Chemical and morphometric analyses of otoliths to differentiate snook species (Centropomus spp.) and assess habitat use on the southeastern Brazilian coast

Habitat and diet affect bioaccumulation of homocyclic and heterocyclic aromatic compounds in Lake Erie fish.

Environmental gradients shape fish assemblages across estuarine-coastal ecosystems on the eastern Brazilian coast.

The Early Pleistocene site of Quibas preserves a rich terrestrial vertebrate assemblage, dated between 1.1 and 0.9 Ma, providing an opportunity to investigate ungulate dietary strategies and habitat use during a crucial phase of hominin dispersal in the Iberian Peninsula. Dental wear analyses of Equus altidens , Hemitragus alba , Praeovibos mediterraneus , and Dama vallonnetensis , combining long-term tooth mesowear and short-term occlusal microwear, reveal a broad spectrum of feeding behaviours in these large vertebrates, ranging from browsing to mixed feeding and grazing, with evidence of seasonal dietary shifts. The occurrence of high pit frequencies, puncture pits, and gouges suggests occasional ingestion of exogenous grit, consistent with the use of open and arid habitats. Integration of dental wear results with previous microfaunal palaeoecological reconstructions indicates a heterogeneous landscape composed of grasslands interspersed with wooded patches. A comparative analysis with other Early Pleistocene Iberian sites reveals recurring patterns of dietary flexibility among ungulates, reflecting the exploitation of mosaic environments. However, no distinct landscape-related pattern emerges from dental wear analyses when comparing sites with and without hominin presence. • Dental wear patterns reveal a varied dietary spectrum from grazing to mixed feeding and browsing in Quibas. • The combination of both dental wear methods suggests seasonal dietary shifts. • Dental wear analyses reveal no distinct diet or habitat signal compared to other Early Pleistocene sites with hominin presence.

Movement and habitat use patterns are not the same for wildcat hybrids in Scotland

Specializing in order to generalize: fidelity to foraging areas is modulated by flexible fine-scale habitat use in Hudsonian Whimbrel (Numenius hudsonicus)

ABSTRACT Parrots provide essential ecological functions that are critical to ecosystem health, yet they are among the most threatened avian orders. Southern palm cockatoos ( Probosciger aterrimus macgillivrayi ) are predicted to face severe population declines due to land clearing, altered fire regimes, and low reproductive success. Understanding the factors that drive species' occupancy at the landscape level is essential to inform effective conservation strategies, particularly in dynamic landscapes. This study used an occupancy modelling approach to examine landscape‐scale ecological factors influencing palm cockatoo presence across ~3000 km 2 within the Weipa Plateau, Cape York Peninsula, Australia. To determine palm cockatoo occupancy, 421 surveys were conducted at 142 sites in June–July 2024. Palm cockatoos were detected on 41 occasions across 34 sites. The estimated occupancy rate was 0.14 (± 11 SE) and estimated detectability was 0.25 (± 4 SE). Cumulative detection probability was estimated at 0.58 (± 0.29 SE) over three visits. Occupancy modelling identified distance from major watercourses and the density of a major food source, nonda plum ( Parinari nonda ), as the strongest predictors of palm cockatoo occupancy. This study demonstrates the utility of occupancy modelling to identify key drivers of habitat use at the landscape level for rare and difficult to study species. Crucially, it highlights the urgent need to conserve habitat along riparian corridors and areas of high‐resource availability in adjacent savanna woodlands to protect the current palm cockatoo population from further decline. Conservation efforts should prioritise these core habitat areas, particularly in the face of expanding mining operations and increasingly destructive fire patterns in the western Cape York Peninsula.

