Female demographic advantages drive sustainable growth and reintroduction capacity in captive giant panda populations

The Mekong giant catfish ( Pangasianodon gigas ) is a large, migratory species endemic to the Mekong Basin. Owing to declining abundance and a shrinking distribution, it is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Bycatch is a major contributor to the decline of P. gigas and many other threatened freshwater fishes; yet monitoring is difficult, and data are often lacking. We investigated bycatch of P. gigas in the Cambodian Mekong River system. Between October 1999 and January 2025, we documented (i) 132 wild P. gigas caught as bycatch, with high survival (>83%) upon release; (ii) seasonal peaks during the October–January migration; (iii) declining body weight over time, indicating shifts in demographic structure; and (iv) spatial and temporal catch patterns showing broad distribution across the Tonle Sap and Mekong main channels, confirming continued use of historical migration routes. Incidental capture occurs at all life stages, in many locations, particularly between October and January each year, and bycatch is a major source of mortality for the species, alongside other threats. This research underscores the underappreciated importance of bycatch in freshwater ecosystems and highlights the value of integrating fisher participation and knowledge into conservation strategies to balance species protection with sustainable livelihoods. • Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) is a critically endangered flagship species endemic to the Mekong River, whose population trends, distribution, and habitat remain little known • Giant catfish bycatch data were recorded during the last 25 years and show a broad distribution of the species across the Tonle Sap and Mekong main channels, with bycatch peaks during migration season (October–January) • Captures became more abundant in the last years, indicating a possible recovery of the species, but this is mitigated by a decline in the body size of the captured specimens. • Collecting bycatch data is an efficient way to follow population trends and to involve fishermen with conservation actions, with limited detrimental impact on the species (83% of the specimens captured were released to the water after capture)

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to examine how field trips, compared to conventional classroom instruction, influence children’s scientific understanding of forest ecosystems—specifically, the complexity and richness of children’s mental representations in drawings. Field trips can enhance scientific meaning-making by actively engaging students, incorporating sensory experiences and enabling embodied cognition. The study involved 175 children from eight classes in grades 1 and 3 of Polish primary schools. Data were collected through recorded whole-group discussions and children’s drawings created before and after the intervention. Our analysis revealed a significant effect of the teaching approach encompassing field trips on both the number of forest elements depicted and the complexity of ecosystem representations in the children’s drawings. Students who participated in field trips produced more detailed and complex representations. Based on the analysis of the children’s verbal statements, we believe that the woodpecker can be considered a flagship species for urban forest ecosystems in Poland.

UAV-based deep learning for biodiversity monitoring: Advances, applications, and future directions

Abstract The efficiency and success of Wildlife Recovery Centers (WRC) is overall understudied contrasting with the great economic expense of rehabilitation programs. Studies on post‐release monitoring of rehabilitated animals usually lack comparisons to wild counterparts. Here, we aimed to fill this gap by analyzing tracking data of a flagship species under conservation concern, the Spanish imperial eagle ( Aquila adalberti ). We focused our case‐study on the dispersal movements of this species in the Iberian Peninsula. We GPS‐tagged 17 eagles in Extremadura, consisting of five “injured” (required a physical recovery in a WRC), seven “healthy” (spent time in a WRC with no diagnosed injury), and five “control” (wild) individuals. We analyzed at a daily temporal scale the distance moved, the time spent across different behaviors, and the timing of maximum activity. We performed linear mixed models to study how these metrics were affected by WRC treatment, and how this effect changed over time. Sample size for observation units in our models was 8,596 daily tracking subsets. The timing of activity peak was not affected by any of our predictor variables of interest. Conversely, treatment affected daily distance moved, resting, and hunting behaviors. Particularly, we found widespread significant effects of the interaction between treatment and tracking day (i.e. day since release). Rehabilitated eagles (both healthy and injured) moved shorter distances, spent more time resting, and less time hunting than controls in the short term. However, such differences gradually declined over time and completely disappeared when pooling tracking data after 1 year (up to 2.3 years). These results highlight the long‐term success of rehabilitation for dispersive Spanish imperial eagles.

