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Diversity
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Anthropogenic Impacts on Marine Ecosystems: A Biodiversity Conservation Emergency
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Anthropogenic Impacts on Marine Ecosystems: A Biodiversity Conservation Emergency

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity Conservation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 5763

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Enrique Lozano

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Ecología Marina Aplicada y Pesquerías, i-UNAT, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus Universitario de Tafira, 35017, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain and Grupo interuniversitario de Toxicología Alimentaria y Ambiental, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Campus de Ofra, 38071 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
Interests: marine pollution; natural pollution; ecotoxicology; marine biology; marine ecology
Dr. Jesús Alcázar-Treviño

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
BIOECOMAC (Biodiversity, Marine Ecology and Conservation), Departamento de Biología Animal y Edafología y Geología, Unidad Departamental de Ciencias Marinas, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
Interests: biodiversity; conservation; bioacoustics; marine ecology; ecology and evolution; animal behaviour

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine biodiversity is being affected by human impacts worldwide. Microplastics, heavy metals and other toxics are constantly being poured into the ocean, and these substances are being incorporated and bioaccumulated by marine organisms, affecting the whole trophic web, with consequences at all ecosystem levels. Another anthropogenic effect on marine biodiversity derives from the increasing human activity in our seas, e.g., manmade powerful noises are disturbing the daily activity of vocal animals, from fish to cetaceans, and even producing malformations in invertebrate larvae, along with abnormal behaviours in different organisms. All of these anthropogenic impacts on the marine biota must be adequately evaluated and monitored, and conservation and decontamination measures must be proposed to regional and state governments to take action against the worrying loss of marine biodiversity.

With this Special Issue, we aim to offer an opportunity to present to the scientific community different cases of human impacts on marine ecosystems, from discrete effects on a single species to generalized effects in the whole trophic web and/or ecosystem. We encourage the prospective use of papers from this Special Issue to be used to support reports presented to competent authorities from each region in order to take action to preserve the marine environment.

Dr. Enrique Lozano
Dr. Jesús Alcázar-Treviño
Guest Editors

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. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2100 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

  •  marine pollution
  •  anthropogenic impacts
  •  marine biodiversity
  •  conservation threats
  •  plastic pollution
  •  heavy metals and trace elements
  •  acoustic pollution