Concerns regarding the safety, environmental impacts, and long-term sustainability of pesticide-dependent crop protection have intensified interest in biological control, which suppresses pest populations using natural enemies (predators, parasitoids, and pathogens) within integrated pest management (IPM) programs. This bibliometric study maps the development of biological control research from 2000 to 2025 using records retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. The publication trends, collaboration structures, leading countries and institutions, core journals, keyword co-occurrence and clustering, citation bursts, and influential cited references were examined using CiteSpace and VOSviewer. The results show a pronounced increase in publication output after 2011, indicating rapid expansion and consolidation of the field in the last decade. Keyword analyses reveal a thematic shift toward ecosystem-based framing, reflected by the growing prominence of terms such as ecosystem services, habitat management, and ecological intensification, which emphasize landscape- and management-oriented approaches to enhancing pest suppression. Cited-reference patterns highlight the persistent influence of the foundational literature on habitat manipulation, landscape complexity, and conservation biological control. Despite the field’s growth, research gaps remain in integrating biological control with emerging bioengineering tools and explicitly accounting for climate-driven variability across regions and production systems.

At their southern range limits in North America, moose (Alces alces) experience increased overlap with white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and associated parasites through shared habitat use. Moose persist at low densities in New York state, USA, and are incidental hosts to multiple pathogenic endoparasites. Understanding the contributions of endoparasitism to moose morbidity and mortality requires investigation into their health status and drivers of parasite infection. We summarized health data from 60 live-captured and 191 opportunistically necropsied moose (spanning 2000-23) and used generalized linear modeling to assess the determinants of moose infection by giant liver fluke (Fascioloides magna) and meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis). Despite 98% of live moose having good or excellent body condition, 75% were potentially infected with at least one internal parasite species. Hematologic analyses of live moose indicated elevated eosinophil and lymphocyte counts. Infestations with winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) were common on live-captured New York moose (74%), although intensities were considerably lower than on moose in neighboring states. Necropsied moose were commonly infected with F. magna and P. tenuis, but most often succumbed to trauma from vehicle collisions. Density of white-tailed deer, definitive host to both endoparasites, was the primary driver of P. tenuis infection in moose. For F. magna, moose age and sampling year were positively associated, whereas deer density and road density were negatively associated with moose infection probability. Limiting deer densities in core moose areas may help reduce the risk of P. tenuis infection, and targeted management efforts could promote resilience of small moose populations to multiple parasites.

Understanding habitat use and connectivity in estuarine fishes is essential for effective conservation and management. In this study, otolith microchemistry was applied to investigate habitat use and connectivity of the estuarine catfish Genidens genidens across three estuaries in southeastern Brazil. A total of 58 individuals were analyzed using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, focusing on strontium-to-calcium (Sr:Ca) and barium-to-calcium (Ba:Ca) ratios. Variations in elemental ratios along otolith transects were used to infer individual ontogenetic patterns along the estuarine–marine gradient. Most individuals exhibited combined use of estuarine and marine environments, while trajectories restricted to freshwater were rare. The apparent complexity of chemical profiles tended to increase with age; however, this pattern disappeared after correction for size-related bias, suggesting that age itself did not significantly influence habitat-use transitions. These patterns are consistent with ecological plasticity and partial migration within populations of G. genidens, although they may also reflect exposure to variable environmental conditions. Sr:Ca ratios were useful indicators of salinity-related transitions, whereas Ba:Ca ratios provided complementary information associated with continental influence. Overall, this study highlights the applicability of otolith microchemistry for investigating habitat-use patterns in estuarine fishes and reinforces the ecological importance of estuaries for feeding, growth, and recruitment in G. genidens, while acknowledging inherent limitations related to environmental variability and proxy interpretation.

Coastal nurseries are critical for the early stages of many elasmobranchs, and understanding spatial ecology during these periods is essential for effective population management. Here, we investigated the environmental drivers shaping shark presence and spatial distribution in an open coastal nursery used by young-of-the-year Sphyrna lewini along the southern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Using acoustic telemetry data collected over three consecutive seasons, we combined Random Forest models with an interpretable machine learning framework, including permutation-based variable importance, accumulated local effects, and a Rashomon set approach. Shark presence was primarily driven by seasonal patterns and lunar illumination, whereas spatial distribution within the nursery area was structured by tide level, shark length, accumulated precipitation, and sea surface temperature. Tide level emerged as the most influential and stable predictor of spatial preference, while size-dependent responses revealed ontogenetic spatial segregation among zones. These results demonstrate that open-coast nurseries can operate through dynamic environmental processes rather than static habitat features, with river-influenced areas playing a key role for smaller individuals. By integrating telemetry data with interpretable machine learning methods, this study provides a mechanistic understanding of nursery habitat use and offers a transferable framework for assessing spatial ecology and conservation priorities in threatened coastal shark populations.

