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Biology
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The Future of Marine Megafauna
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The Future of Marine Megafauna

A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Zoology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 3078

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Vincent L. Bels

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Systematic Evolution Biodiversity, Sorbonne University, 75006 Paris, France
Interests: behavioral and morphological evolution; vertebrates; ecology; behaviour and functional morphology of reptiles; turtles; lizards
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. John R. Turner

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Anglesey LL59 5AB, UK
Interests: marine biology/ecology; coral reefs; marine protected areas; conservation; coastal management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine biodiversity is in global decline due to direct and indirect anthropogenic impacts resulting from unsustainable exploitation, invasive species, pollution, and climate change, causing changes in the abundance, distribution, and diversity of marine organisms and consequently the changes in the structure of marine ecosystems and habitats.

Continued human impact threatens biodiversity through degrading habitats and perturbs the functioning of ecosystems, affecting the ecology and behaviour of species, populations, and communities and requiring urgent action to address the biodiversity crisis. The biodiversity of megafauna is acutely subjected to human pressures despite the increase in the number of marine policies for the conservation and protection of protected marine areas.

Marine megafauna including sharks, rays, fishes, mammals, birds, and turtles with a broad taxonomic distribution are especially threatened. Here, we consider all species over 10 kg as megafauna. If the current trajectories are maintained, over the next 100 years, more than 18% of marine megafauna species will be lost. 

Actions are urgently required to prevent extinctions and to recover species by reducing direct and indirect threats. There are significant knowledge gaps concerning marine species that currently compromise the development of ocean conservation policy and the successful addressing of UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 Life Below Water. It is critical that research fills these gaps to maintain, recover, and protect healthy and resilient ecosystems. 

The Special Issue aims to integrate sections of biology (marine biology, ecology, zoology, conservation biology, and biodiversity) to improve our knowledge of marine megafauna to halt their extinction and manage their recovery.

Contributions are welcome on areas including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Empirical biology, behavioural ecology, ethology, physiology, and ecology of marine megafauna (including responses from individuals and populations).
  • Patterns and processes of living strategies.
  • Evolutionary biology, genetics, and life history characteristics.
  • Anthropogenic threats and their impacts on all marine ecosystems: overlap and interactions with human activities.
  • Marine ecological critical areas and natural capital.
  • Conservation and management strategies.

Prof. Dr. Vincent L. Bels
Prof. Dr. John R. Turner
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. Biology 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 2700 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 biodiversity
  • marine megafauna
  • anthropogenic impacts
  • conservation biology
  • marine ecosystems
  • behavioural ecology
  • marine protected areas (MPAs)
  • ecological resilience
  • evolutionary biology
  • species recovery strategies

