the brink of extinction, with one species in this genus, Nectophrynoides asperginis, already extinct in the wild, and another Nectophrynoides poyntoni not observed since its discovery in 2003. The future of these beautiful toads is very uncertain.
Original source
Thrane C, Lyakurwa JV, Liedtke HC, Menegon M, Petzold A, Loader SP, Scherz MD (2025) Museomics and integrative taxonomy reveal three new species of glandular viviparous tree toads (Nectophrynoides) in Tanzania’s Eastern Arc Mountains (Anura: Bufonidae). Vertebrate Zoology 75: 459-485. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.75.e167008
Researchers have rediscoveredMoema claudiae, a species of seasonal killifish in Bolivia that was thought to be possibly extinct. This rediscovery provides new hope for the conservation of this unique fish and the diverse wetland habitats of the region.
Moemaclaudiae. Credit: Heinz Arno Drawert and Thomas Otto Litz.
Moema claudiae was last seen over 20 years ago in its original locality, in a site now destroyed and converted to agricultural land. Despite extensive surveys in recent years, no other living individuals had been found, and the species was deemed Critically Endangered according to IUCN criteria and thought to be possibly extinct.
However, in a recent expedition, researchers Heinz Arno Drawert and Thomas Otto Litz located a surviving population in a small, temporary pond within a remnant forest patch surrounded by farms.
Heinz Arno Drawert at the biotope where Moemaclaudiae was rediscovered in 2024. Credit: Heinz Arno Drawert and Thomas Otto Litz.
Published in the open-access journal Nature Conservation, this is the first record of the species in more than two decades and enabled scientists to take the first-ever live photographs, observe its behaviour, and study previously unknown aspects of its natural history.
Thomas Litz, one of the co-authors, said: “For me, it is something special to have rediscovered Moema claudiae. This has shown that we now have the opportunity to preserve this species in the wild. I am all the more pleased because Prof. Wilson Costa named this species after his wife Claudia, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him especially for decades of collaboration and support.”
Thomas Otto Litz.
Heinz Arno Drawert.
The rediscovered habitat harboured not only Moema claudiae but also six other species of seasonal killifish, making it the most genetically diverse assemblage of these fish ever documented worldwide. The region’s unique ecology, where the Amazon forest meets the Llanos de Moxos savannas, appears to support this diversity, but rapid deforestation and agricultural expansion threaten these habitats at an alarming rate.
Following this discovery, scientists emphasise the urgent need to protect the area, as it is now the only known site harbouring a wild population of Moema claudiae, as well as an exceptional global hotspot for seasonal killifish diversity.
Moemaclaudiae. Credit: Heinz Arno Drawert and Thomas Otto Litz.
Over the last 25 years, nearly 10 million hectares of forest have been lost in Bolivia, including vital wetland habitats. Deforestation has accelerated dramatically in recent years, raising serious concerns for the future of many unique species and ecosystems.
“Without rapid and effective action to curb the irrational expansion of the agricultural frontier in Bolivia’s lowlands, we risk losing some of the world’s most important terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and with them the irreplaceable goods and services they provide,” added co-author Heinz Drawert. “We cannot hope to achieve true social and economic wellbeing unless we also maintain the functionality of the ecosystems that sustain it.”
A new study published in the open-access journal Nature Conservationassesses the threat status of bird species from Vietnam, underscoring the country’s critical conservation needs.
Vietnam is well known for its extraordinary level of biodiversity, particularly its very rich bird fauna. However, although the country is home to more than 900 species, co-author of the study Dr. Hung Le Manh stresses that no efforts had been made to assess their conservation status to better protect them from extinction risks.
Lesser fish eagle in Vietnam. Credit: Dr. Hung Le.
For this reason, the study provides a comprehensive list of bird species reported from Vietnam. It incorporates threat statuses, identifying avian richness hotspots and their coverage by the national protected area network. The implementation of the IUCN’s “One Plan Approach to Conservation” is also examined.
