New Global Collaboration Maps Threats to Marine Life

The MegaMove project, led by our Lab Lead Assoc Prof Ana Sequeira , has just resulted in another global publication just been published in the journal Conservation Biology. This new paper, entitled "Vulnerability of marine megafauna to global at-sea anthropogenic threats" lead by our most recently finished PhD student Michelle Van Compernolle and co-authored by more than 300 researchers from around the world, presents the first detailed assessment of marine megafauna vulnerability to a wide range of human-derived threats at-sea.

Focusing on a range of taxa across bony fishes, flying birds, pelagic cetaceans, penguins, pinnipeds, polar bears, sirenians (manatees, dugongs) and turtles, the study includes an assessment of 256 marine megafauna species to 23 different anthropogenic threats. The main aim was to identify the threats that have the most severe impact on each species and also those that have the largest scope, i.e., that affect the largest number of species.

The study generated vulnerability scores taking into consideration the timing, the severity and the scope of each threat to each species, which will be essential to aid prioritisation decisions in future mitigation and conservation efforts. The results of this study strongly suggest that proactive measures to alleviate the impact of current threats will be key to the conservation of these charismatic species.

A huge thank you to all the co-authors for their incredible contributions and congratulations to Michelle for completing such an astonishing paper as the first chapter of her PhD thesis!