Recent study published in Frontiers of Biogeography shows how local microclimates can amplify and mitigate extreme temperatures associated with climate change
During my PhD, I spent three summers crawling through a beautiful calcareous grassland nature reserve in Bedfordshire, UK, looking for caterpillars amongst the grasses and wildflowers. Occasionally we would have extremely hot weather, and as I was crawling around in the chalky earth, I noticed how hot it was near the ground. I was carrying a thermocouple with me, and I noticed that from standing to crouching down to the ground, air temperature could increase by up to 10 or even 20°C.
This got me thinking – insects experience temperatures that are very different from what I was experiencing while walking around. A pleasantly warm day to me may feel very different to a small insect close to the ground. What is this micro-world like for insects?
Photo of Duke of Burgundy butterfly by Prof. Edgar C. Turner
I deployed a network of data loggers across the nature reserve to help me answer this question. I wanted to know what near ground temperatures were really like on hot days, cold days, and everything in between.
So, the loggers recorded microclimate temperatures for a year and half in total, and we managed to capture six heatwave events in that time. We were even lucky enough (or perhaps unlucky enough) to be recording when air temperatures broke 40°C in the UK for the very first time, the dreaded summer of 2022. This gave us a rare opportunity to see what the world might look like more regularly under climate change.
Now armed with real-world hourly temperature measurements at fine scales, we could glimpse the world that insects occupy. Temperatures were indeed hotter near the ground and rose steadily with increasing temperature these temperatures rose and rose with increasing air temperature. In fact, we found thousands of individual records of temperatures over 40°C, half of which occurred outside of heatwave events.
It turns out that insects are experiencing extreme temperatures more frequently than we previously anticipated, and not necessarily only during heatwaves.
One of the main goals of our project was to identify how we can maintain cool refugia within landscapes – microclimates that are cooler than ambient temperature (think of a cool, shady patch of grass under a tree on a hot sunny day).
Photo of Duke of Burgundy butterfly by Edgar C. Turner
I had hoped to be able to identify combinations of environmental characteristics, such as steep north-facing slopes with long grass, that were able to maintain refugia well below ambient temperature during heatwaves.
However, what we found was that during heatwaves, areas that we expected to stay cool would turn into heat traps. Surprisingly, what we thought would mitigate extreme temperatures would actually amplify them!
This was a trend across all types of habitats, with no part of the nature reserve consistently maintaining cool refugia during heatwaves. This is incredibly worrying! It means that escape from the heat during heatwaves for small and slow-moving animals will be extremely difficult.
Vulnerability to climate change may depend on where species live in the vertical plane. Species that can fly (such as the large skipper, top left) or live high up in tall vegetation (such as the red admiral caterpillar on stinging nettle, top right) may be buffered from extreme heat. However, species that live near the ground or in short vegetation (such as the glowworm, bottom left, or leaf beetle, bottom right) may be particularly exposed to amplified temperatures.
The nature reserve we were monitoring is a fragment of rare calcareous grassland nestled amongst agricultural land and urban areas. It has been actively managed to maintain high biodiversity, and this has been very successful. It contains many rare and interesting small animals, such as the Duke of Burgundy butterfly and glowworms. Certainly, it is a beautiful example of a biodiversity hotspot in the UK.
However, our results imply that exposed landscapes such as these grasslands are at particular risk under climate change, with little we can do to protect wildlife from extreme heat during heatwaves, especially for small ground-dwelling organisms.
Research paper:
Ashe-Jepson, E., Turner, E.C. and Bladon, A.J. (2025). Local microclimates can both amplify and mitigate extreme temperatures associated with climate change. Frontiers of Biogeography 18: https://doi.org/10.21425/fob.18.164843
Scientists compiled and summarized the largest dataset to date on the cladocerans of the Republic of Tyva—the result of almost thirty years of field work.
Guest blog post by Nadezhda Kirova, Valeria Kirova, Alexey Kotov and Dr. Petr Garibian
The functioning of freshwater ecosystems is impossible without cladocerans (water fleas), which play a key role in the food chains of most continental water bodies. Although the cladoceran fauna is relatively well-studied in the Palearctic as a whole, vast territories of Central Asia, including the Republic of Tyva, have until recently been only fragmentarily studied and required systematic survey.
Different zooplankton in a Petri dish. Photo by Dr.Petr Garibian
The first mentions of water bodies in Tyva date back to the 16th century, with the first data on zooplankton appearing in the early 20th century in the works of the Norwegian researcher Georg Ossian Sars (1903) and the Soviet scientist Vyacheslav Rylov (1923, 1930). Historical events of the 20th century significantly influenced the development of hydrobiological research in the region: after the republic became part of the USSR in 1944, the study of water bodies was actively conducted within the framework of ichthyological and fisheries tasks.