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1296 KB  
Article
Body Design or Behavior? What Explains the Performance of Slender-Billed Gulls (Chroicocephalus genei) Feeding on Brine Shrimp (Artemia sp.) in Salt Pans?
by Maud de Saint Seine, Lyse Hannier, Vincent Bels, Nicolas Schtickzelle and Michel Baguette
Biology 2025, 14(10), 1331; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14101331 (registering DOI) - 26 Sep 2025
Abstract
(1) Background: Understanding the evolution of the form–function relationship requires identifying the selection pressures acting on individuals. The paradigm of Arnold provides a useful framework to infer how the natural selection acting on phenotypic traits can modulate individual fitness. Despite the theoretical advance, [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Understanding the evolution of the form–function relationship requires identifying the selection pressures acting on individuals. The paradigm of Arnold provides a useful framework to infer how the natural selection acting on phenotypic traits can modulate individual fitness. Despite the theoretical advance, experimental studies of individual performances that explicitly address form, i.e., the phenotypic integration of functional morphology (body design and mechanics) and of behavior, are still rare. (2) Methods: Slender-billed gull food acquisition behaviors were video recorded in the salt pans of Salin de Giraud, Camargue, where brine shrimp are their main prey. We averaged the food intake rate over 21 individuals. We computed the mean hourly energy intake of an average gull by multiplying the mean hourly prey intake rate by the weight and energy content of a brine shrimp. We used this mean hourly energy intake to investigate the time needed by an average slender-billed gull individual to acquire the energy required to achieve their daily field metabolic rate. We computed the food metabolic rate of slender-billed gulls by using the model of Dunn et al. In addition, using slow-motion video sequences, we perform a functional and integrative analysis of three performances associated with food acquisition behaviors, i.e., locomotion, food capture, and food transport. (3) Results: We demonstrate that the energy assimilated by this performance is sufficient to cover less than 6 h of an adult gull’s metabolic food rate during its breeding season. We show that brine shrimp capture by gulls does not involve the use of specialized morphological structures but rather involves a particular behavioral sequence that invariably associates a mode of locomotion, a mode of capture and a mode of transport of the prey from the beak to the pharynx. The comparison of this sequence to the register of food acquisition behaviors used by other Charadriiformes reveals its similarity with behaviors that are used by two shorebird species (Phalaropus fulicarius and P. lobatus) also feeding on prey captured from saltwater surfaces. (4) Conclusions: Altogether, our study supports (1) a causal chain in which performance results from the interaction between morphological structures and behaviors and (2) the idea that the performance peak of a realized phenotype can be reached by using the best combination of behaviors, either by convergent evolution or by their conservation among those available in a phylogenetically determined register. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Marine Megafauna)
10 pages, 1875 KB  
Article
Observations on the Frequency of Sightings of White Sharks in the Population of Gansbaai, South Africa, in the Presence of Cage Diving
by Primo Micarelli, Francesca Romana Reinero, Antonio Pacifico, Gianni Giglio, Makenna Mahrer and Emilio Sperone
Biology 2025, 14(7), 762; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14070762 - 25 Jun 2025
Viewed by 767
Abstract
Shark ecotourism is an ever-expanding reality, with hundreds of thousands of tourists involved annually. Although it represents a fundamental tool for sharing the urgent need to safeguard sharks with the public, the implications for the health and well-being of sharks must be taken [...] Read more.
Shark ecotourism is an ever-expanding reality, with hundreds of thousands of tourists involved annually. Although it represents a fundamental tool for sharing the urgent need to safeguard sharks with the public, the implications for the health and well-being of sharks must be taken into due consideration. In South Africa, cage-diving has been an important form of ecotourism since the 1990s. In Gansbaai, over a 14-year period from 2009 to 2024, excluding the 2020–2021 pandemic years, data was collected from cage diving operators’ boats on the frequency of sightings of white sharks. After approximately 560 h of field observations, averaging about 45 h per year and about 9 h per year between 2023 and 2024, 423 sharks were observed with five re-sightings. We highlighted that the number of sightings did not increase during the presence of cage diving operators and that site fidelity has not been observed by white sharks frequenting this area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Marine Megafauna)
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13 pages, 4606 KB  
Article
Minimizing Stress in White Sharks: Non-Invasive Epidermal Biopsies for Isotopic and Vitellogenin Analyses
by Guia Consales, Tommaso Campani, Agata Di Noi, Marco Garofalo, Eduardo Di Marcantonio, Francesca Romana Reinero, Silvia Casini, Luigi Dallai, Emilio Sperone, Letizia Marsili and Primo Micarelli
Biology 2025, 14(2), 192; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14020192 - 13 Feb 2025
Viewed by 1187
Abstract
The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), a keystone predator vital to marine ecosystem stability, is increasingly exposed to anthropogenic threats, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). This study highlights the use of non-invasive epidermal biopsies to assess physiological and ecological parameters in 28 [...] Read more.
The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), a keystone predator vital to marine ecosystem stability, is increasingly exposed to anthropogenic threats, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). This study highlights the use of non-invasive epidermal biopsies to assess physiological and ecological parameters in 28 live specimens sampled from the Dyer Island Nature Reserve, South Africa. Epidermal tissue was analyzed for vitellogenin (Vtg), a biomarker of estrogenic exposure, while dermal tissue was used for stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen, essential for understanding the feeding habitat of white sharks. Vitellogenin, typically restricted to sexually mature females, was unexpectedly detected in males and immature females, indicating significant exposure to estrogenic pollutants. This finding raises concerns about the potential reproductive and population-level impacts on this vulnerable species. Stable isotope analyses confirmed that dermal tissue alone is sufficient for trophic studies, eliminating the need for deeper muscle sampling. By demonstrating that epidermal and dermal tissues provide critical data for both biomarkers and isotopic studies, this research supports the adoption of minimally invasive techniques. Shallower biopsies reduce stress on the animals, making this method a valuable tool for conservation research and management of C. carcharias. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Marine Megafauna)
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