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1159 KiB  
Communication
Metal Concentration in Palaemon elegans along the Coastal Areas of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands): Potential Bioindicator of Pollution
by Enrique Lozano-Bilbao, José Antonio González, José María Lorenzo, Thabatha Thorne-Bazarra, Arturo Hardisson, Carmen Rubio, Dailos González-Weller, Soraya Paz and Ángel J. Gutiérrez
Diversity 2023, 15(11), 1151; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15111151 - 20 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1268
Abstract
Ocean pollution poses a significant issue in the marine ecosystem. Coastal areas are particularly impacted by this pollution, and consequently, organisms associated with these coasts bear the brunt of its effects. Therefore, the presence of robust bioindicators, such as the shrimp species Palaemon [...] Read more.
Ocean pollution poses a significant issue in the marine ecosystem. Coastal areas are particularly impacted by this pollution, and consequently, organisms associated with these coasts bear the brunt of its effects. Therefore, the presence of robust bioindicators, such as the shrimp species Palaemon elegans, is critically important. In this study, 20 P. elegans specimens were examined in each of the five areas on Gran Canaria Island. Water samples were collected to assess the potential existence of elevated concentrations. Significant discrepancies were observed in the levels of Al and Li across all zones, except those previously mentioned. The highest concentrations were recorded in Arguineguín (Southern sector), reaching 49.14 ± 4.51 mg/kg (Al) and 47.64 ± 2.86 mg/kg (Li). The authors contend that P. elegans proves to be a reliable bioindicator for tourist and port-related pollution, specifically for the metals Al, Zn, Cd, Pb, Ni, Fe, B, and Li analyzed in this research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Anthropogenic Impacts on Marine Ecosystems: A Biodiversity Conservation Emergency)
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16 pages, 3516 KiB  
Article
Dead Shells Bring to Life Baselines for Conservation: Case Studies from The Bahamas, Southern California, and Wisconsin, USA
by Andrew V. Michelson, Julian J. Spergel, Katalina C. Kimball, Lisa Park Boush and Jill S. Leonard-Pingel
Diversity 2023, 15(6), 788; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15060788 - 19 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2012
Abstract
We are living in a time of rapid biodiversity loss. Numerous studies have shown that modern extinction rates are higher than pre-human background rates. However, these studies of biodiversity decline almost exclusively focus on large vertebrates. The scientific community lacks the sufficient long-term [...] Read more.
We are living in a time of rapid biodiversity loss. Numerous studies have shown that modern extinction rates are higher than pre-human background rates. However, these studies of biodiversity decline almost exclusively focus on large vertebrates. The scientific community lacks the sufficient long-term records necessary to track biodiversity loss for many invertebrate taxa. However, aquatic, benthic, and skeletonized invertebrates have the advantage of leaving a long-term record that can readily be sampled in conjunction with living communities because the mineralized skeletons accumulate in the very same sediments in which the animals that produced them once lived. These not-quite-fossil “death assemblages” contain an underutilized record for long-term monitoring. Here, we leverage three case studies of calcareous micro- and macro-faunal remains from three aquatic environments spanning two gradients: freshwater to fully marine and polluted to pristine and remediated. We compared the death assemblages to living assemblages in these case studies using Spearman’s rho and the Jaccard–Chao agreement to determine the degree of fidelity. Death assemblages of lacustrine, calcareous microcrustaceans (Ostracoda), collected from lakes in The Bahamas and Wisconsin, USA, faithfully record human impacts, both for degradation and remediation, as determined by a mismatch in the live–dead comparisons. Likewise, the live–dead comparisons of calcareous marine macrofauna (Bivalvia) from the southern California shelf also indicate human impact, including pollution and remediation. These case studies demonstrate how death assemblages can be used to gauge the changes in community assembly and population structures at local and regional scales, even in the absence of a systemic monitoring program. Conservation, restoration, and biomonitoring efforts would benefit from the inclusion of live–dead comparisons of taxa with easily fossilized, identifiable parts. Live–dead studies, such as those presented in these case studies, can be used as tools for recognizing targets and establishing baselines for conservation, tracking community responses to remediation efforts, and identifying local species extinctions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Anthropogenic Impacts on Marine Ecosystems: A Biodiversity Conservation Emergency)
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9 pages, 1381 KiB  
Communication
Sewage Pipe Waters Affect Colour Composition in Palaemon Shrimp from the Intertidal in the Canary Islands: A New Non-lethal Bioindicator of Anthropogenic Pollution
by Enrique Lozano-Bilbao and Jesús Alcázar-Treviño
Diversity 2023, 15(5), 658; https://doi.org/10.3390/d15050658 - 12 May 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1311
Abstract
Marine pollution through anthropic outfalls like sewage pipes is a growing concern since point-source pollution can affect many organisms. Investigating pollutant concentrations in organisms usually requires sacrificing the organisms, but here we propose a new method to infer anthropic pollution in the intertidal [...] Read more.
Marine pollution through anthropic outfalls like sewage pipes is a growing concern since point-source pollution can affect many organisms. Investigating pollutant concentrations in organisms usually requires sacrificing the organisms, but here we propose a new method to infer anthropic pollution in the intertidal by measuring colour levels in Palaemon elegans rockpool shrimp. We took pictures of live shrimp from pools near sewage pipes and control zones in three of the Canary Islands (Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife), and measured their RGB (red, green and blue) abdominal colour composition. We then statistically compared colours from the control zone and sewage pipe and between islands. We found a clear differentiation in colour composition between the control zone and areas with a sewage pipe. Our results supported the hypothesis that pollution affects colouration in these invertebrates. We, therefore, suggest the use of darker colourations in P. elegans as a bioindicator of anthropic pollution, a first sign that should spur more in-depth studies in the affected area. This methodology is pollutant unspecific but non-extractive, so we propose its use as a citizen science tool to inform scientists and technicians of possible illegal and/or untreated wastewater that could affect intertidal biota. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Anthropogenic Impacts on Marine Ecosystems: A Biodiversity Conservation Emergency)
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