ECR Spotlight is a series of interviews with early-career authors from a selection of papers published in Journal of Experimental Biology and aims to promote not only the diversity of early-career researchers (ECRs) working in experimental biology but also the huge variety of animals and physiological systems that are essential for the ‘comparative’ approach. Pedro Julião Jimenez is an author on ‘ Divergent respiratory modes drive differences in heat tolerance and habitat use among tropical intertidal crabs’, published in JEB. Pedro conducted the research described in this article while a PhD student in Stefano Cannicci's lab at The Swire Institute of Marine Science, Hong Kong, China. He is now a teaching consultant in the lab of Moriaki Yasuhara at the School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, investigating macroecological and macrophysiological responses of organisms to environmental change.

The Mediterranean Sea is a major biodiversity hotspot increasingly affected by biological invasions, climate warming, and habitat degradation. Among the most successful invaders are the rabbitfish species Siganus luridus and Siganus rivulatus, Lessepsian migrants from the Red Sea that are now widespread across the eastern Mediterranean. This study examined how these invasive herbivores influence native herbivore assemblages in shallow coastal habitats around Lipsi Island in the Aegean Sea, Greece. Using Underwater Visual Census (UVC) surveys and in situ feeding observations, we quantified the abundance and grazing activity of invasive rabbitfish relative to that of the native herbivores Sparisoma cretense and Sarpa salpa. Invasive rabbitfish represented approximately 35% of the herbivore assemblages and showed clear habitat and dietary preferences. Significant negative correlations were observed between invasive foraging activity and the feeding rate of the native S. cretense, while no such effect was found for S. salpa. High habitat overlap between S. luridus and S. cretense suggests that this native species may be more susceptible to competition on rocky substrates. Evidence of partial resource partitioning was observed, including increased use of seagrass habitats by S. salpa. These findings highlight how invasive herbivores can restructure native herbivore communities and alter grazing dynamics in eastern Aegean coastal ecosystems. Given the ongoing sea warming and widespread decline of seagrass habitats across the Mediterranean, understanding these competitive interactions is therefore essential for assessing future biodiversity trajectories and informing management strategies.

On January 24, 1998, staff from the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Bird and Mammal Conservation Program and a corps of stalled volunteers participated in a one-day survey of the wintering population of Mountain Plovers (Charadrius montanus) in California. The primary objective of the survey was to detect gross population changes by comparing the information gathered in 1998 to results of a similar survey conducted in 1994. A second objective was to examine distribution and habitat use by wintering plovers. The project represents another step in the effort by DFG, the National Audubon Society (NAS), the CVBC and others to utilize a pool of amateur and professional ornithologists and bird enthusiasts to conduct large scale, volun­teer surveys of declining or otherwise sensitive bird species.

