The Hawaiian monk seal is a phocid Carnivore endemic to the Hawaiian Archipelago. This species was thought to be silent under water until the recent discovery that mature males produce at least six distinct calls year round, typically in bouts of two or more, with sound production linked to reproductive status. Here, we apply a progressive deep‐learning approach for acoustic monitoring of this endangered marine mammal, based o...

Reliable extraction of dolphin whistle contours is fundamental for scalable analyses of vocal identity, repertoire structure, and individual‐based acoustic monitoring. We evaluated four algorithms for fundamental frequency estimation of common bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ) whistles, leveraging a benchmark dataset of annotated whistles from known animals to assess performance across individuals and as a function of...

The South American fur seal ( Arctocephalus australis ) breeds in dense colonies along the Peruvian coast, mostly within protected areas managed by the Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado (SERNANP). To support responsible wildlife tourism near breeding sites, we evaluated the behavioral responses to controlled pedestrian approaches at Punta Coles, within the Reserva Nacional Sistema de Islas, Islotes...

Cetacean epibionts offer noninvasive insights into host health, physiology, and spatial ecology, yet quantitative assessments in wild populations remain scarce. Although vessel‐based observations may be limited by field of view and analyst input, unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs; drones) are increasingly used to monitor cetacean health indices, enhancing observational availability and reproducibility. However, the suitability...

North Pacific humpback whales are a celebrated conservation success, rebounding from extensive commercial whaling. Yet they remain vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, a multifaceted stressor that can exacerbate existing threats. During 2013–2016, a Northeast Pacific marine heatwave severely reduced forage availability in their feeding grounds, concurrent with diminished whale recruitment and increased mortality. We an...

Tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) aquaculture is expanding worldwide, yet disease, environmental variability, and the need for sustainable production remain major challenges. Biotics, including probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics, have been explored to enhance growth and immunity, but their effectiveness across aquaculture systems is not fully understood. This systematic review and meta‐analysis examined 141 studies, includ...

Brachiopods are able to repair drill holes made in their shells by predatory gastropods. However, in most samples examined, drill hole repair is rare to absent: Presumably the drilling attack is usually fatal to the prey. The shells of short‐looped brachiopod Abyssothyris wyvillei , from deep‐sea dredge samples from two localities in the Tasman Sea, New Zealand, show both a high rate of drilling by muricid gastropods and an un...

Seagrass meadows play critical roles in coastal ecosystems by stabilising sediments, supporting biodiversity and sequestering carbon, yet monitoring their recovery at scale is often constrained by the lack of scalable and repeatable approaches. This study applies an open‐source remote‐sensing framework to track long‐term changes in Zostera muelleri in Tauranga Harbour, New Zealand, from 1959 to 2024. Using supervised machine l...

The role of river size on fish communities remains underexplored in freshwater ecology. Small streams, despite accounting for 75% of stream length, are more vulnerable to human impacts and often lack legislative protection. Nevertheless, they can serve as refuges and rearing areas for fish, including rare or threatened species. To understand if small streams host distinct fish assemblages, we analysed fish β‐diversity across s...

Striated surgeonfish ( Ctenochaetus striatus ) and Achilles tang ( Acanthurus achilles ) are two surgeonfish species commonly harvested for subsistence on Miti‘āro, Cook Islands. Using individuals collected by local fishers, this study provides the first age‐ and growth‐based assessment of these species from Miti‘āro. Age and size distribution of C. striatus ranged from 1 to 27 years and 105–250 mm (FL), respectively. Age and...

Blue carbon ecosystems (BCE), including mangroves, saltmarshes, and seagrasses, provide essential functions and services globally but are increasingly challenged by climate change and other anthropogenic activities. In Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa NZ), there is mounting interest in blue carbon as a nature‐based solution to climate change. Quantifying the monetary co‐benefits of BCE, in addition to carbon sequestration, can h...

Age‐based life‐history information provides a foundation for evaluating population dynamics and vulnerability of coral reef fishes, yet many commercially important species from the tropical western Pacific remain poorly characterized. In this study, we examined the age, growth, and reproductive life histories of three reef‐associated species harvested in Guam's commercial fishery: the blacktip grouper Epinephelus fasciatus , t...

Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku, 650 km SW of New Zealand, was surveyed for freshwater invertebrates during the austral summer of 2010/11 as part of the Campbell Island Bicentennial Expedition. Aquatic oligochaetes constituted a considerable proportion of the species collected. A total of 19 species were recorded, including 6 Naididae, 9 Enchytraeidae, and 4 Phreodrilidae, bringing the total number of microdrile species known fro...

Seagrass flowering underpins seed‐based restoration and is governed by the interaction of multiple abiotic and biotic drivers operating across a range of temporal and spatial scales. In New Zealand/Aotearoa, flowering was historically considered rare, but emerging evidence indicates it is more widespread than previously recognised, creating new opportunities for restoration. We conducted a 4‐year study from 2022 to 2025 across...

Plastics are a known but inconsistently researched challenge to Aotearoa New Zealand's inland freshwater systems. Understanding plastic origins, movement, and removal options for individual water bodies can enhance management efforts. This exploratory study quantified meso‐ and macroplastics entering Lake Rotorua through stormwater streams and assessed suitability of in‐stream capture devices. Plastic samples were collected an...

Many culverts in New Zealand rivers are poorly designed or maintained, impeding fish migrations. This study tested three low‐cost fish passage solutions—mussel spat ropes, a flexible rubber ramp, and a combination of both—at a perched culvert apron on the West Coast. Passage efficiency was assessed for three indicator species with different locomotive capabilities: īnanga ( Galaxias maculatus ), redfin bully ( Gobiomorphus hut...

The 2025 Environmental Perceptions Survey provides unique insight into a nationally representative sample ( n = 1024) of New Zealanders’ perceptions of freshwater fish. About 8% of the sample had fished in the past 12 months and 30% had fished ever, and fisher subsamples were more male, more Māori and younger than the New Zealand population. Perceived awareness of local freshwater fish presence was higher for fishers than non‐...

The increasing awareness of the extent of urchin barrens and impacts of sea urchin overgrazing on rocky reefs in Aotearoa New Zealand has led to a rapid increase in the use of sea urchin removal as a tool for kelp forest restoration. Here, we review these restoration projects, focusing on three case studies, with the aim to provide context on what urchin removal does and does not achieve and guidance on when, where and how it...

Immunostimulantsare essential in aquaculture because they strengthen the immune system, enhance disease resistance, and improve the health of cultured aquatic species, especially under poor water quality and stressful conditions. They also promote better growth, survival, and antibody production without harmful side effects. As a safe alternative to antibiotics, immunostimulants support sustainable aquaculture and healthier fi...

Piscirickettsiosis, caused by the facultative intracellular bacterium Piscirickettsia salmonis , remains the primary infectious disease economically limiting salmonid aquaculture in Chile, while its incidence has also increased in farmed salmonids in Ireland, Scotland, Australia, and Canada in recent years. This comprehensive review synthesizes 181 peer‐reviewed publications (2014–2026) to integrate transformative advances in...

Microalgae are promising platforms for producing diverse biocompounds relevant to multiple commercial sectors, and the use of genomic technologies in microalgae is rapidly expanding. To examine the research trends, we conducted a bibliographic analysis (systematic map) of this rapidly developing field. Our study presents a descriptive overview of genomic techniques in microalgae for industrial applications, highlighting emergi...