Fjord ecosystems serve as crucial habitats for elasmobranchs, supporting them across all life stages. Chilean Patagonia provides one of the most complex and extensive networks of fjord ecosystems in the world, displaying high marine biodiversity, including elasmobranchs. However, little is known about this ecologically important group of fishes in these ecosystems. This study investigates the biodiversity of elasmobranchs in the Comau Fjord over a period of 6 months by combining morphological and molecular data. In total, 309 specimens within a radius of 7.5 km were recorded, belonging to six families and nine species: Hexanchus griseus (77.5–178 cm LT), Notorynchus cepedianus (180.6 cm LT), Schroederichthys bivius (35–65.2 cm LT), Scymnodon macracanthus (37.3 cm LT), Centrophorus squamosus (87.4 cm LT), Deania calceus (58.3–98.6 cm LT), Squalus acanthias (25.5–101.1 cm LT), Dipturus chilensis (62.9–152 cm LT), and Dipturus trachyderma (69.8–194 cm LT). This included records of three species previously unknown in the fjord and was equivalent to nearly 20% of the elasmobranch richness found in Southern Chile. The results further suggest that the Comau Fjord could be a primary nursery ground for several species of elasmobranchs. This is the first time that a species inventory of elasmobranchs is conducted in a Chilean fjord system. The outcomes of this research provide an elasmobranch species checklist with biological aspects from the Comau Fjord, which are essential data to inform decision makers, conservation managers, and future research.

The preference towards colourful patterns generates many aesthetic biases, including in Biology research, leading to taxonomic preferences and understudied groups, including many plant taxa. After reviewing the importance of aesthetics in Turing colour pattern studies and the relative nature of the sense of beauty in Biology, I present a method called SE (せ) that strongly reduces taxonomic preferences in colour pattern formation studies, together with allowing the exploration of colour patterns biodiversity and facilitating the discovery of new morphogenesis processes.

Cycads, an ancient lineage, face a higher threat of extinction than any other plant group. To address this urgent issue, a more comprehensive method for assessing extinction threat, the Conservation and Prioritization Index (CPI), is proposed and tested for cycads in the State of Veracruz, Mexico. The CPI is a multifaceted approach that incorporates techniques used in conservation status assessments by the IUCN and the Mexican NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 but incorporates other information, including georeferenced distribution data, endemism in Veracruz, number of locations, extent of occurrence, and distribution area. Using CPI, correlations were found between longitude and extinction risk for Ceratozamia species in Veracruz. Zamia vazquezii and Z. inermis were assessed to have the highest level of extinction risk. Overall, this study indicates that a more holistic approach, incorporating broader sources of environmental health, can be used to more effectively and proactively manage extinction threats to cycads in Veracruz. In this sense, Veracruz can serve as a model for conservation planning in different states in Mexico and worldwide. CPI is a tool that can be applied to other regions to manage another threatened biota. This method enhances objectivity and effectiveness in conservation efforts, promoting data-driven decision-making that can be used globally.

Cryoconite holes are supraglacial depressions containing water and microbe-mineral aggregates. Their autotrophic component plays a central role in reducing the albedo of glaciers and could contribute to sustaining the cryoconite food web. However, knowledge of its diversity is still limited, especially in Antarctica. Moreover, the study of cryoconite microalgae is challenging due to the limitations of molecular approaches, such as incomplete genetic databases and the semiquantitative nature of the data. Furthermore, it is equally difficult to examine the development of microalgae in sediment by using standard counting methods for water-living organisms. By using an adaptation of the high-speed density gradient centrifugation method, we provide a comprehensive description of the phenotypic characteristics, abundance and community structure of microalgae and Cyanobacteria in different cryoconite holes located in different glaciers of Northern Victoria Land, East Antarctica. We described 36 morphotypes belonging to Cyanobacteria, green algae and diatoms, revealing that cryoconite holes encompass a remarkably high diversity of photoautotrophs. The adapted protocol enabled the application of a standard microscopic approach, which provided crucial and comparable information on morphological characteristics, biovolume and community organization from a unique environment. The study poses the basis for the taxonomy of photoautotrophs as well as their diversity and distribution in cryoconite habitats.