The inherent susceptibility of white sharks ( Carcharodon carcharias ), coupled with reported declines in abundance, has led to their global listing as “Vulnerable”, prompting substantial conservation efforts. However, white sharks' propensity to use coastal areas overlaps with human activities, causing safety concerns. In New South Wales (NSW), Australia, they are caught as part of the world's longest-running meshing bather protection program. After an unprecedented spate of shark bites in 2015, Shark-Management-Alert-in-Real-Time (SMART) drumline trials started in NSW as a novel catch-and-release program aimed at non-lethal bather protection. Using seven years of data, this study analyzed SMART drumline recapture events to describe white shark habitat use along the NSW coastline. In total, 890 individuals were tagged with a recapture rate of 24.5% ( n = 218). Smaller individuals (fork length < 225 cm) and females were more commonly recaptured, suggesting size and sex-specific habitat preferences. Although recaptures occurred year-round and throughout the entire NSW coast, most occurred during the Austral winter and spring and along the northern NSW coast. There were few consecutive recaptures recorded in the same location, suggesting that white sharks move throughout relatively large ranges within coastal areas. Linear distances between recaptures were on average ~220 (SE ± 25) km, mostly representing northward travels. Despite some variation, most recaptures (~77%) were recorded within a year and ~45% within 90 days. These results are consistent with the described movement ecology for the species along NSW, corroborating the seasonal importance of NSW northern coast for juvenile white sharks, and the potential effect that the Eastern Australian Current has on their distribution. This study provides important insights into immature white sharks' ecology in inshore areas, highlighting the value of capture-mark-recapture data collected from SMART drumlines to forecast shark movement for enhanced bather safety and species management.

From breeding grounds to feeding stopovers: modeling the seasonal habitat use of migratory humpback whales off Peru (3–18°S Southeast Pacific)

Ontogenetic shifts in trophic ecology and habitat use for two hammerhead shark species in the Atlantic Ocean

Tribolium castaneum and T. confusum are important stored grain pests and model organisms, yet little is known about the life history of these beetles outside the stored grain environment. While the historical habitat is thought to be rotting logs, current affinity and use of such habitat is unknown despite its potential role in mediating dynamics between natural landscape and stored product facilities. Here we assessed attraction to three different species of decomposing wood, sex-mediated differences in attraction, and survival and reproduction on wood versus flour substrates. We found that both Tribolium species demonstrated significantly higher attraction to decomposing wood than to wheat flour (2.5-7.25x), and reproduction studies with T. castaneum showed reduced survivorship and no reproduction on a decomposing wood substrate. Evidently, attraction to decomposing wood is conserved across these two prominent stored product pests, yet wood alone may not fulfill dietary or reproductive requirements. Wheat flour also elicits a significant olfactory response but also provides high reproductive capacity, which may contribute to Tribiolium's utilization of this novel anthropogenic resource. This study contributes to an important yet understudied area of inquiry into the role natural microhabitats play in supporting these economically important species and the origin of stored grain associations.

Seasonal movements and habitat use of cobia (Rachycentron canadum) in the Gulf of Mexico

Larval source management (LSM) can be highly effective for controlling malaria vectors such asAnopheles funestus s.s., which typically exploit large and permanent aquatic habitats. While these habitats can persist year-round in endemic regions of Africa, their availability and use shift between wet and dry seasons. Understanding these seasonal changes is essential for identifying the habitats that sustain vector populations and for determining when and where LSM would be most effective. We investigated the availability and use ofAn. funestuslarval habitats across wet and dry seasons in south-eastern Tanzania, and the environmental factors that influence these patterns. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted in five villages during the dry season (September-November 2021) and rainy season (February-May 2022) to map and characterize aquatic habitats and identify those colonized byAn. funestus. In total, 2824 aquatic habitats were identified, of which 27% were positive forAn. funestus. Remotely sensed land cover data and directly measured habitat characteristics were incorporated into generalized linear mixed models to evaluate seasonal and environmental predictors of larval presence and abundance. Larval occurrence and density were significantly influenced by habitat type, village, season, and their interactions, as well as by key physicochemical factors including water depth, vegetation type, algae, water clarity, and water source.An. funestuswas commonly found in river streams, ground pools, and ditches across both seasons. During the wet season, however, it also occupied spring-fed wells, rice fields, and dug pits, indicating broader habitat use. These findings demonstrate a clear seasonal shift in larval habitat use byAn. funestus, reflecting its ecological adaptability. While the species generally favors permanent habitats, its expanded use of diverse sites in the wet season has important implications for LSM. Targeting persistent habitats during the dry season may offer a more efficient and feasible window for implementing this intervention.