Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity
Volume:4 Issue: 4, Autumn 2020

The eastern Mediterranean has received many alien fish species, mainly due to climate change and human activities. The Lessepsian species Equulites popei (Whitley, 1932) had been previously recorded in the northern and southern parts of the eastern Mediterranean. It was first classified as Equulites elongatus. Later on, and based on DNA analysis. E. elongatus has been split into three different species and E. popei is one of them, and the Mediterranean specimens belong to E popei. This paper confirms that E. popei is present in the Syrian marine waters for the first time. This record fills the gap in the species distribution between north and south of the eastern Mediterranean.

Vermetid reefs are one of the very few reef forming bio-constructions in the entire Mediterranean, supporting rich biodiversity and ecosystem services. Furthermore, they prevent coastal erosion, modulate the transportation of sediments, and act as carbon sinks. Since they build upon fossilized skeletons of the formal reef builder organisms, they are also invaluable assets to study some parameters of paleoclimatology. However, information about their basic features, distribution, and floral and faunal information is not sufficient. Between 2017 and 2019, a study to demonstrate the distributions of the vermetid reefs, biodiversity investigation on selected reefs, and some livelihood evaluation was realized in the 200 km northern coastline of Cyprus. This paper demonstrates the distribution of the reefs with a fish biodiversity analysis recognized by the visual census.

Cheilodipterus novemstriatus (Rüppell, 1838), is native to the Indo-Pacific region. These species can be found mostly around the spines of Diadema setosum (Leske, 1778) between 0-40 m in depth. During a scientific diving survey in the Gulf of Iskenderun, a shoal of C. novemstriatus was sighted around a D. setosum. Some photographs of the fish and sea urchin were taken. This is the second study that reports these two species in a symbiotic relationship in Turkish waters. Also, these records show that the Mediterranean coasts are in a rapid tropicalization process, and the Lessepsian species quickly adapt to the Mediterranean.

Though benthic invertebrates are an important indicator for determining biological quality in freshwater ecosystems, there are still significant deficiencies in their faunistic composition. This study aimed to determine the diversity and species composition of benthic macroinvertebrates in Sangı Stream, Izmir (Turkey). Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected monthly from February 2018 to March 2019 in predefined six sampling stations. As a result of the analysis, four benthic macroinvertebrate groups, including Crustacea, Oligochaeta, Gastropoda, and Insecta, were identified in the Sangı stream. The most dominant taxa were Insecta among all benthic macroinvertebrates. Using species-based biodiversity indices and analyses spatial similarities and differences were also determined. This study is the first study for determining Sangı Stream benthic fauna; that's why all taxa diagnosed in the stream has been recorded for the first time.

The present study identified 881 specimens of the ticks found on about 2000 domestic sheep in Niğde Province. During this investigation, Argasidae (Ornithodoros (Alveonasus) lahorensis) and eight Ixodidae species of (Dermacentor (Serdjukovia) marginatus, D. (S.) niveus, Haemaphysalis (Haemaphysalis) concinna, H. (Alloceraea) inermis, H. (Segalia) parva, H. (Aboimisalis) punctata, H. (Herpetobia) sulcata, and Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus) were determined. The distribution at the genera level of the samples are as follows: Haemaphysalis 73.2 %, Ornithodoros 16.1 %, Dermacentor 10.2 %, and Rhipicephalus 0.45 %. H. sulcata was the most common species with 256 specimens(29.1 %), and H. concinna was the rarest species with only one specimen (0.1 %). D. niveus was recorded for the first time from Niğde Province. Besides, the seasonality and taxonomic status of the recorded species are discussed in the current article.

In this study, the crustacean diversity in Ildırı Bay, which is characterized by a high density of aquaculture activity and tourism, was investigated. Sampling was carried out by box-corer during four seasonal cruises (April, July, November 2010, and February 2011) at eight stations. Based on the analyzed samples, Crustacea has been represented with two classes, five orders, 25 families, and 40 species in the study area. Amphipods were the dominant taxon in terms of species richness (15 species), followed by both tanaids (8 species) and decapods (8 species). Although tanaids were the most abundant taxon, decapods had the highest biomass. The most abundant tanaid species was Chondrochelia savignyi (Kroyer, 1842). Crustacea abundance was negatively correlated with depth.

Groupers are important fishes for the coastal ecosystems because of having a key role in the functioning of marine food webs. Their populations are increasingly affected by overfishing, habitat loss, and global warming. Since a reliable scientific background is lacking, their conservation is based on precautionary approaches, the applicability, and effectiveness of which are long questioned. Changes in Turkey's grouper fishery legislation constitute an excellent example of how a precautionary approach could not gain acceptance among the stakeholders. In Turkey, fishing on white groupers was banned in 2016. Before the ban, white groupers constituted a vital resource, particularly for demersal longliners, who strongly objected to the ban. After two years of closure, the ban had to be repealed by policymakers in 2018. In this study, we assessed the fishers' opinions about these changes in legislation and investigated shifts in their fishing practices based on qualitative interviews with the stakeholders. The ban significantly affected the demersal longliners who were indignant at the late announcement after making their investment for the coming fishing season. Referring our interviews, longliners were grouped under three categories based on their reflexes towards the ban. Some of the wholly left fishing started to use gill nets or thin longlines targeting goatfishes, sea breams, and particularly invasive threadfin bream (Nemipterus randalli) after the ban. According to the anecdotes of fishery controllers and fishers' community leaders, illegal fishing on groupers continued even after the ban. The guestimates of the rate of illegal fishing were roughly ranged between 20 % and 40%. In conclusion, further steps are required for the conservation of groupers, and in addition to establishing a reliable biological baseline, more participatory approaches will be helpful for this purpose.

The biogeographical importance of Dalmatia, bordered by the Dinaric Alps and the Adriatic Sea, is evident through the rich biodiversity of this region and its network of protected areas. One of those areas, Krka National Park (NP), supports a wide range of natural habitats, but rapidly increasing tourism puts high pressure on its ecosystems, despite its protected status. Accurate knowledge of species and their distributions within natural places such as Krka is essential to direct and prioritize future conservation efforts. As collecting biodiversity data is time and resource-intensive, alternative ways to obtain this information are needed. One possibility is monitoring based on eco-volunteering. From June to August of 2019, an Operation Wallacea/BIOTA scientific team surveyed a section of Krka NP and its surrounding boundaries, within the vicinity of the village of Puljane, to study its butterfly richness and abundance. Pollard walks and static count surveys were conducted with the help of eco-volunteers, testing the effectiveness of gathering field data through this approach. Overall, 57 butterfly species were found throughout the study, including four new records for Krka NP. Three further new species for the park were detected close to its boundaries and are also expected to occur within its borders. Here, we present an updated butterfly checklist for Krka NP, highlighting the positive impact of eco-volunteering initiatives and the importance of combined research efforts to study and protect the rich biodiversity and ecosystems of protected areas.

Research on shark and ray species in Turkey is limited and mostly conducted by destructive methods. Unfortunately, many of these species are threatened or near extinction, and still, there are many species with limited or no information. This fact raises concern on what method of research should be conducted on elasmobranchs with conservation in mind. And this initiated the idea of non-lethal or opportunistic sampling methodologies for obtaining required knowledge. Collecting genetic information without additional pressure by lethal approaches, using the latest technology from other disciplines, citizen science to learn about spatial-temporal distribution or population dynamics, and collecting bycatch individuals with no usage can be listed among the most popular methodologies. This study aimed to show how effective were opportunistic methods to obtain information on these threatened species without adding more sampling pressure on their populations.