Japanese waters represent the northern distributional limit of the western Pacific distribution of the oceanic manta ray ( Mobula birostris) , yet movement ecology in this region remains poorly understood. We report movements of the first satellite‐tagged individual in Japan. High‐resolution depth–time series data documented repeated dives to 300 m and a maximum depth of 1082 m, with deeper use occurring predominantly at night...

The Asia region harbors exceptional chondrichthyan (shark, ray, and chimaera) diversity but faces intense fishing pressure. The Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRA) process provides a collaborative, evidence-based framework to identify critical habitats and inform spatial management. We assessed ISRAs across the Bay of Bengal, Southeast Asia, and the Northwest Pacific to characterize their extent, ecological significance, and...

Understanding the spatial ecology of wide-ranging marine megafauna is essential for identifying critical habitats and designing effective conservation strategies. Whale sharks undertake extensive movements far beyond well-studied aggregation sites, yet the spatial structure and environmental drivers of these movements remain poorly resolved. Here we integrate long-term satellite tracking data from 2015 to 2025 for 70 whale sha...

Deep dives are performed by a range of marine megafauna, yet their function remains poorly understood. Proposed functions include foraging, predator avoidance, and navigation, but limited fine-scale data have hindered rigorous testing of these hypotheses. Here, depth time-series data from eight recovered and 16 non-recovered satellite tags deployed on oceanic manta rays ( Mobula birostris ) in Indonesia, Peru, and New Zealand...

The whale shark ( Rhincodon typus ) is an iconic species in the Bird’s Head Seascape (BHS) in eastern Indonesia, yet little is known about its population and residency patterns across the region. This study documents the population demographics of this globally Endangered species from four key regions within the BHS: Cenderawasih Bay (CB), Kaimana (KA), Raja Ampat, and Fakfak. Using 13 years of photographic identification (pho...

Indonesia is home to significant populations of globally vulnerable reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) in at least four key regions: Berau, Nusa Penida, Komodo, and Raja Ampat. Despite detailed population studies in each of these regions, little is known about their horizontal movement patterns. Our study used satellite telemetry to investigate reef manta rays’ habitat use and home ranges. A total of 33 manta rays were tagged wi...

A comprehensive understanding of cetacean ecology is crucial for conservation and management. In 2018, Kaimana was identified as an Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) due to the regular presence of feeding aggregations of Australian humpback dolphins ( Sousa sahulensis ), Pacific bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops aduncus ) and Bryde's whales ( Balaenoptera edeni ). Despite this, information on cetacean ecology in the Kaimana reg...

The 6.7-million-hectare Raja Ampat archipelago is home to Indonesia’s largest reef manta ray ( Mobula alfredi ) population and a representative network of nine marine protected areas (MPAs). However, the population dynamics of M. alfredi in the region are still largely unknown. Using our photo-identification database, we fitted modified POPAN mark-recapture models with transience and per capita recruitment parameters to estima...

Coral reefs are highly threatened by ocean warming and the majority are likely to be lost in less than three decades. A first step in maximizing reef conservation through this period is to identify where coral reefs are more likely to survive rising ocean temperatures, such as locations that experience lower temperatures than surrounding regions, high temperature variability, and high food supply. Such conditions are often the...

The behaviour and spatial use patterns of juvenile manta rays within their critical nursery habitats remain largely undocumented. Here, we report on the horizontal movements and residency of juvenile reef manta rays ( Mobula alfredi ) at a recently discovered nursery site in the Wayag lagoon, Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, we provide further corroborative evidence that the lagoon serves as an impor...

Forest soil and litter is inhabited by a diverse community of animals, which directly and indirectly rely on dead organic matter as habitat and food resource. However, community composition may be driven by biotic or abiotic forces, and these vary with changes in habitat structure and resource supply associated with forest land use. To evaluate these changes, we compiled comprehensive data on the species composition of soil an...

Ecological communities consist of small abundant and large non‐abundant species. The energetic equivalence rule is an often‐observed pattern that could be explained by equal energy usage among abundant small organisms and non‐abundant large organisms. To generate this pattern, metabolism (as an indicator of individual energy use) and abundance have to scale inversely with body mass, and cancel each other out. In contrast, the...

Repeated exposure and flooding of the Sunda and Sahul shelves during Pleistocene sea‐level fluctuations is thought to have contributed to the isolation and diversification of sea‐basin populations within the Coral Triangle. This hypothesis has been tested in numerous phylogeographical studies, recovering an assortment of genetic patterns that the authors have generally attributed to differences in larval dispersal capability o...

The Coral Triangle is the global center of marine biodiversity; however, its coral reefs are critically threatened. Because of the bipartite life history of many marine species with sedentary adults and dispersive pelagic larvae, designing effective marine protected areas requires an understanding of patterns of larval dispersal and connectivity among geographically discrete populations. We used mtDNA sequence data to examine...