Scientific watch

Twenty-five years ago, the Union of Concerned Scientists and more than 1,700 independent scientists, including the majority of living Nobel laureates in the sciences, signed the 1992 “World Scientists’ warning to humanity”. These concerned professionals called on humankind to curtail

The ocean is the largest ecosystem on our planet, regulating change and variability in the climate system and supporting the global economy, nutrition, health and wellbeing, water supply and energy. The Global Ocean Science Report (IOC-UNESCO) assesses for the first

The recent increase in establishment of large marine protected areas (LMPAs), has brought international conservation goals, including the Convention of Biological Diversity’s Aichi Target 11 and the Sustainable Development Goal 14.5, within reach, at least in terms of coverage, but

Protected areas (PAs) are defended as refugia for some of the world’s most threatened organisms, but little is known about their potential to resist the damaging effects of biological invasions. This study investigates the current and future potential distributions of

Since the 1950s the amount of plastics in the marine environment has increased dramatically. Worldwide there is a growing concern about the risks and possible adverse effects of (micro)plastics. This paper explores the particular governance and management challenges of marine

The speed and scale of human impacts on marine species, such as climate change and exploitation for international markets, coupled with a poor regulatory regime and lack of enforcement, make it especially difficult to protect marine species beyond areas of

Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) are known to display a wide range of movement patterns during the different stages of their life cycle, but empirical information to document this extensive behavioural plasticity is still limited. This study used satellite telemetry

The world population of the endangered Mediterranean monk seal, Monachus monachus, is presently estimated to consist of about 700 individuals. The species’ former distribution extended throughout the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Atlantic coasts of NW Africa. Apart from

2016 was the third year in a row with a record-setting global mean surface temperature. This paper presents a real-time Global Warming Index (GWI). It is proposed as a simple real-time index of global human-induced warming. The authors state that

The Mediterranean Sea is inhabited by a rich and diverse biota and is currently impacted by many pressures, mainly driven by human activities such as climate change and bioinvasions. It is considered, in fact, one of the regions most susceptible