Starting from the 1960s, under the leadership of Tomsk scientists Alexey Gundrizer and later Victor Popkov, large-scale ichthyological and hydrobiological research was carried out in the region. During this period, zooplankton was studied primarily as a food source.
Cladocerans — the invisible foundation of freshwater life
Daphnia galeata is a small species of planktonic crustaceans. Photo taken by Dr.Petr Garibian
If you were to scoop up water from any lake, pond, or steppe salt marsh and examine it under a microscope, you would almost certainly see cladocerans among the first creatures—microscopic crustaceans, usually 0.2–6 mm in size, invisible to the naked eye, but playing a huge role in freshwater ecosystems.
What are they?
Cladocerans are small crustaceans with a characteristic rounded or oval body shape; in most species, the limbs are hidden behind paired valves or a carapace. Externally, they may resemble miniature droplets pulsating in the water. The most well-known representatives of cladocerans are from the genus Daphnia. When first discovered, they were called “pulex aquaticus” or “water flea,” a term still used in scientific publications.
What is their role in nature?
Ceriodaphnia reticulata, a common cladoceran species found in US lakes. This is a female carrying two (orange) eggs in her brood chamber. Photo by Florida Sea Grant under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license
Cladocerans play a key role in the functioning of freshwater ecosystems. Primarily, they are a central link in food chains: continuously filtering water and consuming phytoplankton, bacteria, and organic particles, these tiny crustaceans regulate the intensity of algal blooms, maintain water transparency, and control algal numbers. Thanks to cladocerans, many processes in aquatic ecosystems remain balanced, and they themselves serve as a crucial food source for the fry of most freshwater fish and predatory insect larvae. Without them, many species simply could not survive their early stages of development.
Thus, cladocerans perform the function of ecosystem sanitizers. By filtering water, they cleanse it of fine organic debris and bacteria, acting as a natural “microbial vacuum” that maintains freshwater quality.
Finally, these crustaceans are very sensitive to changes in the aquatic environment. Some cladocerans quickly react to changes in salinity, the presence of heavy metals, toxic substances, and other types of pollution. Thanks to this sensitivity, cladocerans are widely used in water quality biotesting, making them a valuable tool for environmental monitoring.
How do they survive?
Bosmina longirostris, а common species of cladoceran zooplankton found in US lakes. Photo by Florida Sea Grant under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license
Cladocerans have an amazing life cycle. Under favorable conditions, they reproduce by parthenogenesis, without the participation of males—females simply clone themselves. This allows them to instantly colonize temporary water bodies after rains or snowmelt.
When “hard times” come—with the onset of cooling, shorter daylight hours, or the drying up of a water body—cladocerans produce resting eggs. These eggs are covered with a strong shell, can withstand drying, frost, and persist in bottom sediments for decades. Sometimes this “cladoceran archive” in the silt is used to study past climatic epochs—like a natural flash drive.
Where do they live?
Almost everywhere, on all continents including Antarctica. They can be found in diverse continental water bodies: rivers, lakes, swamps, ditches, puddles, and other temporary pools. There are even unique species living in leaf axils, tree hollows, damp moss, groundwater, and caves.
The cladocerans of Central Asia are very diverse, where fresh, slightly saline, and saline water bodies are in close proximity—each with its own unique crustaceans.
Why are they important for science?
Daphnia magna is a species of Daphnia (a cladoceran freshwater water flea). Photo: Per Harald Olsen/NTNU. Credit: NTNU, Faculty of Natural Sciences under a CC BY 2.0 license
Cladocerans are an ideal model for ecologists:
They reproduce quickly.
They are easily cultivated.
They instantly react to environmental changes.
They survive climatic changes.
They form the basis of freshwater communities.
Specimens found in permafrost allow scientists to literally “reconstruct zooplankton communities of the past,” comparing populations from different periods, researching evolution in real time, and tracing climate change processes.
Tyva
The Republic of Tyva is one of the most contrasting and unusual regions of Eurasia. Within a relatively small area, almost all of the Earth’s natural zones are found—from semi-deserts and dry steppes to alpine meadows and high-mountain tundras.
Republic of Tyva on the map
The climate in the region is sharply continental, with cold winters, hot summers, large daily temperature fluctuations (up to 30°C), and extremely low precipitation, especially in the steppe basins. The climate in the mountains is milder, with more precipitation, warmer winters, and cooler summers than in the basins. The highest peaks have eternal snow. The highest mountain, Mongun-Taiga, is 3976 meters above sea level. This diversity of natural and climatic conditions creates a wide ecological spectrum.
The landscape mosaic of Tyva is impressive—steppe plains with sand massifs, taiga slopes, high-mountain plateaus, swampy areas, and numerous lakes coexist here. There are about two thousand lakes in Tyva, from large ones like Chagytai and Azas to small brackish and freshwater lakes.