The spotted seal (Phoca largha) is a flagship species and natural monument inhabiting Korean coastal waters. Due to its conservation importance and the rarity of carcass discoveries, determining the cause of death of each individual is critical. A juvenile female spotted seal carcass was discovered on the eastern coast of Korea in May 2025. External examination revealed multiple parallel lacerations consistent with propeller strike injuries. Post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) was performed prior to necropsy to provide a comprehensive forensic analysis. CT imaging revealed the longest wound measured 10.49 cm in length and 1.58 cm in depth, suggesting a minimum propeller diameter of approximately 19 cm. Skeletal injuries included a coccygeal vertebral fracture and subluxation of the left astragalus and calcaneus. CT images of the respiratory tract showed frothy fluid in the nasal cavity and trachea, as well as ground-glass opacity and consolidation in the lung parenchyma. Necropsy findings confirmed severe pulmonary edema, congestion, and abundant frothy foam throughout the respiratory tract. Histological analysis revealed pulmonary edema with eosinophilic fluid and erythrocytes in alveolar spaces, markedly distended blood vessels, and intra-alveolar hemorrhage. This comprehensive approach demonstrated that the cause of death was drowning, secondary to propeller strike by a small vessel (<4.5 m). To the authors' knowledge, this is the first case report providing a detailed forensic analysis of a juvenile spotted seal found on the eastern coast of Korea. This case highlights the importance of integrating PMCT with conventional necropsy to improve cause-of-death determination in marine mammal conservation.

Large branchiopod crustaceans play a crucial ecological and economic role as flagship species in temporary aquatic habitats. With less than 10% of the global fauna identified in the Indian subcontinent, it is essential to conduct comprehensive research that includes open access information on their diversity and distribution. Such data generation is vital as it provides key insights to support management and conservation efforts. Given the limited, fragmented and incomplete information on the diversity and distribution of large branchiopods in India, we offer the first comprehensive compilation of species occurrence records for the country. This compilation integrates data from our field collections (2020-2024) and relevant information extracted from literature (from 1859-2024). We provide 581 comprehensive records of 46 species from India, revising the names and taxonomic classification of certain species to highlight the significance of detailed, georeferenced occurrence data in improving our knowledge of large branchiopod biodiversity and distribution. Additionally, we introduce the Rshiny application, which illustrates the spatial distribution of all large branchiopod species found in India, along with their frequency across various habitat types. We provide a total of 581 open access records using a literature review and our original data from India (1859-2024), with 13 families, 15 genera and 46 species from all five orders (Anostraca, Notostraca, Laevicaudata, Spinicaudata and Cyclestherida). Each record has its current scientific name, location name, geographic information system (GIS) data of the location, date/year of collection and the waterbody type in which the species was found.Few secondary occurrences date back to more than 150 years and it is likely that these habitats (such as pools and ponds) are now destroyed; the coordinates we provide for many such habitats/regions can help in re-surveying and re-describing certain species or in future research on this group. Following the initial study, which documented 42 species from the Indian subcontinent and 38 from India, we have added four new records to the Indian checklist. A new fairy shrimp species, Streptocephalus warliae Katke, Padhye & Vanjare, 2025 was also identified from our samples. An updated RShiny app, entitled 'LbranchidistributR' is presented for visualising the spatial distribution of all large branchiopod species occurring in India, along with the frequency of occurrence in different habitat types.

Improved conservation efforts in China have contributed to the recovery and range expansion of the Asian elephant, increasing spatial overlap between humans and elephants and intensifying the pressure of human-elephant coexistence. Understanding human tolerance toward Asian elephants has therefore become an important pathway for promoting conservation and coexistence. Using survey data from 873 farm households collected in Xishuangbanna Prefecture and Pu'er City in Yunnan Province, this study measures tolerance toward Asian elephants across five dimensions: types of elephant-related damage, economic loss, population size, spatial distance, and activity frequency. Independent-sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA and ANCOVA were used to examine differences in tolerance among different groups of farm households. The results show that: (1) the overall tolerance toward Asian elephants among farm households is relatively low (mean = 2.40); (2) within types of elephant-related damage, tolerance is lowest for crop loss and cash crop loss, followed by loss of working time and risk of human injury, while tolerance is relatively higher for damage to houses and property, loss of stored food, and damage to vehicles; (3) farm households showed low levels of tolerance across the dimensions of economic loss, population size, spatial distance, and activity frequency; (4) higher tolerance is observed among male respondents, Dai farm households, those engaged in wildlife protection-related occupations, and households located in Pu'er City, and tolerance increased as cultivated land area decreased, household income increased, and agricultural dependence declined. These findings provide empirical evidence for understanding farm households' tolerance toward Asian elephants and offer policy insights for improving tolerance, optimizing human-elephant conflict (HEC) management, and promoting the social sustainability of human-elephant coexistence. The study also contributes China-based evidence to discussions on flagship species conservation and community coexistence under the SDG 15 and CBD frameworks.