Prof. Dr. Truong Quang Nguyen highlights that 61 species are listed in the 2007 version of Vietnam Red Data Book, 112 species in the 2024 version, and 138 species are included under national decrees.
Streaked barwings in Vietnam. Credit: Dr. Hung Le.
Ass. Prof. Dr. Dennis Rödder from the Leibniz-Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) stresses that highest bird species richness was found in northern and central Vietnam. The Mekong Delta is an important area for non-breeding species, but it had comparatively low protected area coverage.
Zoo databases show that 308 species are represented in zoo holdings, including 20 threatened and two threatened and endemic species. One of these species, the Vietnam pheasant, listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, has not been reported from the wild in Vietnam since 2000. It is one of the flagship species of the current VIETNAMAZING conservation campaign and network, and is set to be released back into the wild to restock the natural populations.
Vietnam pheasant at Hanoi Zoo. Credit: Thomas Ziegler.
The team led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Ziegler, Cologne Zoo and the Institute of Zoology at the University of Cologne, has contributed to identifying gaps in conservation of Vietnamese vertebrates. Three papers written by the team have already been published in Nature Conservation: amphibians (2022), reptiles (2023), and mammals (2024). These threat analyses are intended to accelerate effective conservation measures by implementing IUCN’s “One Plan Approach” and the “Reverse the Red” initiative.
“This updated avifaunal assessment underscores Vietnam’s critical conservation needs, highlighting areas for improved protection, integration of expanded ex situ conservation efforts, and alignment of legislation with global conservation priorities,” says Ass. Prof. Dr. Minh D. Le from Central Institute for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES), Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Original source
Ginal P, Hackenbroch H, Le Manh H, Nguyen TQ, Le MD, Rödder D, Ziegler T (2025) Assessment of the threat status of bird species from Vietnam – Implementation of the One Plan Approach to conservation. Nature Conservation 60: 49-72. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.60.162832
COAST-SCAPES: a newly launched project, funded by the European Commission, is to propose a reconsideration of the current coastal ecosystem to enhance resilience and biodiversity protection through nature-based solutions.
Leading maritime engineering specialists, marine ecologists, and biodiversity experts, gathered in Barcelona (Spain) between 7 and 9 October to officially kick start the project’s vision on climate-resilient coastal landscapes. Hosted by the Maritime Engineering Laboratory from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the meeting focused on setting the strategic direction of the project, aligning the scientific, technical and communication objectives and establishing synergies between project partners across Europe and beyond.
In the span of two days, consortium partners were given the opportunity to present their missions with the COAST-SCAPES project, showcasing how each partner institution will contribute to building science-based and community-driven resilience pathways.
The project coordinator, Prof. Manel Grifoll, navigated the discussions, which centered around key deliverables and milestones, future challenges and plans on work-related activities, highlighting the crucial role of the project’s Core and Replicating Pilots for scalable resilience plans for replication and export.
A group photo of the COAST-SCAPES consortium at the project’s kick-off (Barcelona, October 2025).
Officially started on 1 September 2025, the COAST-SCAPES project has major ambitions to co-design systemic resilience solutions for coastal landscapes by developing integrated indicators, proactive climate warning systems, as well as knowledge-based strategies for business and maintenance in order to reduce the risks of climate change and improve land-sea interactions. To achieve this, COAST-SCAPES will promote the utilisation of nature-based solutions (NbS), seeking biodiversity gains and reduction of the environmental footprint under scarce natural resources.
The project brings together a diverse group of partners, including research institutions, universities and technological organisations from Europe, Africa and Latin America. Their shared goal is to restore vulnerable coastal areas and apply resilience through adaptation. Due to human intervention, which drastically altered the evolution of coastal ecosystems, the ecological role of such areas is becoming crucial. By harnessing their low-carbon adaptation potential, coastal ecosystems can mitigate climate-related risks and boost biodiversity.
