The Ramsar Convention, a treaty that promotes wetland conservation, produced a report on the declining status of wetlands. The report identifies the causes of wetland degradation and possible corrective actions. We summarise the report, highlighting policy and implementation gaps that must be addressed to ensure effective wetland conservation and restoration.

This short review presents a brief analysis of feeding habits of fishes in a large reservoir with high fisheries potential in Turkey. Following a short historical background on fish introductions, we demonstrated that early attempts for categorising feeding groups of marine fishes are not functional for freshwater fishes. This paper both indicates the need for filling this gape and documents a general scheme of the trophic levels of fish species in a large reservoir in Turkey.

We explored whether responses of amphibian assemblage to habitat conversion were influenced by reproductive modes in freshwater coastal wetlands in southern Brazil. Agricultural land use was related to amphibian-assemblage structure, with aquatic reproductive modes (eggs deposited directly in water) being the most sensitive to habitat modification

We compared zooplankton communities between natural ponds and constructed dams on farms. Zooplankton typical of eutrophic conditions were common in both pond types, but no major ecological difference was found between each pond type. Zooplankton composition was determined primarily by macrophyte coverage and water colour. Prevalence of non-native species was low, indicating farm ponds are not acting as ‘stepping stones’ for invaders across landscapes.

Two-year-old Atlantic chub mackerels (Scomber colias) collected between January and April of 2018 at four main regions of the North-east Atlantic were used for body geometric morphometrics and otolith-shape analyses. Data suggested that S. colias in these main fishery areas is not a homogenous single stock, and should be regarded as different population units for fisheries management purposes.

An isotope mixing model was used to estimate the contributions of basal resources supporting fish biomass in zones along the Usumacinta River. Periphyton and riparian vegetation support fish communities in the upper zone, whereas seston and aquatic macrophytes were important downstream. Differential contributions of basal resources were associated with seasonal hydrology and local environmental conditions, supporting the river wave concept.

Early diatom colonisation in two urban streams, one exposed to a low to moderate anthropogenic effect and the other a heavily polluted stream, was evaluated. Diatom density, diversity, colonisation rates, ecological guilds and cell size classes were studied during the first week of colonisation on sterile glass substrates, and distinct patterns were found for each stream.

The effects of electric field (EF) on terrestrial plans, seeds and water animals are well documented, whereas the effects of EF on aquatic macrophytes remain unknown. Our results found that the growth, development and metabolism of submerged macrophytes might be inhibited by EF. More extensive field experiments deserve further attention to prove the negative effects because the results were obtained from a simulated experiment.

We provide one of the few detailed age-based life-history studies on the age, growth, mortality, and reproduction of two species of tropical goatfishes considered to be data-poor found in the Mariana Islands. Using years of fishery-dependent data, we found that both species are short lived, early to mature, and fast growing. Despite weekly sampling resolution, duration of sampling and a wide size range, there are still unknowns about the reproduction life history of P. barberinus in this region’s fishery.

This study estimated the age and growth parameters of two small coastal shark species for the first time in subtropical waters; unlike most sharks, both species exhibited very fast growth. Considering that these species are the most captured sharks in the study area, the results are crucial for fishery management and for the evaluation of the vulnerability status of the two species.

We investigated recruitment patterns of juvenile Australian grayling, a nationally threatened diadromous fish, entering freshwater environments in south-east Australia. Catches were associated with day of year and mean daily discharge. Our results can refine management actions to increase recruitment of this high-priority species, for example ensuring river mouth conditions are suitable for attracting and facilitating passage of recruits.

Anuran larvae can seasonally represent the largest animal biomass in freshwater environments, yet are still one of the least studied taxa in terms of nutrient recycling. The present study investigated the quantity and the quality of recycled nutrients in three pond-dwelling tadpoles in Japan and how these patterns change with increased resource competition in two species.

Highly branched isoprenoids (HBIs) were detected for the first time across a freshwater food web. HBIs are produced by diatoms and could provide a powerful new tool for monitoring and, ultimately, predicting how high-quality energy sources fuelling freshwater food webs respond to ongoing global anthropogenic stressors.

This study provides the first age and growth estimates of the goblin shark Mitsukurina owstoni, a large, data-deficient deep-water elasmobranch. We developed a method for ageing poorly mineralising structures using Alcian blue, back-calculated length at age and estimated growth and life history parameters using a data-integrating Bayesian von Bertalanffy growth model.

Understanding of genetic structure and genetic diversity is an important component of the successful and sustainable long-term management of marine organisms. However, such information for Acetes chinensis is lacking. In this study we investigated the population genetic structure and genetic diversity of A. chinensis using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene. The results prove the presence of two different fishery management units in the East China Sea and highlight the roles of ocean currents in promoting or hindering gene exchange among marine shrimp.