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Biology
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Evolution, Genetics, and Conservation of Wildlife Respond to Environmental Changes
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Evolution, Genetics, and Conservation of Wildlife Respond to Environmental Changes

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 3489

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jiang Chang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Interests: response and adaptation of biodiversity under climate change and human activities; scientific conservation measures using micro- and macro-scale approaches
Dr. Shuping Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Interests: environmental DNA; molecular ecology and environmental genomics; community ecology; biodiversity conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to our upcoming Special Issue. In the era of accelerating global climate change, habitat degradation, and expanding anthropogenic impacts, wildlife faces unprecedented survival pressures. Environmental changes not only exert direct influences on species distributions and behavioral patterns but also reshape genetic architectures and evolutionary pathways through selective pressures. A comprehensive understanding of these complex dynamics is essential for formulating effective, evidence-based conservation policies.

This Special Issue aims to provide an academically inclusive platform for open discussions among scholars.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include, but not are limited to, the following: (1) rapid evolutionary response mechanisms in wildlife under environmental change; (2) the application of conservation genetics and genomics; (3) eco-evolutionary dynamics modeling; (4) integration of genomic tools with ecological models; and (5) biodiversity conservation and resilient ecosystem management under environmental change.  In addition, we encourage scholars to submit other articles related to the above-mentioned themes. It is with great enthusiasm that we invite you to contribute to the development of the academic subject in this field. 

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Prof. Dr. Jiang Chang
Dr. Shuping Wang
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

  • environmental change
  • wildlife
  • rapid evolution
  • genetic diversity
  • conservation genomics
  • environmental DNA
  • species distribution models
  • adaptive evolution
  • eco-evolutionary dynamics