COAST-SCAPES is a collective effort to rethink how we coexist with coastal systems. By integrating natural processes, technology, and community knowledge, we aim to create adaptive landscapes that safeguard biodiversity and support sustainable livelihoods. Our ambition is to build resilient coasts that can thrive, not just survive, under climate change.
says Prof. Manel Grifoll, project coordinator.
The selected project’s Core Pilots, among which the Mar Menor lagoon in the Iberian Peninsula, will serve as a starting point for leading experts to carry out large-scale resilience plans, while protecting coastal biodiversity and addressing existing infrastructure challenges.
Supported by social and technical innovation, as well as a governance shift, these plans will connect scientists, citizens, policy-makers, environmental activists, and the industry with administrations responsible for local implementations for an increased cross-sectoral engagement. Contributing to a balanced land-to-sea ecosystem and a sustainable biodiversity protection, COAST-SCAPES reminds us that coastal restoration is vital for our adaptation to climate change.
Pensoft’s contribution to COAST-SCAPES:
Pensoft will lead two tasks within the COAST-SCAPES’ Work Package dedicated to dissemination and communication for practical exploitation. The objectives of these tasks are focused on the identification of key exploitable results of the project. Together with other consortium members, Pensoft will be working on establishing the most suitable exploitation pathways for each result. The experienced communication team at the scholarly publishing and technology providing company will also be actively raising societal and technical awareness necessary to transform governance for systemic resilience through yearly newsletters and policy briefs. In addition, Pensoft takes part in Work Package 6, where it will be responsible forthe project’s visual identity and ensuring constant visibility of project results, as well as proper data management.
List of project consortium members:
Coordinated by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the project brings together 30 partner organisations from 15 countries to develop coastal resilience through nature-based solutions (NbS).
Funded by the European Union under grant agreement No. 101213138, COAST-SCAPES (rethinking COASTal landSCAPES with climate-resilient interventions: systemic land-to-sea solutions).
Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the EU, nor the REA can be held responsible for them.
The 13th NEOBIOTA International Conference on Biological Invasions (NEOBIOTA 2024), held in Lisbon, Portugal, brought together 421 participants from 47 countries for one of the most significant global gatherings in invasion science. Notably, this meeting featured the strongest representation of aquatic studies to date, spanning marine and freshwater systems across oral sessions, posters and workshops.
This momentum contributed to the creation of a dedicated NeoBiota Special Issue, incorporating contributions from both conference participants and other aquatic researchers.
As outlined in the editorial paper – written by the issue’s editors Pedro Anastácio, Filipe Ribeiro and Paula Chainho – the collection comprises 23 papers organised into five themes: Responses to Environmental Stressors; Ecological Interactions and Invasion Impacts; Detection and Monitoring Tools; Management and Policy; and Global and Regional Syntheses.
