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Animals
Special Issues
Conservation and Restoration of Aquatic Animal Habitats
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Conservation and Restoration of Aquatic Animal Habitats

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Aquatic Animals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1889

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yasufumi Fujimoto

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The Miyagi Prefectural Izunuma-Uchinuma Environmental Foundation, 17-2 Shikimi, Wakayanagi, Kurihara 989-5504, Miyagi, Japan
Interests: ichthyology; conservation biology; ecology; freshwater fish; eco-physiology
Dr. Kenji Saitoh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Aquatic Life Conservation Society, GA, Kanazawa 12-27, Kamiyazawa, Rifu 981-0121, Miyagi, Japan
Interests: fisheries; aquaculture; ichthyology; vertebrate biology; genetic analysis of biodiversity; molecular genetics and genomics; molecular phylogeny; cytogenetics; mitochondrial genomics; aquatic ecology; freshwater environment restoration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The concept of the Nature-Positive Initiative has been spread over many countries/regions to supplement the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework with a target for reaching a net global nature-positive status by 2030 and a goal for global nature recovery by 2050. The overall resolution, however, requires an assembly and accumulation of local actions.

Humans use land areas for cities, agriculture, and industries, exploiting biological and water resources in aquatic areas. Aquatic ecosystems are greatly affected by humans. Our activities place heavy burdens on rivers, lakes, and oceans, the accumulation of which will cause an Anthropocene mass extinction.

There are aquatic-animal-conservation activities run in various sectors by scientists, national/local governments, and citizens. However, the needs of ad hoc strategies depending on the target organisms, habitat types, and factors contributing to their decline have made it difficult to output substantial progress. Progress is also hindered by the difficulty of incorporating dynamic ecosystem-transition processes into rehabilitation techniques. In addition, conservation and restoration activities are influenced by the type of enrolled organizations, local legal systems, and social customs of the area. These technical and institutional conflicts constrain activities aimed at our coexistence with nature.

We hereby launch a Special Issue in the journal Animals entitled "Conservation and Restoration of Aquatic Animal Habitats", and call for research papers on related cutting-edge strategies, including AI-assisted design/prediction and case reports on activities conducted locally or globally. Case reports are welcome not only with successful results but especially those with negative results. The lessons learned from those negative results will help further technical developments. We hope this issue will contribute broadly to progress and knowledge sharing in the conservation and restoration of aquatic animal habitats

Dr. Yasufumi Fujimoto
Dr. Kenji Saitoh
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. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • AI-assisted design/prediction
  • case report
  • conservation
  • local to global action
  • nature positive
  • nature recovery
  • lessons from negative result
  • rehabilitation technology
  • resilience
  • restoration activities

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2446 KiB  
Article
Role of Seagrass as a Food Source for Benthos in Tidal Flats: Toward Conservation and Restoration of Resilient Ecosystems
by Yumi Nagahama, Munehiro Nomura and Osamu Nishimura
Animals 2025, 15(8), 1098; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15081098 - 10 Apr 2025
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Abstract
Seagrass is a key primary producer in coastal ecosystems; however, most studies on seagrass-benthos interactions have focused on subtidal zones. Some species such as Zostera japonica grow in intertidal flats; however, their ecological functions remain unclear. Understanding whether intertidal seagrass beds contribute to [...] Read more.
Seagrass is a key primary producer in coastal ecosystems; however, most studies on seagrass-benthos interactions have focused on subtidal zones. Some species such as Zostera japonica grow in intertidal flats; however, their ecological functions remain unclear. Understanding whether intertidal seagrass beds contribute to benthic abundance and diversity can provide insights that facilitate tidal flat conservation. The present study clarifies the role of intertidal Z. japonica as a food source for benthos. Field surveys were conducted in an intertidal flat in Matsushima Bay, Japan. Five benthic species (Batillaria cumingii, Umbonium costatum, Phacosoma japonicum, Nereididae, and Paguroidea) were identified. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ15N) and fatty acid compositions of sediment organic matter, seawater, and target benthos were analyzed to determine food sources. The results showed that B. cumingii actively consumed Z. japonica-derived organic matter present in both seagrass and sandy sediments. Z. japonica also influenced bacterial community structure, providing a favorable habitat for Nereididae. Filter feeders (U. costatum and P. japonicum) exhibited minimal reliance on Z. japonica-derived organic matter. The findings suggest that, similar to subtidal seagrass ecosystems, intertidal seagrass meadows support benthic communities by supplying organic matter and enhancing bacterial production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation and Restoration of Aquatic Animal Habitats)
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17 pages, 5823 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Benthic Ecological Quality Status in the Subtidal Zone of Northern Jeju Island, South Korea, During Summer Based on Macrobenthos
by Jian Liang, Chae-Woo Ma and Kwang-Bae Kim
Animals 2025, 15(4), 539; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15040539 - 13 Feb 2025
Viewed by 580
Abstract
Background: Jeju Island is a world-renowned tourist destination. However, with the increasing intensity of anthropogenic activities, the coastal marine environment of Jeju Island has been negatively affected. Methods and Results: Our study used five benthic indices to assess the ecological quality of the [...] Read more.
Background: Jeju Island is a world-renowned tourist destination. However, with the increasing intensity of anthropogenic activities, the coastal marine environment of Jeju Island has been negatively affected. Methods and Results: Our study used five benthic indices to assess the ecological quality of the subtidal zone in northern Jeju Island. Our analysis indicated that apart from the benthic polychaetes amphipods index (BPA), other benthic indices assessed the ecological quality of the subtidal zone in northern Jeju Island as high or good. Distance-based redundancy analysis (dbRDA) indicated that pH and salinity primarily influenced macrobenthic communities in 2011 and 2012. According to the Spearman rank correlation analysis, the multivariate AZTI marine biotic Index (M-AMBI) showed stronger correlations with environmental data than other benthic indices. Conclusions: Overall, the averages of the five benthic indices suggested that the benthic ecological quality of the subtidal zone in the northern part of Jeju Island was high or good. Although immediate marine environmental management is not required, long-term monitoring remains essential. M-AMBI outperformed other benthic indices; however, we recommend using multiple benthic indices to assess the benthic ecological quality of Jeju Island due to the complexity of marine ecosystems. Effective support has been provided by our study for the marine environmental conservation along the coast of Jeju Island. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation and Restoration of Aquatic Animal Habitats)
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