Globally, wetlands continue to be degraded and destroyed. The intergovernmental organisation, the Ramsar Convention, has for 50 years sought to stem this loss through a focus on the ecological importance of wetlands. The authors argue that this approach has failed and that a new social–ecological framing of wetland character, incorporating multiple worldviews and value systems, is required to support efforts to stem future loss.

As the ocean warms, marine animals are responding in different ways. We studied the egg laying and embryo development of the midget octopus (Octopus huttoni) to investigate how warming oceans may affect reproduction. An inverse relationship between temperature and the length of embryo development was found, and we discuss the implications of this on the survival of the resulting paralarvae.

This study analysed historical series of the capture of giant catfish in the Amazon. Time series analyses were used to identify trends and models to assess the effects of regional (hydrological) and global (meteorological and climatological) variables on variations in captures. The variation in catches was found to be related to the global (meteorological) variable, represented by sea surface temperature (SST). In addition, the catches of some catfish declined over the years.

This research has shown that microbial diversity and community structure differ between rays living in the wild and those living in managed systems. Importantly, it has shown, for the first time, that years after being moved from the wild, the microbiota of rays caught in the wild and moved to an aquarium differs from that of rays born at that aquarium. These results showed the effects of moving animals from natural to managed environments on the host microbiome.

We estimated the population genetic structure of Cnesterodon decemmaculatus in the north-eastern and southern river basins of Buenos Aires province. We found that north-eastern and southern populations are genetically different, whereas no genetic differences were found between north-eastern rivers. This result has important implications for the use of C. decemmaculatus as a bioindicator in polluted waters at a local scale.

We studied how the physical properties of waters on and off the continental shelf in the Kangaroo Island–Bonney Coast region (southern coast of Australia) varied in time and space. This region is important because many top marine predators in the ecosystem feed in these waters. Productivity in on-shelf waters is typically associated coastal upwelling in summer, whereas it is typically associated with eddies and the subtropical front in off-shelf waters in summer and winter.

This study collected finetooth sharks from the waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico to examine reproductive parameters. Our findings confirmed similar timing for male and female reproductive seasonality, time of parturition, and mean brood size throughout its North American range. Conversely, a smaller size-at-maturity and both annual and biennial reproductive periodicities occur in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Few studies have examined the effects of freshwater mussels on zooplankton. We undertook an outdoor experiment to examine the effects of a New Zealand mussel on zooplankton communities. Mussels led to changes in zooplankton composition, with small species most greatly affected. Our results were consistent with predation, rather than competition for food, being the primary driver of mussel influence on zooplankton.

Non-indigenous species are potentially being transported within vessel bilge water. We describe operational profiles of 110 small vessels in New Zealand and identify factors driving risk. Yachts were shown to pose the most risk, largely attributed to high frequency of use, visits to multiple regions, and increased likelihood of having bilge water on board at departure. This mechanism has the potential to compromise the overall effectiveness of vector-management initiatives. Research to identify practical and cost-effective mitigation measures is needed.

The abundance and frequency of coral diseases have increased significantly in recent decades. Although coral reefs have suffered significant mortality from coral diseases worldwide, information on the distribution, ecology and pathogenesis remains limited. Here we report on the ciliate disease brown band (BrB) in the Gulf of Mannar, India. BrB has been reported from other regions, but this study extends the geographic distribution of BrB onto the reefs of the Gulf of Mannar and reports a new coral genus affected by BrB. India is a comparatively understudied region of the world and this study helps to fill this gap.

Temporary wetlands are some of the most productive ecosystems available to aquatic and terrestrial organisms. We assessed the role of large-scale landscape variables (including altitude, longitude and latitude) and wetland size and on the egg-bank structure in 15 wetlands (lagoons) in the North Tableland region of New South Wales. The environmental variables did not play a role in determining the assemblages, which emerged from the egg banks of the lagoons, suggesting that each individual lagoon would need to be managed separately for conservation purposes.