Biotic responses to abiotic drivers – such as warming, pollution or eutrophication – are central to predicting invasion success, as explored in the following articles:
Functional trait responses of emergent and free-floating Alternanthera philoxeroides to increasing salinity with sea level rise: stress tolerance, avoidance, and escape strategies – Grewell et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.150325
Differential elemental accumulation of the signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) along an invasion gradient – Gonçalves et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.148414
Assessing the upper thermal limit constraining the physiological performance of Callinectes sapidus embryogenesis under climate warming scenarios – Rodríguez-Ruiz et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.148122
Invasive potential of Phymactis papillosa: assessing environmental tolerance and ecological impact on the Portuguese intertidal ecosystems – Pereira et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.148042
Nutrient enrichment and artificial light at night synergistically confer a competitive advantage to alien aquatic species over natives – Zhang et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.142791
Ecological interactions and invasion impacts
Interactions between invading species, native species, and other non-native species, are critical in determining the population dynamics and ecological impacts. This group of papers includes studies dedicated to freshwater fish, crustaceans, amphibians, higher plants and algae, and estuarine bivalves:
Eating contest between native and non-indigenous bivalve species: estimating capture efficiencies and clearance rates using natural seston – Cabral et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.148326
Predatory interactions between two global aquatic invaders beyond their native ranges: An experimental approach – Reshetnikov et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.145644
Epiphytic algae mitigate the inhibitory effects of two aquatic invasive plants, Pontederia crassipes and Pistia stratiotes, on a submerged plant community – Shen et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.144004
Detection and monitoring tools
Monitoring of non-native species has evolved beyond taxonomic surveys to incorporate the use of molecular tools, informatics and citizen science for detecting and monitoring non-native species:
Integrating social media and environmental DNA records to enhance surveillance and improve early detection of invasive species – Dias et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.151710
Mapping the northernmost transnational non-native population of Xenopus laevis using pooled eDNA sampling – Everts et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.150311
Seek and you shall find: Detection of alien bryozoans along the Chilean SE Pacific coast with a simple and cost-efficient methodology – Rech et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.144725
Management and policy
Policy effectiveness and practical management are central concerns in invasion science:
LIFE INVASAQUA networking events from López-Cañizares et al. (2025).
Effectiveness of legislative tools to stop biological invasions: freshwater turtles’ invasion in Europe as a study case – Rato et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.143330
Eradication attempt for an early detected invasive crayfish: the case of Pacifastacus leniusculus (Decapoda, Astacidae) in the Clitunno River (central Italy) – Carosi et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.146951
Population dynamics, habitat use and trapping efficiency of the invasive crab Callinectes sapidus in a Mediterranean hypersaline coastal lagoon – Herrero-Reyes et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.148388
Outcomes of the LIFE INVASAQUA project: An integrated approach for the prevention and awareness of aquatic invasive species in the Iberian Peninsula – López-Cañizares et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.148744
Global and regional syntheses
Global and regional syntheses play a critical role in guiding invasion policy and future research. Three regional and one global syntheses are provided in this issue:
First insights into the scale of invasions in African marine protected areas: leveraging global databases and citizen science data – Ackland et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.149275
Critical review of the literature on key invasive alien freshwater plants in Europe with special focus on their impact on the invaded ecosystems – Di Lernia et al. (2025) https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.102.146280
The special issue offers a timely and multifaceted view of aquatic invasions spanning a diversity of aquatic taxa including fishes, crustaceans, amphibians, molluscs, macrophytes, bryozoans and even parasite-host systems.
From functional trait ecology and trophic interactions to molecular diagnostics and policy assessments, the contributions demonstrate how aquatic invasion science is evolving towards greater interdisciplinarity and translational relevance.
The open-access journal NeoBiota has published its milestone 100th issue, celebrating more than fourteen years of advancing research on biological invasions and their impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, and society. The milestone comes at a time of great achievement for the Pensoft-published journal in terms of editorial leadership, readership growth, and international recognition.
New editorial leadership
Last year, NeoBiota welcomed a new editorial leadership team, as Dr. Ana Novoa Perez, Prof. Tammy Robinson, Prof. Phil Hulme and Dr. Andrew “Sandy” Liebhold joined forces to bring a wealth of expertise to the journal.
According to the 2024 release of Web of Science metrics, NeoBiota achieved a Journal Impact Factor (JIF) of 3.0, maintaining its Q1 position in Biodiversity Conservation. At the same time, Scopus reported an impressive CiteScore of 6.8, which secures the journal a Q1 ranking across seven categories: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Insect Science; Aquatic Science; Plant Science; Ecology; and Ecological Modeling.
The rankings underscore the journal’s influence across ecological disciplines and its continued recognition as a leading publication in invasion science.
Growing global readership
NeoBiota has also experienced remarkable growth in readership. In just the latest quarter, articles published in the journal have attracted over 220,000 views from 90,000 unique readers worldwide.
