Air-breathing marine animals (A-BMA), which include marine reptiles (i.e. turtles, snakes, and crocodiles), seabirds and marine mammals (i.e. cetaceans, sirenia, pinniped, otters), are distributed throughout the world occupying habitats ranging from the coast to the open sea. These animals play a significant role in the food web despite their low total biomass, which makes them keystone species in their habitats. In general, A-BMA share certain traits, such as being long-lived, some with late maturation and low reproductive rates, so their populations are heavily affected by anthropic mortality. There are many anthropogenic threats to these animals, but fishing pressure, both direct and incidentally as by-catch, is a source of primary concern for the sustainability of their populations.
Moreover, humanity is currently living in a changing world with climate-driven ecological changes affecting global systems, and after suffering a recent pandemic of a respiratory-borne coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2. In this sense, understanding the role of A-BMAs in the ecosystem and the ecosystem services they provide to humans, analyzing the effect of threats, and better understanding their biology could be an important issue for managers, researchers and the general public.
This Research Topic will deepen our understanding of the biology and ecology of A-BMAs, and of their conservation. Research articles, reviews or comments on: biogeography, spatial distribution, physiology, ecology, distribution models, distribution projections against climate change, disturbances, threats, virology among other A-BMA topics will be welcome.
Air-breathing marine animals (A-BMA), which include marine reptiles (i.e. turtles, snakes, and crocodiles), seabirds and marine mammals (i.e. cetaceans, sirenia, pinniped, otters), are distributed throughout the world occupying habitats ranging from the coast to the open sea. These animals play a significant role in the food web despite their low total biomass, which makes them keystone species in their habitats. In general, A-BMA share certain traits, such as being long-lived, some with late maturation and low reproductive rates, so their populations are heavily affected by anthropic mortality. There are many anthropogenic threats to these animals, but fishing pressure, both direct and incidentally as by-catch, is a source of primary concern for the sustainability of their populations.
Moreover, humanity is currently living in a changing world with climate-driven ecological changes affecting global systems, and after suffering a recent pandemic of a respiratory-borne coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2. In this sense, understanding the role of A-BMAs in the ecosystem and the ecosystem services they provide to humans, analyzing the effect of threats, and better understanding their biology could be an important issue for managers, researchers and the general public.
This Research Topic will deepen our understanding of the biology and ecology of A-BMAs, and of their conservation. Research articles, reviews or comments on: biogeography, spatial distribution, physiology, ecology, distribution models, distribution projections against climate change, disturbances, threats, virology among other A-BMA topics will be welcome.
