About this Research Topic

Background

Conserving and restoring freshwater and marine ecosystems are priorities addressed by several European and global conservation initiatives. Many management and conservation initiatives have been put in place to support the achievement of declared national and global conservation and sustainability goals. Nonetheless, the extent to which all these initiatives can provide lasting positive effects on conservation and restoration targets is often impaired/limited by the lack of robust baseline data and systematic monitoring, which in turn are constrained by the limited number of long-term monitoring programs and limited dedicated funding. This collection underlines the importance of monitoring in times of global change and shifting baselines and the urgency of boosting conservation strategies to ensure progression towards meeting global conservation objectives. Emphasis is given also to the socio-ecological contexts and dimensions of conservation efforts, and the potential of societal engagement in monitoring practices - a key enabling factor to turn conservation initiatives into practical actions and ecosystem protection.

The goal of this Research Topic is to produce a comprehensive overview of the state of the art and important advancements in the research field of monitoring and conservation/restoration of aquatic ecosystems. This collection aims to facilitate the implementation of effective and innovative monitoring practices and programs at both local and large scale (i.e., local, national, transnational), and to support conservation, restoration, and planning strategies. The topic is addressed towards all the aquatic domains, from freshwater to transitional and marine ecosystems, also considering their interfaces. This collection aims to bring together perspectives, lessons learned, best practice approaches, and case studies that link observational data with national and international observational networks to support the achievement of conservation strategies. We also encourage the contribution of studies that analyze and monitor ecosystem processes by building models based on long-term data sets that will enable the projection of future scenarios of ecosystem states and services undergoing global change. We further invite studies that combine observational and experimental work, relying also on new/improved technologies (e.g., in situ and remote monitoring instruments, molecular techniques, and innovative approaches) in an attempt to elucidate mechanisms underlying alterations in ecosystems. We particularly encourage studies that propose or demonstrate participative and socio-ecological approaches to monitoring.

The topics of focus include but are not limited to the following:

• Long-term research and datasets to achieve robust monitoring baselines.
• Monitoring networks and their development and success including funding and supporting mechanisms.
• Improvement and development of informative/novel indicators of ecosystem state and services.
• Good practices in data management and curation.
• Stakeholder involvement and citizen science initiatives.
• Local and indigenous ecological knowledge mobilization.
. Socio-ecological approaches to monitoring
• Transnational monitoring programs and networking.
• Monitoring programs implemented and adapted to specifically support marine and freshwater spatial conservation planning.
• Monitoring programs to track long-lasting effects and outcomes of restoration projects.
• Combinations and effectiveness of observational and experimental approaches.
• Effective interface between observational data and modeling.
Use of long-term data for forecasting change and developing conservation strategies/goals under scenarios of global change.

Type of manuscripts we are interested in: Type A: Original Research, Methods, Review, Hypothesis & Theory, Policy & Practice Review Type B: Mini-Reviews, Perspectives, and Brief Research Reports.

Photo Credits: WasserCluster Lunz

Keywords: citizen-science, monitoring networks, monitoring data, modeling tools, marine and freshwater spatial planning, indicators, local and indigenous ecological knowledge, Aquatic domains, freshwater, marine, transitional, aquatic ecosystems, restoration, conservation, monitoring, protected areas, planning strategies

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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