This increase in readership, coupled with the journal’s focus on strong science communication, has attracted international media attention to NeoBiota’s research papers, such as this piece on the spread of lionfish in the Mediterranean Sea published in BBC Wildlife.
The landmark issue features a collection of articles that reflect the journal’s mission to expand both the geographical and conceptual scope of invasion science:
From Abreo et al. Map of Southeast Asia showing the number of established non-native species reported per country.
Compiling and analyzing the non-native flora of a megadiverse Neotropical country: a new catalogue for continental Ecuador (read here) by Ileana Herrera, Anahí Vargas, Kimberly Rizzo, Zhofre Aguirre, Isabella Dillon, Brunny Espinoza-Amén, Felipe Espinoza De Janon, Andrés Espinoza-Maticurena, José R. Ferrer-Paris, Efraín Freire, Carlos Gómez-Bellver, Diego Gutiérrez del Pozo, Vanessa Lozano, Alejandra Moscoso-Estrella, Nora H. Oleas, Kevin Panchana, Sebastián Pardo, Katya Romoleroux, Verónica Sandoya, Carmen Ulloa Ulloa, Isabela Vieira, Jordi López-Pujol – Also part of the above topical collection focusing on the Global South
Acacia invasion triggers cascading effects above- and belowground in fragmented forests (read here) by Raquel Juan-Ovejero, Filipa Reis, Pedro Martins da Silva, Elizabete Marchante, Fernanda Garcia, Maria Celeste Dias, Filipe Covelo, António Alves da Silva, Helena Freitas, José Paulo Sousa, Joana Alves.
From Juan-Ovejero et al. Conceptual flow chart showing the hypotheses of the study.
Transparency and reproducibility in invasion science (read here) by Fabio Mologni, Jason Pither.
Taken together, these contributions highlight both regional challenges, such as managing alien taxa in biodiversity hotspots, and broader conceptual issues, including methodological rigour in invasion science research.
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As NeoBiota celebrates its 100th issue, it continues to push the boundaries of open, accessible, and impactful publishing in invasion science. With new leadership, growing readership, and a commitment to innovation in scholarly communication, the journal is poised for further growth in its next hundred issues. Explore the full 100th issue here.
With the Grassland Butterfly Index for Germany, UFZ scientists are providing important input for the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation.
One of the goals of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, which came into force in 2024, is to halt species loss and preserve important ecosystem services provided by agricultural landscapes.
The results, published in the open-access journal Nature Conservation, show a negative trend, especially in recent years. For their calculations, the researchers were able to draw on 4 million observation data collected at the UFZ over the last 20 years as part of the ‘Butterfly Monitoring Germany’ programme.
Agricultural landscapes are among the most degraded habitats worldwide. Their restoration is one of the key measures for halting global biodiversity loss and preserving important ecosystem services.
“The Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR), which came into force in 2024, is an essential instrument for achieving the restoration targets set for the European Union,” says Prof. Josef Settele, agroecologist at the UFZ. The objectives also include increasing biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems (Article 11 of the NRR), taking into account climate change, the needs of rural areas and sustainable agricultural production. To implement the overall objectives, EU Member States are required to develop national restoration plans and implement concrete measures in terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine habitats.
The extent to which the specific measures are effective and the ecosystems develop positively will be determined using indicators. For agricultural landscapes, these are (a) the grassland butterfly index, (b) the stock of organic carbon in cropland mineral soils, and (c) the share of agricultural land with high diversity landscape features. For at least two of these three indicators, the EU regulation calls for an upward trend towards a satisfactory level by 2030. Since natural conditions vary across EU countries and there is a wide range of different land management practices, Josef Settele argues that all EU countries should start by recording all three indicators so that none of them is prematurely dropped.
