Vulnerability of marine megafauna to global at-sea anthropogenic threats
Marine megafauna are impacted by a wide range of anthropogenic threats, but evaluating risk is dependent on the vulnerability of each species to each threat. We used an expert elicitation approach to build on the existing threats classification scheme and ranking system from the International Union...
| Autores: | , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya) |
| Repositorio: | Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:recercat.cat:2445/226640 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/226640 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Animals en perill d'extinció Fauna marina Rare animals Marine fauna |
| Sumario: | Marine megafauna are impacted by a wide range of anthropogenic threats, but evaluating risk is dependent on the vulnerability of each species to each threat. We used an expert elicitation approach to build on the existing threats classification scheme and ranking system from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and assess the vulnerability of 256 marine megafauna species to 23 at-sea threats across ‘climate change’, ‘coastal impacts’, ‘fishing’, and ‘maritime disturbances’. We used a finer resolutionof threats, specifically including individual fishing gear types and climaterelated threats. Experts rated 70 species as having high vulnerability (v > 0.778 out of 1) to at least one threat (primarily drifting longliners, temperature extremes, and fixed gear – also rated as causing the highest severity, i.e., the most severe population declines). Overall, temperature extremes and plastics & other solid waste were rated as affecting the largest proportion of populations, i.e., having the largest scope. Temperature extremes was the single threat causing the highest vulnerability for penguins, pinnipeds, and polar bear. Highest vulnerabilities were rated for bony fishes to drifting longliners and plastics & other solid waste; pelagic cetaceans to four ‘maritime disturbances’ threats, elasmobranchs to five ‘fishing’ threats; and flying birds to drifting longliners and two ‘maritime disturbances’ threats. Sirenians and turtles received the highest vulnerability to at least one threat from all four categories. Despite not necessarily causing high severity for most taxa, temperature extremes were rated among the top threats for all taxa groups except bony fishes, . Our vulnerability scores, derived from expert feedback, provide an important first step to estimate the risk of threats to marine megafauna. Importantly, they assist differentiating scope from severity, which is key to identify threats that should be prioritized for conservation management. |
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