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1593 KB  
Article
Influence of Sampling Effort and Taxonomic Resolution on Benthic Macroinvertebrate Taxa Richness and Bioassessment in a Non-Wadable Hard-Bottom River (China)
by Jiaxuan Liu, Hongjia Shan, Chengxing Xia and Sen Ding
Biology 2025, 14(10), 1444; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14101444 - 20 Oct 2025
Viewed by 167
Abstract
Benthic macroinvertebrates are widely used for river ecosystem health monitoring, yet challenges remain in non-wadable rivers, particularly regarding sampling effort. We evaluated hand-net sampling efficiency at three sites along the Danjiang River (a Yangtze River tributary) by analyzing taxa richness across taxonomic levels [...] Read more.
Benthic macroinvertebrates are widely used for river ecosystem health monitoring, yet challenges remain in non-wadable rivers, particularly regarding sampling effort. We evaluated hand-net sampling efficiency at three sites along the Danjiang River (a Yangtze River tributary) by analyzing taxa richness across taxonomic levels under varying replicate numbers. In total, 61 taxa (41 families) of benthic macroinvertebrates were identified. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis indicated no significant spatiotemporal variation in community composition. However, sampling effort increased, and the benthic macroinvertebrate taxa richness at both genus/species and family levels also increased. At eight sample replicates, the taxa accumulation curve at the genus/species level did not show an asymptote, with the observed richness reaching 67–80% of the predicted values calculated by Jackknife 1. In contrast, the family-level curve exhibited a clear asymptotic trend, with the observed richness reaching 82–100% of the predicted values. As sampling effort increased, bias decreased and accuracy improved, particularly for family-level taxa. Additionally, the BMWP scores also increased with the sampling effort. When the replicate number was no less than six, the BMWP reached stable assessment grades for all cases. From the perspective of bioassessment in non-wadable rivers, the hand net is suitable for collecting benthic macroinvertebrates. However, there is a risk of underestimating taxa richness due to insufficient sampling effort. Using family-level taxa can partially mitigate the impacts caused by insufficient sampling efforts to a certain extent, but further validation is needed for other non-wadable rivers (e.g., those with soft substrates). In conclusion, our research results indicate that six replicate hand-net samplings in non-wadable hard-bottom rivers can be regarded as a cost-effective and reliable sampling method for benthic macroinvertebrate BMWP assessment. This strategy provides a relatively practical reference for the monitoring of benthic macroinvertebrate in the same type of rivers in China. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evolution, Genetics, and Conservation of Wildlife Respond to Environmental Changes)
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16 pages, 4694 KB  
Article
Mitogenomic Insights into Orthocladiinae (Diptera: Chironomidae): Structural Diversity and Phylogenetic Implications
by Hai-Feng Xu, Xiu-Ru Xiao, Zhi-Chao Zhang, Yu-Fan Li and Xiao-Long Lin
Biology 2025, 14(9), 1178; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14091178 - 2 Sep 2025
Viewed by 1731
Abstract
Mitochondrial genomes are powerful tools for taxonomic delimitation and species identification, yet they remain scarce for Chironomidae (Diptera). In this study, we assembled and annotated 63 new mitochondrial genomes, encompassing 63 species within 39 genera in Orthocladiinae sensu lato (including Prodiamesinae and Orthocladiinae) [...] Read more.
Mitochondrial genomes are powerful tools for taxonomic delimitation and species identification, yet they remain scarce for Chironomidae (Diptera). In this study, we assembled and annotated 63 new mitochondrial genomes, encompassing 63 species within 39 genera in Orthocladiinae sensu lato (including Prodiamesinae and Orthocladiinae) and Chironominae by whole-genome sequencing, marking the first report of mitochondrial genome data for the Xiaomyini. Comparative analyses revealed structural variation, including transfer RNA gene rearrangements, along with strong nucleotide composition bias, codon usage patterns, and gene-specific selection pressure differences. Distinct evolutionary dynamics were detected among protein-coding genes, ribosomal RNAs, transfer RNAs, and the control region. Heterogeneity analyses and phylogenetic analyses showed that amino acid datasets perform better for basal branch of Orthocladiinae relationships, although the resolution within non-basal branches of Orthocladiinae remains limited. By substantially increasing both the number and taxonomic breadth of mitochondrial genomes in Chironomidae, this study delivers a vital foundation for future multi-marker phylogenetic reconstruction, taxonomic revision, and rapid species identification, with direct applications to biodiversity conservation and freshwater ecosystem monitoring. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evolution, Genetics, and Conservation of Wildlife Respond to Environmental Changes)
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16 pages, 11159 KB  
Article
Stage-Specific Impacts of Climate Change on Greater White-Fronted Geese Along the East Asian Flyway
by Chunxiao Wang, Shaoxia Xia, Xiubo Yu, Houlang Duan and Guang Qi
Biology 2025, 14(8), 1050; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14081050 - 14 Aug 2025
Viewed by 564
Abstract
Migratory flyways sustain waterbird populations by linking critical habitats across their annual cycle. However, stage-specific impacts of climate change on these habitats remain poorly understood. We integrated species distribution models with annual migration data from 30 Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons frontalis [...] Read more.
Migratory flyways sustain waterbird populations by linking critical habitats across their annual cycle. However, stage-specific impacts of climate change on these habitats remain poorly understood. We integrated species distribution models with annual migration data from 30 Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons frontalis) to assess changes in habitat suitability, distributional shifts, and suitability fluctuations across breeding, stopover, and wintering stages under mid-century (2040–2060) climate scenarios. Suitability fluctuations were quantified as the coefficient of variation (CV) in habitat suitability between current and future projections. Projected habitat responses varied markedly across stages: breeding areas contracted by 29.9%, wintering areas expanded by 62.7%, and stopover sites showed minimal net change. Centroids of all habitats are projected to shift northward by mean distances of 125–492 km under future climate scenarios. Breeding habitats exhibited the greatest suitability fluctuations (CV=30–45; ~50% area affected under SSP585), followed by stopover and wintering grounds (CV ≈ 11), with 35.8% and 23.3% of their areas falling within high-fluctuation zones. These findings highlight the urgent need to prioritize breeding habitats, implement stage-specific conservation strategies, and enhance international cooperation to ensure the protection of waterbirds along the East Asian Flyway. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evolution, Genetics, and Conservation of Wildlife Respond to Environmental Changes)
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14 pages, 4833 KB  
Article
A High-Quality Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly and Comparative Analyses Provide Insights into the Adaptation of Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794) (Diptera: Calliphoridae)
by Dan Zhang, Liangliang Li, Junchao Ma, Jianfeng Jin, Chunli Ding, Qiang Fang, Jianjun Jin, Zhulidezi Aishan and Xuebo Li
Biology 2025, 14(8), 913; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14080913 - 22 Jul 2025
Viewed by 432
Abstract
Chrysomya megacephala, as one of the common blowflies, displays biological characteristics, such as ovoviviparity and carrion-feeding adaptation. Thus, this species is generally considered of significant ecological, medical, and forensic importance. However, without a high-quality pseudo-chromosome genome for C. megacephala, elucidating its [...] Read more.
Chrysomya megacephala, as one of the common blowflies, displays biological characteristics, such as ovoviviparity and carrion-feeding adaptation. Thus, this species is generally considered of significant ecological, medical, and forensic importance. However, without a high-quality pseudo-chromosome genome for C. megacephala, elucidating its evolutionary trajectory proved difficult. Herein, we assembled and analyzed a high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly of the C. megacephala, combined with PacBio HiFi long reads, Hi-C data, and Illumina reads. The pseudo-chromosomes assembly of C. megacephala spans 629.44 Mb, with 97.05% anchored to five chromosomes. Final assembly includes 1056 contigs (N50 = 1.68 Mb), and 97 scaffolds (N50 = 121.37 Mb), achieving 98.90% BUSCO completeness (n = 1367). Gene annotation predicted 17,071 protein-coding genes (95.60% BUSCO completeness), while repeat masking identified 244.26 Mb (38.82%) as repetitive elements. Additionally, 3740 non-coding RNAs were characterized. Gene family analyses resulted in 10,579 gene families, containing 151 gene families that experienced rapid evolution. Comparative genomic analyses showed that the expanded genes are related to reproduction and necrophagous habits. In addition, we annotated the gene family P450s, CCEs, IRs, GRs, and ORs, all of which represent remarkable expansion, playing a crucial role in the mechanism of locating the hosts for forensic insects. Our research establishes a high-quality genome sequence to facilitate subsequent molecular investigations into significant species within forensic entomology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Evolution, Genetics, and Conservation of Wildlife Respond to Environmental Changes)
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