With the ‘Grassland Butterfly Index’, a research team led by the UFZ has now calculated one of the three indicators for Germany for the first time and published the results in the journal Nature Conservation. The data for this analysis comes from Butterfly Monitoring Germany (Tagfalter-Monitoring Deutschland – TMD), a long-term programme coordinated by the UFZ and the Society for Butterfly Conservation (GfS). Every week during the summer, volunteers count butterflies at fixed locations using a standardised European method.
“Since the TMD was launched in 2005, this has resulted in around four million data records being collected, which provide information on the development of butterfly populations in Germany,” explains one of the co-authors of the publication, biologist Elisabeth Kühn, who coordinates the German Butterfly Monitoring programme at the UFZ.
What does the index show for Germany?
The ‘Grassland Butterfly Index’ tracks the development of populations of 15 butterfly species from 2006 to 2023 that are considered typical inhabitants of various grassland biotopes.
“Four species have increased, five species show a declining trend. For six species, the trend is uncertain, which is probably due to insufficient data and large differences between the locations where they were found,” says the study’s lead author, bioinformatician Alexander Harpke. In the first decade of the period analysed (2006 to 2016), the index for Germany as a whole shows a slightly positive trend – which does not rule out the possibility that this may vary greatly for individual species.
However, if we look only at recent years (2016 to 2023), the index shows a significant decline overall. This mainly affects specialised species such as the Small Blue (Cupido minimus) or the Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages); generalists such as the Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) or the Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) are hardly affected.
These results show that the trend for grassland butterflies in Germany during the comparison period corresponds to the trend at European level, which was last determined by Butterfly Conservation Europe in 2025 for all 27 member states.
Butterflies are known to be sensitive to changes in their environment. Land use plays a decisive role in this. “The loss and fragmentation of habitats have a proven negative effect on the long-term survival of butterfly populations. Intensive mowing, nitrogen inputs and pesticides contribute to a deterioration in habitat quality or increased mortality. Species that depend on specific habitats, such as nutrient-poor grasslands, also suffer from a lack of use, e.g. through grazing or mowing,” explains Prof. Thomas Schmitt from the Senckenberg German Entomological Institute (SDEI) in Müncheberg, who is also co-author of the study.
In addition to land use, climate change is increasingly contributing to changes in butterfly fauna. Higher temperatures favour the spread of heat-loving or tolerant species, while species adapted to cooler conditions are in decline.
These dependencies of butterflies on land use and climate change make them excellent indicators of the state of our ecosystems. In addition, they are easy to record – especially by qualified volunteers. Together, these two factors have provided an invaluable database for butterfly monitoring in Germany, which scientists are now evaluating to calculate trends and indicators for reporting under European environmental legislation.
“The significance and representativeness of the indicator could be further increased if government programmes such as Habitats Directive monitoring or nationwide insect monitoring were integrated into the analysis,” says UFZ biologist and co-author of the publication Dr Martin Musche. The same would apply if data from neighbouring countries were included.
In 1869, the construction of the Suez Canal was completed, connecting two marine regions previously separated for 16 million years and initiating major ecological changes that continue to this day.
Now more than 100 fish species native to the Indo-West Pacific Ocean – including the ‘devil firefish’ – have crossed to become established in the Mediterranean Sea.
But how do they make the journey?
Researchers from the American University of Beirut and the American University in Dubai analysed how invasive fish from the Indo-Pacific region colonise the Mediterranean. Combining ocean current modelling, shipping data, and environmental analysis, they examined records of 136 fish species to map the natural and human-driven factors that enable these invaders to thrive.
Location of the Suez Canal.
Published in NeoBiota, the findings indicate that the primary drivers for the initial entry of invasive fish into the Mediterranean are proximity to the Suez Canal and sea currents transporting fish larvae into nearby eastern Mediterranean regions. However, while sea currents play an important role early in the invasion stage, they cannot explain how species cross into the western Mediterranean.
Indeed, cargo shipping has become increasingly influential, with focal points like Malta acting as key stepping stones for the spread of non-native fish, especially to western Mediterranean areas. Over time, the odds of a region being colonised via shipping have grown significantly.