The Ubsunur Basin stands out among the natural landscapes—a unique transboundary natural complex included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Here, in a small area, one can find desert, steppe, tundra, and alpine meadows, as well as many lakes with varying degrees of mineralization—from almost fresh to hyperhaline.
This combination of contrasting climatic zones, altitudinal gradients, types of water bodies, and salinity levels makes Tuva a natural laboratory for studying aquatic biota.
Dataset
In the course of the research, scientists compiled and summarized the largest dataset to date on the cladocerans of the Republic of Tyva—the result of almost thirty years of field work in the region (1993–2022). A total of 902 water bodies of various types were surveyed: permanent and temporary, differing in depth, altitude, and salinity.
Taiga
Mongun-Taiga is the highest mountain in Tyva
It is important to note that only a few of the lakes located in the basins can be reached by a comfortable road. Most of the water bodies are situated in the mountains, in hard-to-reach areas with difficult mountain roads. The work was incredibly labor-intensive but also exhilarating: our cars broke down high in the mountains far from any settlements, we experienced earthquakes, we had to spend nights near ancient burial mounds, wolves walked near our camp, and marals would occasionally approach us. We even once had to run quickly high in the mountains to escape a thundercloud whose lightning was striking the ground.
The proceess of sampling from reservoirs
The proceess of sampling from reservoirs
The proceess of sampling from reservoirs
Expedition camp
The group of scientists on one of the expeditions: Professor Artem Sinev (Lomonosov Moscow State University, Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Natalia Sheveleva (Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Nadezhda Kirova (Tuvinian Institute for Exploration of Natural Resources of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences)
The process of sampling from reservoirs
The process of sampling from reservoirs
On one occasion, we fell into a glacial quickstream. These formations, which occur near high-mountain lakes due to the melting of relict ice, suck you into the depths like quicksand, and are incredibly difficult to escape! So this dataset is inextricably linked with a whole series of adventures.
The final dataset, published in Darwin Core Archive format on GBIF, includes 3,599 occurrence records and 76 species of cladocerans. It is noteworthy that not a single invasive species was found in Tyva, although such finds are not uncommon in studies of cladocerans in other regions.
Stopping due to a broken car
Roads high in the mountains
Roads high in the mountains
Stopping due to a broken car
The thunderstorm we were running from
The obtained materials significantly expand the understanding of the composition and spatial distribution of cladocerans in Tyva, which was previously poorly studied from a faunistic perspective.
Nadezda Kirova and Toby
A special mention must be made of the constant members of our expedition team — Toby the dog, who took part in the annual field trips from 2011 onward, growing from a playful puppy into a wise “scientist dog,” and Karkusha the raven, who joined us in 2016 after we found him as a chick with broken legs and decided to keep him. Without exaggeration, both became an integral part of the long-term history of our fieldwork and made their own contribution.
Toby passed away in November 2025, shortly after our research paper was published, at the age of fourteen. It would not be an overstatement to say that he truly devoted his life to these studies, accompanying us year after year and becoming a symbol of the expedition itself.
Research article:
Kirova N, Kirova V, Kotov A (2025) Diversity of the cladocerans (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) in the Republic of Tyva, Russian Federation. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e163656. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e163656
This is the first policy brief by the Horizon Europe project PollinERA, whose aim is to improve pesticide risk assessments, in order to protect wild pollinators across the Europe Union.
The 11-member PollinERA project consortium, brought together to reverse pollinator population declines and reduce the harmful impacts of pesticides, has released its first policy brief.
This marks an important stepping stone for the project, bringing PollinERA’s scientific insights directly into the policy space in a format designed to support decision-making.
It has been acknowledged that the current approach works in isolation, overlooks cumulative impacts and bases decisions solely on binary “safe/unsafe” categories.
What the PollinERA-derived policy brief suggests is a systems-first, tools-second approach that can deliver faster, cheaper and effective decision-making by prioritising simulation and systems understanding before developing regulatory tools for Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA).
The brief is authored by project coordinator Christopher John Topping, Noa Simon Delso, James Henty Williams and Johan Axelman. Together, the team used their expertise in pollinator research and environmental policy to present PollinERA findings in an accessible, practical and relevant way, dedicated for those who shape policy at European and national levels.
To ensure transparency and provide a strong scientific foundation, the policy brief is supported by a technical evidence report, also made openly available.
The policy brief, technical supportive documents, as well as key scientific resources and publications are conveniently and publicly accessible in the PollinERA’s project collection, hosted in the open-science scholarly journal Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO). Being ‘a living’ space, the collection will be further enriched as new valuable outputs are generated over the course of the project.
The policy brief marks the beginning of the PollinERA Policy series: a collection of policy briefs that will be released throughout the project.
Each brief will focus on a different aspect of pollinator protection or pesticide risk assessment, helping to build a coherent and comprehensive set of policy-facing outputs.
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.