The brachyuran crab fauna (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura) collections in the extensive exploratory fishery survey cruises from the northeast coast of India was studied from June 2018 to March 2020. During the study period, 81 species of brachyuran crabs belonging to 19 families and 46 genera were recorded. Among these, 21 species were newly recorded from the northeast coast of India, and 1 species, Naxioides taurus (Pocock, 1890) represents a new record for the mainland coasts of India. This study serves as a baseline for understanding the diversity and distribution of brachyuran crabs in the region. It provides valuable insights for future research and conservation efforts.

Biodiversity credits are increasingly being promoted as an innovative tool for closing the biodiversity finance gap. A growing number of providers are offering biodiversity credits, either linked to carbon credits or as a new asset class in their own right. However, there are also warnings that they could become a double-edged sword for conservation and distract governments from their financial responsibilities agreed in the Global Biodiversity Framework. Biodiversity credits differ from other environmental policy instruments in that they offer a non-offsetting way of financing conservation and restoration activities. Well-designed credit schemes can therefore make a significant contribution to real net biodiversity gains. But to realize their full potential, biodiversity credits need to be based on a common methodology, broaden their focus to include marine areas, and respect the rights of local and Indigenous communities. Benefit sharing and embedding in regulatory approaches will be critical to their success.

The relationship between ecosystem disturbance and biodiversity levels has been a central focus of ecological research for the past half-century. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis, which suggests that maximum biodiversity is achieved through the coexistence of early and late successional species, however, has been challenged for its lack of clarity regarding the intensity, duration and extent of disturbances. This Perspective article advocates for a broader biocultural framework to move from the notion of disturbance to an understanding of human–environment mediations. Our proposed biocultural hypothesis acknowledges that, in certain cultural contexts, interventions by Homo sapiens at different environmental scales – mainly at the landscape level – can generate peaks in beta and gamma biodiversity compared to reference ecosystems. We illustrate these human–environment mediations through studies conducted in the biocultural region of Mesoamerica and comparative research findings, particularly from the Amazon Basin and West and Central Africa. In our conclusions, we discuss the need to establish collaborative research programmes around the proposed biocultural hypothesis, addressing management and institutional actions that will strengthen the engagement of Indigenous people and rural local communities with their historical territories that we name ‘Priority Biocultural Areas’.

This study describes a new species of Pharyngodon Diesing, 1961 (Nematoda: Pharyngodonidae) in teiid lizards Ameivula ocellifera (Spix, 1895) (Squamata: Teiidae) from a Caatinga morphoclimatic domain in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Pharyngodon ameivulum n. sp., like 11 other species of the genus, features males without spicules, females with truncated eggs, and no tail spines. However, the new species is distinguished by a unique set of morphological characteristics, such as males possessing three pairs of caudal papillae, with the first pair precloacal, the second adcloacal, and the third postcloacal (arrangement 1:1:1), the second pair (adcloacal) of papillae having a bifurcated distal end, and females with lateral body alae. Molecular analysis of the 18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, and 18S + 28S concatenated sequences genes reveals that P. ameivulum n. sp. clusters with representatives of Pharyngodonidae from the genera Skrjabinodon Inglis, 1968 and Spauligodon Skrjabin, Schikhobalova & Lagodovska, 1960, forming a basal clade to the clade composed of Spauligodon spp. and Skrjabinodon trimorphi Ainsworth, 1990. These are the first phylogenetic assays to include a species of Pharyngodon.

Jordan’s mammalian fauna has experienced significant declines due to intensified hunting since the early twentieth century, leading to the extinction of six species and threatening 39% of the remaining species. This research evaluates the evolution of Jordan’s hunting laws across three historical stages – the Ottoman period, the establishment of Jordan and the modern era – highlighting their impacts on mammalian diversity and identifying legislative gaps contributing to species declines. Using Arabic-based legal databases and historical archives, we found that inadequate legal frameworks, political instability, economic pressures and weak enforcement often accelerated species depletion. Notably, the 1957 Hunting Law permitted hunting of vulnerable species with a licence and of predators without a licence, worsening species decline. Although the 1962 Defense Law aimed to protect nature, its expiration hindered progress. The 1966 Hunting Law largely duplicated the 1957 law, perpetuating these problems, and then hunting regulations were absorbed into agricultural law, undermining conservation efforts. Despite these legal shortcomings, Jordan’s modernization vision provides hope for reform, including the potential restoration of the Hunting Law under the Ministry of Environment and incorporating the right to a healthy environment into Jordan’s constitution to help prevent a mass extinction of mammals.