A ship passing through the Suez Canal in Egypt.
Additionally, local conditions such as high salinity in Mediterranean waters boost the likelihood of invasive species establishing permanent populations, as these fish tend to be pre-adapted to saline environments from their native habitats.
“Scientists have long suspected that the anti-clockwise spread of invasive species in the eastern Mediterranean is due to currents and the high number of first records in Malta is due to shipping.
“Our use of sea current simulations and shipping data could confirm these conjectures and provide quantitative estimates of the effects.”
Heinrich zu Dohna, lead author of the paper.
Logistic regression models indicate that in some regions shipping leads to a sixfold increase of the odds of receiving invasive species, indicating targeted management and monitoring is needed at major shipping hubs.
Better data on ballast water release and ship movements in the Mediterranean are needed, as cargo shipping’s impact on biological invasions is now clear. Malta’s role as a major shipping hub makes it a particular hotspot for secondary introductions and warrants special attention by policymakers and marine managers.
Original source
zu Dohna H, Lakkis I, Bariche M (2025) The spread of Indo-Pacific origin fish species in the Mediterranean Sea is influenced by sea currents, habitat factors, and increasingly by shipping. NeoBiota 101: 73-89. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.101.157775
A new white paper delivers a clear message: protecting biodiversity is not just an environmental issue. It is essential for food security, public health, climate stability, and the global economy.
The authors make a call for a decisive shift: from fragmented initiatives to a holistic, global approach to biodiversity research and policy, already demonstrated during a workshop at the 79th United Nations General Assembly and the Science Summit (UNGA79). A key part of this transformation concerns the role of research infrastructures in connecting science, technology, and policy: from vast biodiversity collections and genomic observatories, to ecosystem “digital twins” powered by supercomputers.
Behind the paper are a network of legal entities based in Europe and holding global interests, which includes biodiversity, ecology, and engineering communities, coordinated by the LifeWatch European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC).
With their combined expertise and through European initiatives, such as Research Infrastructures, e-Infrastructures, the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), the Digital Twin projects and academic publishers, these communities provide a basis for collaboration in strategically contributing to the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (K-M GBF) targets.
Biodiversity needs to be placed at the centre of the upcoming 2026 UN Summit of the Future and become a core pillar of the agenda after the 2030 deadline for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
The UN Pact for the Future should include biodiversity as a core pillar: “not only of environmental sustainability, but of equity, security, and intergenerational justice”.
urges the team.
To do this, the authors propose the establishment of a global alliance that will strategically integrate biodiversity conservation into the core priorities of the UN Summit of the Future and the post-SDG agenda.
This alliance is meant to join the voices of researchers, policymakers, indigenous knowledge holders, civil society, and industry to ensure that biodiversity underpins peace, prosperity, and justice as a universal enabler.
The white paper also demonstrates how the research infrastructures collectively contribute to the seven Strategic Considerations of the K-M GBF, outlined here in brief and further detailed in the full publication:
Contribution and rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities: Ensuring fair recognition and sharing of benefits with indigenous peoples and local communities, thus integrating their knowledge into biodiversity science.
Collective efforts towards the targets of the K-M GBF: Coordinating biodiversity monitoring, databases, and digital infrastructures to track progress towards global conservation targets.
Fulfilment of the three principal objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its protocols: Studying or supporting the study of all aspects of biodiversity; and providing public and streamlined access to biodiversity information.
Implementation through science, technology, and innovation: Developing and offering technologically advanced and novel solutions for research, data sharing and management to various users; and promoting open science by publishing research findings and increasingly sharing more facets of the research process.
Ecosystem approach: Developing and implementing technologies that enable a cross-domain, multidisciplinary approach to studying biodiversity and ecosystems; and using holistic, cross-disciplinary methods to understand and predict biodiversity and environmental dynamics.
