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Accelerating rate of human impact and environmental change severely affects marine biodiversity and increases the urgency to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 30×30 plan for conserving 30% of sea areas by 2030. However, area‐based conservation targets are complex to identify in a 3‐dimensional (3D) ocean where deep‐sea features such as seamounts have been seldom studied mostly due to challenging methodologies to implement at great depths. Yet, the use of emerging technologies, such as environmental DNA combined with modern modeling frameworks, could help address the problem. We collected environmental DNA, echosounder acoustic, and video data at 15 seamounts and deep island slopes across the Coral Sea. We modeled 7 fish community metrics and the abundances of 45 individual species and molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) in benthic and pelagic waters (down to 600‐m deep) with boosted regression trees and generalized joint attribute models to describe biodiversity on seamounts and deep slopes and identify 3D protection solutions for achieving the CBD area target in New Caledonia (1.4 million km2). We prioritized the identified conservation units in a 3D space, based on various biodiversity targets, to meet the goal of protecting at least 30% of the spatial domain, with a focus on areas with high biodiversity. The relationship between biodiversity protection targets and the spatial area protected by the solution was linear. The scenario protecting 30% of each biodiversity metric preserved almost 30% of the considered spatial domain and accounted for the 3D distribution of biodiversity. Our study paves the way for the use of combined data collection methodologies to improve biodiversity estimates in 3D structured marine environments for the selection of conservation areas and for the use of biodiversity targets to achieve area‐based international targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-throughput sequencing approaches have become frequent in the study of endophyte communities allowing the cumulative description of fungal diversity in the last decade. However, they brought new challenges to researchers in terms of programming and developing of informatics tools. Currently, there is no consensus concerning the appropriate bioinformatics to process such sequence data. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of three pipelines of two cost-free toolkits designed to be friendly to non-programmer users, and specifically developed for fungal data: AMPtk and PIPITS. The sapwood-inhabiting fungal assemblages of two Nothofagus species from the Patagonian Forests were assessed through metabarcoding of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and compared with an extant sequence dataset obtained from culture prospection in the same study sites and trees. The AMPtk toolkit has performed better concerning community description in terms of precision of taxa clustering, mainly due to the DADA2 algorithm; PIPITS evidenced a higher sensitivity in detecting taxa known to be present, hence it is potentially useful for future specific taxa detection surveys. Because of a current lack of information of the reference databases, both bioinformatic toolkits performed poorly as to taxonomy assignment. It is imperative to continue studying these ecosystems to, concomitantly, improve databases and the explanatory potential of the new technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the conservation challenges increase, new approaches are needed to help combat losses in biodiversity and slow or reverse the decline of threatened species. Genome‐editing technology is changing the face of modern biology, facilitating applications that were unimaginable only a decade ago. The technology has the potential to make significant contributions to the fields of evolutionary biology, ecology, and conservation, yet the fear of unintended consequences from designer ecosystems containing engineered organisms has stifled innovation. To overcome this gap in the understanding of what genome editing is and what its capabilities are, more research is needed to translate genome‐editing discoveries into tools for ecological research. Emerging and future genome‐editing technologies include new clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) targeted sequencing and nucleic acid detection approaches as well as species genetic barcoding and somatic genome‐editing technologies. These genome‐editing tools have the potential to transform the environmental sciences by providing new noninvasive methods for monitoring threatened species or for enhancing critical adaptive traits. A pioneering effort by the conservation community is required to apply these technologies to real‐world conservation problems. Article impact statement: Novel applications of CRISPR technology have the potential to make significant contributions to ecology and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring communities of fish is important for the management and sustainability of fisheries and marine ecosystems. Baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVs) are among the most effective nondestructive techniques for sampling bony fishes and elasmobranchs (sharks, rays, and skates). However, BRUVs sample visually conspicuous biota; hence, some taxa are undersampled or not recorded at all. We compared the diversity of fishes characterized using BRUVs with diversity detected via environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding. We sampled seawater and captured BRUVs imagery at 48 locales that included reef and seagrass beds inside and outside a marine reserve (Jurien Bay in Western Australia). Eighty‐two fish genera from 13 orders were detected, and the community of fishes described using eDNA and BRUVs combined yielded >30% more generic richness than when either method was used alone. Rather than detecting a homogenous genetic signature, the eDNA assemblages mirrored the BRUVs' spatial explicitness; differentiation of taxa between seagrass and reef was clear despite the relatively small geographical scale of the study site (∼35 km2). Taxa that were not sampled by one approach, due to limitations and biases intrinsic to the method, were often detected with the other. Therefore, using BRUVs and eDNA in concert provides a more holistic view of vertebrate marine communities across habitats. Both methods are noninvasive, which enhances their potential for widespread implementation in the surveillance of marine ecosystems. Article impact statement: Use of video and environmental genomics in conservation will greatly improve capacity to effectively monitor fish biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]