Thematic Area

To determine the baseline threat of microplastics and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in an important seafood fish from Vueti Navakavu locally managed marine area, a multi-biomarker risk assessment was conducted on the thumbprint emperor fish Lethrinus harak...In this multi-biomarker approach, the observation of pollutants presence and histopathological injuries are considered biologically relevant from a toxicological perspective and serve as a baseline for future pollution studies in seafood fishes in Fiji, with site differences and the inclusion of fish species compariso

Ocean warming is causing declines of coral reefs globally, raising critical questions about the potential for corals to adapt. In the central equatorial Pacific, reefs persisting through recurrent El Niño heatwaves hold important clues. Using an 18-year record of coral cover spanning three major bleaching events, we show that the impact of thermal stress on coral mortality within the Phoenix Island Protected Area (PIPA) has lessened over time.

Setting targets for addressing major planetary concerns is an essential prerequisite for concerted global action (both inside and outside multilateral environmental agreements) and is necessarily a societal and political process, requiring negotiation and convergence among oftenconflicting interests. There is no such thing as a ‘scientific target’ applied in policy or business—operational targets are socio-political choices. However, this is not to say that targets cannot be ‘science-based’.

Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a“Green List of Species” (now the IUCN Green Status of Species).

Day 3 session of the recent Vi

A variety of factors can affect the biodiversity of tropical mammal communities, but their relative importance and directionality remain uncertain. Previous global investigations of mammal functional diversity have relied on range maps instead of observational data to determine community composition.

Sustainable tourism involves increasingly attracting visitors while preserving the natural capital of a destination for future generations. To foster tourism while protecting sensitive environ‐ ments, coastal managers, tourism operators, and other decision‐makers benefit from information about where tourists go and which aspects of the natural and built environment draw them to particular locations. Yet this information is often lacking at management‐relevant scales and in remote places. We tested and applied methods using social media as data on tourism in The Bahamas.

Monitoring of marine protected areas (MPAs) is critical for marine ecosystem management, yet current protocols rely on SCUBA-based visual surveys that are costly and time consuming, limiting their scope and effectiveness. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is a promising alternative for marine ecosystem monitoring, but more direct comparisons to visual surveys are needed to understand the strengths and limitations of each approach.

The community based conservation (CBC)paradigm predicts that sustainable biodiversity can only be achieved if local people perceive benefits from conservation. Through interviews,

Many conservation managers, policy makers, businesses and local communities cannot access the biodiversity data they need for informed decision-making on natural resource management. A handful of databases are used to monitor indicators against global biodiversity goals but there is no openly available consolidated list of global data sets to help managers, especially those in high-biodiversity countries. We therefore conducted an inventory of global databases of potential use in monitoring biodiversity states, pressures and conservation responses at multiple levels.