Despite the endangered status of the Oriental Stork (Ciconia boyciana) on the IUCN Red List, a critical lack of contemporary mitochondrial genomic data from its core distribution areas in mainland China has hindered our understanding of the species' long-term evolutionary stability and spatiotemporal variation. This study addresses this gap by sequencing and assembling the complete mitogenome (17,608 bp) of a contemporary individual from Hongze Lake, Jiangsu (PX682155), and conducting a rigorous comparative analysis against a historical reference sequence published 25 years ago in Japan (NC_002196). Our results demonstrate striking structural and functional conservation across a quarter-century span; the 13 protein-coding genes exhibit highly synchronized gene arrangements, base composition biases, and Relative Synonymous Codon Usage (RSCU) patterns, indicative of stringent purifying selection maintaining oxidative phosphorylation efficiency. While phylogenetic analysis reinforces its sister-group relationship with the White Stork (C. ciconia), significant length polymorphisms were identified within the D-loop control region, primarily driven by microsatellite repeat variations. These findings provide a vital genomic benchmark for mainland populations, offering high-resolution molecular markers essential for future large-scale assessments of geographic isolation and the refinement of targeted conservation strategies for this flagship wetland species.

GAI-YOLOv8: A precision-oriented detection algorithm for identifying fish targets in sonar images

Integrating prey resource into the analysis of snow leopards corridor and conflict risk zone for sustainable conservation

Abstract Large carnivores are widely promoted as flagship species in biodiversity conservation, yet, in high‐density landscapes they generate risks to human lives and livelihoods that are unevenly distributed. Understanding how coexistence is sustained under such conditions raises questions of governance, equity, and whose costs are normalized. We examine human–tiger interactions in the buffer zone of Tadoba‐Andhari Tiger Reserve, India, focusing on intra‐village differences between households that have directly experienced tiger attacks (victims) and neighbouring households that have not (non‐victims). We reviewed forest department records of 80 attacks on people between 2014 and 2024, and conducted 50 semi‐structured household interviews across 16 villages. Our qualitatively driven mixed‐methods approach combined descriptive analyses of attack patterns and socio‐economic profiles with inductive thematic analysis of interview narratives to examine how risk, livelihood disruption, cultural meaning, and governance are experienced under shared ecological and institutional conditions. Victim and non‐victim households articulated similar normative commitments to tiger conservation, including acceptance of tiger presence and recognition of ecological value. However, their lived experiences diverged sharply. Victim households reported frequent encounters, sustained restrictions on mobility and livelihoods, repeated engagement with compensation processes, and persistent fear. Non‐victims more often framed coexistence as requiring vigilance rather than continuous disruption. Cultural practices associated with Waghoba (local tiger deity) worship persisted across households, but among repeatedly affected families, they were described as commemorative rather than protective. Synthesis and applications . Coexistence in Tadoba is not a voluntary arrangement but a condition of compulsory coexistence, sustained through the uneven absorption of risk by a subset of households within the same villages. Aggregate indicators of tolerance or acceptance obscure this intra‐village differentiation and the cumulative endurance through which coexistence is maintained. Governance responses centred on compensation and technical mitigation acknowledge loss without reducing vulnerability where risk is spatially concentrated. Recognizing household‐level inequality is therefore essential for evaluating conservation success and designing interventions that address not only biological persistence, but the distributive conditions under which coexistence is lived. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

A major threat to the declining European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is road traffic. Devising methods to reduce the number of collisions would increase hedgehog welfare in an urbanized world and serve to protect this flagship species, and this goal might be advanced by an understanding of their hearing. This study investigates the auditory capabilities and anatomy of the ear of the European hedgehog. Using auditory brainstem response testing on 20 live hedgehogs from Danish wildlife rescue centres, we measured hearing thresholds across 4-85 kHz and found a peak sensitivity around 40 kHz, revealing that European hedgehogs can hear sound frequencies of at least 4-85 kHz. Complementary postmortem micro-CT scans enabled a detailed three-dimensional reconstruction of the inner ear, revealing small middle ear bones with a cochlear spiral of approximately 1.7 turns. Results show that hedgehogs can perceive a broad ultrasonic range, which provides important cues for directional hearing and may additionally function in prey detection and communication. These findings provide critical insights into hedgehog sensory biology and inform the potential development of ultrasonic repellents to mitigate traffic collisions and habitat disturbances, contributing to conservation strategies for this declining species.

