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Changes in Population Characteristics of Marine and Freshwater Organisms and...
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Changes in Population Characteristics of Marine and Freshwater Organisms and Their Environmental Driving Factors

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Aquatic Animals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 June 2025 | Viewed by 1443

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Heng Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai 200090, China
Interests: spatial–temporal dynamics; marine ecology; fish community; environmental impact
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With global warming and climate change, the habitats of marine and freshwater organisms have undergone drastic changes, resulting in a series of changes in their population biology and dynamic distribution characteristics. Especially in the past decade, rapid changes in the water temperature and warming trends have caused significant variations in the abundance and spatial distribution of marine and freshwater organisms, with some marine organisms showing a clear trend of moving towards the South Arctic or deep sea. The traditional habitats or fishing grounds of some important economic species have also undergone significant changes, and the stability of their suitable habitats or fishing grounds has declined year by year. The reason for this change may be that the severe fluctuations in the marine environment have affected the normal growth and reproduction of biological populations, thereby altering their population structure and resource spatial distribution. Identifying and understanding the impact of key marine and freshwater environmental factors on the abundance and life history characteristics of biological populations can help us better understand the resource status of these organisms, assess and develop management measures, as well as better protect these biological populations. With the development of modern research methods such as machine learning, especially deep learning, satellite remote sensing, and physical ocean models, the monitoring, simulation, and prediction of habitat distribution and life history processes of biological resources have become more scientific, detailed, and identifiable. This will further help us to correctly understand the self-evolution laws and healthy development of biological populations.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the above.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Heng Zhang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • population characteristics
  • spatial–temporal dynamics
  • biology
  • environmental factor
  • climate change
  • species distribution
  • eDNA
  • resource abundance
  • marine and freshwater organisms

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3085 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Variations in Habitat Use of Humpback Dolphins Due to Anthropogenic Activities in Western Pearl River Estuary
by Xinxing Wang, Min Li, Liang Fang, Tao Chen and Wenhua Liu
Animals 2024, 14(23), 3381; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14233381 - 24 Nov 2024
Viewed by 403
Abstract
Marine mammals near coastlines are highly vulnerable to human activities like rapid industrialisation, port construction, and sea reclamation, which can alter their habitat use. This study examines changes in the habitat use of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in the western Pearl River Estuary (WPRE) [...] Read more.
Marine mammals near coastlines are highly vulnerable to human activities like rapid industrialisation, port construction, and sea reclamation, which can alter their habitat use. This study examines changes in the habitat use of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in the western Pearl River Estuary (WPRE) by employing a kernel density estimation model that considers physical barriers. Sighting records from systematic surveys in 2007–2008 and 2019–2020, along with remote sensing data, were used to analyse changes in shorelines and areas affected by maritime projects since 1973. Approximately 552.98 km2 of water was permanently lost to reclamation between 1973 and 2020. In 2007–2008, dolphins preferred natural shorelines, while reclamation drove them away from artificial ones. By 2019–2020, their core habitat had decreased by two-thirds, with some areas disappearing, likely due to aquaculture expansion. These results highlight the importance of adopting improved environmental assessment methodologies in the planning and regulation of aquaculture activities in the WPRE to better protect the dolphin habitat. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Changes in Population Characteristics of Marine and Freshwater Organisms and Their Environmental Driving Factors)
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16 pages, 9215 KiB  
Article
Spatial Distribution and Growth Patterns of a Common Bivalve Mollusk (Macoma calcarea) in Svalbard Fjords in Relation to Environmental Factors
by Alyona E. Noskovich and Alexander G. Dvoretsky
Animals 2024, 14(23), 3352; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14233352 - 21 Nov 2024
Viewed by 279
Abstract
Ongoing warming in the Arctic has led to significant sea-ice loss and alterations in primary production, affecting all components of the marine food web. The considerable spatial variability of near-bottom environments around the Svalbard Archipelago renders the local fjords promising sites for revealing [...] Read more.
Ongoing warming in the Arctic has led to significant sea-ice loss and alterations in primary production, affecting all components of the marine food web. The considerable spatial variability of near-bottom environments around the Svalbard Archipelago renders the local fjords promising sites for revealing responses of benthic organisms to different environmental conditions. We investigated spatial variations in abundance, biomass, and growth parameters of the common bivalve Macoma calcarea in waters off western Spitsbergen and identified two distinct groups of this species: one composed mainly of cold-water stations from Storfjorden (Group I) and the other comprising warmer-water stations from Grønfjorden and Coles Bay (Group II). Within these groups, the mean abundance, biomass, production, and mortality accounted for 0.2 and 429 ind. m−2, 20 and 179 g m−2, 18.5 and 314 g m−2 year−1, and 0.22 and 0.10 year−1 respectively. The size–frequency and age–frequency distributions were biased towards smaller and younger specimens in Group I, while Group II displayed more even distributions. The maximum ages were 11 and 21 years, respectively. The mollusks from cold water were significantly smaller than their same-aged counterparts from warmer water. Two groups of Macoma were identified: slow-growing individuals with a rate of 1.4 mm and fast-growing individuals with a growth rate of 1.8 mm. Most population parameters were higher than those observed in the Pechora, Kara, and Greenland Seas. Redundancy analysis indicated water temperature as the main driving factor of abundance and biomass, while the latter was also influenced by the presence of pebbles. Our findings provide new insights into the growth patterns and spatial distribution of Macoma at high latitudes and confirm that this species can serve as a reliable indicator of environmental conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Changes in Population Characteristics of Marine and Freshwater Organisms and Their Environmental Driving Factors)
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