Cooperation synergies: Collaborating with organisations responsible for implementing the CBD, policy agents, international research projects; and participating in international forums and social, scientific and technical initiatives.
Biodiversity and health linkages: Demonstrating how healthy ecosystems support human health, food security, and resilience to pandemics by supporting interdisciplinary research through bringing together knowledge and data and uncovering links and interactions between humans and the environment.
“With the UN’s ‘Pact for the Future’ currently being shaped, we see a unique opportunity to anchor biodiversity as a unifying thread across global goals that will transform how societies respond to the intertwined crises of climate change, nature loss, and pollution,” say the authors.
The white paper is the latest contribution to the LifeWatch ERIC Strategic Working Plan Outcomes open-science collection meant to provide a one-stop access point to the most important deliverables by the European biodiversity and ecosystem research infrastructure, which is currently undergoing a significant upgrade as a response to the needs of its target communities and stakeholders.
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Original source:
Arvanitidis C, Barov B, Gonzalez Ferreiro M, Zuquim G, Kirrane D, Huertas Olivares C, Drago F, Pade N, Basset A, Deneudt K, Koureas D, Manola N, Mietchen D, Casino A, Penev L, Ioannidis Y (2025) From Knowledge to Solutions: Science, Technology and Innovation in Support of the UN SDGs. Research Ideas and Outcomes 11: e168765. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.11.e168765
This publication is part of a collection:
LifeWatch ERIC Strategic Working Plan Outcomes Edited by Christos Arvanitidis, Cristina Huertas, Alberto Basset, Peter van Tienderen, Cristina Di Muri, Vasilis Gerovasileiou, Ana Mellado
Europe’s biodiversity and ecosystem research infrastructure. LifeWatch ERIC provides access to biodiversity and ecosystem data, services and other research products: its virtual workbenches and digital twins for biodiversity science enable researchers worldwide to analyse biodiversity patterns, processes, and changes in ecosystems, and derive evidence-based knowledge for science and policy.
CSC hosts one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers (LUMI), pioneering biodiversity digital twins and climate models. CSC provides critical support for data-intensive projects that link computing, AI, and environmental science.
A federation of hundreds of data centres providing global-scale computing, AI, and data services. EGI enables large-scale analysis of biodiversity and environmental data from sensors and satellites, supporting international collaboration.
A hub for marine research, coordinating Europe’s Digital Twin of the Ocean and global biodiversity data systems, such as WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species). VLIZ drives blue innovation and ocean data integration.
Europe’s infrastructure for marine biology, offering access to organisms, labs, and genomic observatories. EMBRC connects over 70 institutes across 10 countries, supporting research “from genes to ecosystems.”
The largest initiative to digitise and unify Europe’s natural science collections into a single, FAIR-data-based infrastructure. DiSSCo makes museum collections globally accessible, boosting taxonomic, ecological, and environmental research.
A European e-Infrastructure dedicated to building a globally connected, interoperable, and sustainable open research ecosystem, with Open Science at its core. By offering a suite of services covering the entire research lifecycle, guidelines, and practices that support the adoption of Open Access and FAIR data principles across its network of National Open Access Desks in 34 countries, OpenAIRE supports local researchers, funders, and policymakers in aligning with European and global open science policies.
Founded in 1992 “by scientists, for scientists”, the academic open-access publishing company is well known worldwide for its novel cutting-edge publishing tools, workflows and methods for text and data publishing of journals, books and conference materials. Through its Research and Technical Development department, the company is involved in various research and technology projects. Pensoft coordinated the EU project BiCIKL (2021-2024), which established a new community of Research Infrastructures and users of FAIR and interlinked biodiversity data.
The world’s largest computing society, established to foster ethical and responsible innovation. ACM brings global expertise in computing and AI to biodiversity research and policy.
A leading ICT and AI research institute advancing digital infrastructures and open science platforms. Athena connects computing innovation with biodiversity, humanities, and societal challenges.