Effective management of natural resources fundamentally relies on public support, making an understanding of the dynamics of public interest crucial for successful conservation policy. Globally, fisheries face sustainability challenges, yet public engagement often remains a key barrier to effective policy implementation. While public interest has traditionally been assessed through surveys, which are often costly and lack real-time granularity, digital trace data such as search engine queries offer a high-frequency alternative to monitor public attention. However, the primary drivers shaping public interest in specific fishery resources, and how these insights can be leveraged to select effective conservation symbols, remain poorly understood. Here we show, using Google Trends data for key Japanese fishery resources, that public interest is driven by two distinct archetypes-predictable seasonality and regional supply-and identify Pacific saury (Cololabis saira) as a unique species whose public profile is increasingly linked to its declining stock status. While previous assumptions might link consumer interest primarily to price and seasonal availability, our analysis reveals that for most species, market prices are a stronger driver than catch volumes. Crucially, Pacific saury diverges from this pattern; its public salience is uniquely influenced by both catch volume and a growing awareness of its resource depletion, making its profile more complex than that of a simple commodity. These findings demonstrate that the flagship species concept, traditionally applied to terrestrial megafauna, can be empirically adapted to exploited marine resources, providing a data-driven framework for selecting species that act as effective anchors for conservation messaging. Our methodology offers a low-cost, transferable workflow for integrating social data into resource management, a critical step for bridging the science-policy-society gap. By transforming passive digital footprints into actionable insights, this approach empowers conservation efforts to become more dynamic and responsive to public sentiment, ultimately fostering greater societal engagement in sustainability.

Emerging infectious diseases, driven by increasing interactions among humans, wildlife, and livestock, pose an escalating threat to global health, biodiversity, and economies. As a flagship endangered species, the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) plays a pivotal role in biodiversity conservation in China. This review synthesizes current knowledge on pathogens threatening giant panda health, including viruses, bacteria, and parasites alongside their potential transmission pathways within nature reserves. We emphasize the roles of domesticated animals, sympatric wildlife, and ectoparasites as reservoir hosts or vectors. Special focus is placed on cross-species transmission dynamics and the critical need for integrated monitoring systems utilizing metagenomics and viromics. We propose a framework for establishing early warning systems and surveillance networks at the domestic-wild animal interface to enhance pathogen detection, disease prevention, and biodiversity conservation.

Monitoring vegetation dynamics is fundamental to assessing the conservation efficacy of large-scale protected areas, particularly for flagship species like the giant panda. However, the Giant Panda National Park (GPNP) faces a unique challenge: it is geographically bisected by the Hu-Line , a profound demographic and climatic divide in China. This study integrates MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) time-series data (2000–2018) with redundancy analysis (RDA) to quantify spatiotemporal vegetation patterns and disentangle the driving forces of the Hu-Line , climatic shifts, anthropogenic interventions, and protected-area status and long-term conservation/restoration measures in areas later consolidated into the GPNP (the GPNP was formally established in January 2017). Our results reveal that the Hu-Line functions as a rigid biophysical barrier rather than merely a demographic boundary. Vegetation vigor in the southeastern sector was significantly higher than in the northwestern sector ( p < 0.01), a disparity primarily driven by climatic constraints which explained 32.75% of the total variation. We identified a warming-greening mechanism where rising temperatures promoted vegetation growth in this high-altitude ecosystem. Crucially, while the GPNP exhibited a consistent recovery trend post-2013 within the current park boundary, a concerning leakage effect was detected in the contiguous non-protected areas (NGPNP), where 30.12% of the land experienced vegetation decline. These findings suggest that strict protection within the core protected areas may have displaced pressure to the fragile periphery. We conclude that effective management requires spatially differentiated strategies respecting the Hu-Line's natural limits, and urgently recommend integrating the contiguous zones into an Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures network to ensure landscape-level connectivity and buffer the core habitat. • A consistent positive trend in EVI in the Giant Panda National Park (GPNP) after 2013. • Natural climatic constraints drive vegetation dynamics more significantly than anthropogenic interventions. • the GPNP system currently has a significant impact on vegetation dynamics. • The Hu-Line functions as a rigid biophysical barrier determining distinct vegetation recovery regimes. • Integrating contiguous zones into OECM networks is urgent to ensure landscape-level connectivity.

Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) are a flagship species for global biodiversity conservation, and their effective protection relies on accurate habitat assessment. This study focused on the Chengdu section of the Giant Panda National Park (Pengzhou, Dujiangyan, Chongzhou, Dayi), integrating terrain, climate, vegetation and human disturbance factors. Using the MaxEnt model (AUC = 0.943) and field infrared camera data, we evaluated snow leopard habitat quality. Results showed that: (1) 95.7% of snow leopard records were concentrated in Dayi County; (2) Key drivers included annual mean temperature (peak at -2 °C), annual mean ground temperature (peak at -1 °C) and human population density (>5 km), while NDVI (≈2000) had a significant negative effect; (3) Suitable habitat was 320.98 km2 (22.20%), decreasing from Qionglai Mountain to Minshan. This study fills regional survey gaps and provides a scientific basis for snow leopard conservation.

Abstract Fly-based industrial insect production currently relies almost exclusively on the black soldier fly ( Hermetia illucens ), despite substantial biological diversity within Diptera and, in particular, within Stratiomyidae. This editorial argues that such taxonomic narrowing limits innovation and regional optimisation of insect-based circular bioeconomy systems. Using Ptecticus tenebrifer (currently recognised as a junior synonym of P. japonicus ) as the primary case study, applied evidence from aquaculture, livestock feeding, manure valorisation and emerging industrial frameworks in South Korea is synthesised. This evidence is contrasted with Ptecticus aurifer , which has been characterised through laboratory-based nutritional analyses and evaluated in an enterprise-linked broiler feeding trial in China, and exhibits promising nutritional characteristics. Additional species are briefly considered to illustrate the broader functional diversity of soldier flies. It is contended that expanding research and development beyond a single flagship species is essential for building resilient, locally adapted insect production systems and for fully exploiting the untapped potential of soldier fly biodiversity.

Reproductive efficiency is a critical determinant of wildlife population persistence, particularly in India, which supports 7-8% of global biodiversity within 2.4% of the world’s land area. Despite conservation gains in flagship species such as tigers, many populations persist in fragmented and human-dominated landscapes where reproductive health remains under-evaluated. Infectious pathogens, endocrine-disrupting contaminants, nutritional stress, climate variability, and anthropogenic interventions interact to impair fertility, embryonic survival, and sex ratio balance. Habitat fragmentation, expanding wildlife-livestock interfaces, and exposure to pesticides and heavy metals further exacerbate reproductive vulnerability. Diagnostic assessment in free-ranging systems requires integration of demographic monitoring, non-invasive endocrine profiling, pathogen detection, pathology, and toxicology. Across taxa, reproductive dysfunction often precedes detectable mortality trends and serves as an early ecological indicator. Strengthening reproductive surveillance within a One Health framework is essential for sustainable conservation planning under increasing anthropogenic pressure.

Under the ongoing strategic advancement of biodiversity conservation, the delineation of the proposed Asian Elephant National Park progressively entered the phase of spatial identification. Identifying the habitat network of regional flagship and umbrella species served as a critical prerequisite and scientific basis for defining spatial extent of the park. This study focused on the key distribution areas of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Xishuangbanna, Pu'er, and Lincang. We integrated the InVEST model with morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) to identify habitat sources, selected six ecological resistance factors and determined their weights using the entropy weight method to construct a resistance surface. We applied the Linkage Mapper tool to extract habitat corridors, ecological barrier points and pinch points, thereby building the habitat network for Asian elephant acti-vity areas. The results showed that a total of 158 habitat sources were identified, covering approximately 23000 km2, with primary and secondary sources together accounting for 18000 km2(20.5% of the study area). There was a spatial pattern of "high density in the central region, sparse distribution at both ends, and north-south connecti-vity", forming a continuous and ecologically valuable core habitat source areas along the Xishuangbanna-Pu'er boundary. We extracted 439 habitat corridors with a combined length of 4616.58 km, which displayed a pattern of "denser in the south, sparser in the north, connecting patches, and forming corridor belts", and effectively supported regional-scale elephant movement. The ecological barrier points in Asian elephant migration paths are predominantly distributed in areas of dense road disturbance and fragmented habitats in Lincang City and central-eastern Pu'er. The ecological pinch points are mainly concentrated in Menghai County and the Menglun area of Xishuangbanna Prefecture, as well as in central-southern Pu'er. Clarifying the differentiated management needs corresponding to various source areas within the core zones of Asian elephants and prioritizing the protection of highly sensitive regions such as ecological barriers and ecological pinch points could enhance the overall connectivity and stability of the regional habitat network, thereby expanding its umbrella effect on biodiversity conservation.