Lincoln University

A regional assessment of the indigenous vascular plants of Niue is presented using the IUCN Red List criteria. The assessment was undertaken during a community workshop that drew on the indigenous local knowledge and scientific information. The assessment comprised 197 named taxa and 8 indeterminate entities, with 4 (2.0%) taxa assessed as Extinct and 63 (32.0%) Threatened which includes 37 (18.8%) Critically Endangered, 11 (5.6%) Endangered and 15 (7.6%) Vulnerable. Of the remaining categories, 18 taxa (9.2%) were Near Threatened, 104 (52.8%) Least Concern and 8 (4.0%) Data Deficient. Red List criterion D (number of plants) was used for the assessments as other criteria are reliant on population trend data and areas of occurrence and occupancy, but data on these were lacking or difficult to apply. A notable feature of the flora is that a number of taxa assessed as Threatened have been collected only once or from one location, and these are considered to be naturally uncommon in Niue. The 259 km 2 land area of Niue is problematic when using the Red List criteria, as based on this the entire flora would be assessed as Endangered (Criteria B, Geographic range: occurrence < 5000 km 2 ; occupancy < 500 km 2 ).

As part of the celebration of 25 years of interactive open access publishing at the EGU, the Co-Chief Editors of Biogeosciences invite the community to an interactive PICO presentation reflecting on the journal’s development, its scientific diversity, and its continuing role in advancing integrative Earth system science.Founded in 2004, Biogeosciences is an open access EGU journal grounded in a transparent, community-driven peer-review process. The journal publishes research that brings together biological, chemical, and physical perspectives to improve understanding of Earth system functioning across terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, oceanic, and atmospheric environments. Key themes include biogeochemical cycles, ecosystem dynamics, microbial processes, land–ocean–atmosphere linkages, and Earth system feedbacks, drawing on approaches such as field and laboratory studies, numerical modelling, remote sensing, and data-integrative analyses. Biogeosciences publishes Research Articles, Letters, Reviews and Syntheses, Ideas and Perspectives, Technical Notes, and Comments, and actively supports community-driven Special Issues that foster scientific exchange across disciplines.The PICO session will offer an opportunity to learn more about the Biogeosciences editorial workflow, including how interdisciplinary scope and scientific significance are evaluated and how authors and reviewers engage during the open public discussion phase on EGUsphere.We warmly welcome researchers at all career stages who are interested in transparent, interdisciplinary, and not-for-profit publishing to join the conversation, share ideas, ask questions, and celebrate Biogeosciences as part of the EGU’s interactive open access community.

Tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior (ERB) is a key requirement in the promotion of the sustainable development of tourism destinations. Although extensive studies have explored the antecedents of tourists’ ERB, research within the context of rural tourism remains limited. Addressing this gap and guided by the Stimulus–Organism–Response theory, this study develops an integrated model in which nature relatedness and place attachment serially mediate the effect of the rural tourscape on tourists’ ERB. Based on 398 valid questionnaires collected from Huangling Village in Wuyuan, China—a UNWTO Best Tourism Village—data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that (1) the ambience and agricultural products dimensions of the rural tourscape have a direct positive impact on tourists’ ERB, and (2) both nature relatedness and place attachment serve as independent mediators between the rural tourscape and tourists’ ERB. Furthermore, there exists a serial mediating pathway of “nature relatedness → place attachment” between them. This study uncovers the complex mechanisms underlying the formation of tourists’ ERB in rural tourism settings. By introducing nature relatedness as a mediator, it offers new insights for both theoretical advancement and the practical management of tourists’ ERB.

We are currently witnessing a mass extinction crisis due to increasingly overwhelming human impacts on the biosphere. Extinctions from the last few hundred years have been well-known for some taxonomic groups, but represent only the tip of the iceberg. While there is accumulating evidence that the number of historic human-induced extinctions is far higher than documented in the ‘gold standard’ for assessing extinction risks - the IUCN Red List - the extent and characteristics of poorly documented or ‘dark extinctions’ remain insufficiently known. Such dark extinctions, which are preceded by undocumented local declines and extinctions, have profound implications for assessing long-term trajectories of biodiversity change of local assemblages.Dark extinctions and undocumented local species declines span a gradient from events that left no direct trace, to documented losses supported by substantial evidence (e.g., subfossil remains, ancient DNA, historic descriptions, specimens in herbaria or museums, observation records) waiting to be formally accepted as actual local decline or extinction by rigorous scientific standards. Here, we synthesize the state of knowledge on the discrepancy between documented and dark extinctions, and assess the implications of undocumented local species losses on biodiversity assessments. We identify six essential dimensions for Red List assessments, and we provide an assessment of their coverage in the IUCN Red List. To this end we review the evidence on how extinction drivers have changed in importance over time, and how well they are actually covered by Red List assessments. We identify ten sources of gaps and biases in documenting extinctions and local species losses and evaluate the role of temporal lags in these processes. We discuss the implications of these findings for studying species richness and the temporal dynamics of local assemblages, and more broadly, for assessing the true scale of the unfolding extinction crisis and assess the implications for conservation policy. Finally, we identify key steps to better account for undocumented species declines from local to global scales.

Chromium (Cr) is a common heavy-metal pollutant that poses a significant threat to both the environment and human health. Herein, a novel strain Lysinibacillus capsici FPHNCRA4-48, with a high Cr tolerance and removal performance, was isolated from Cr-contaminated plant water in Changde, Hunan Province. Structural characterization and proteomic analyses were performed to investigate the Cr removal performance and molecular mechanism of L. capsici FPHNCRA4-48. FPHNCRA4-48 can effectively remove more than 99% of the Cr(VI) at an initial concentration of 1000 μmol/L. The FTIR, 3D-EEM, and XPS results revealed that -OH, -NH2, and -CO-NH2 derived from extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) were mainly involved in Cr(VI) removal. Interestingly, the protein content in the EPS increased significantly (1.32-fold) after exposure to Cr(VI). Moreover, proteomic analysis revealed that genes (rpmA, rpmI, rpmC, rplI, rpmD, deoB, deoC) related to translation and carbohydrate metabolism, and genes (pyk, icd, rpiB, eno) related to amino acid biosynthesis were all significantly up-regulated, suggesting that these pathways related to protein synthesis in L. capsici FPHNCRA4-48 were activated under Cr(VI) stress. Finally, KEGG ribosome pathway enrichment occurred. These data highlight the importance of microbial EPSs in bioremediation in Cr-polluted environments. This study identified highly efficient Cr(VI)-removing bacterial strains and conducted an in-depth analysis of the removal mechanism of their extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs), thereby providing theoretical foundations and technical support for the biological remediation of Cr(VI)-contaminated water bodies.

Field surveys of the flora of Niue have identified ten new records of naturalized plants and clarification of the status of an earlier record. Four new records are not known to have been cultivated in Niue, with three the herbs Cardamine flexuosa With., Dentella repens (L.) J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., and Strobilanthes reptans (G.Forst.) Moylan ex Y.F.Deng & J.R.I.Wood, and the fourth the liane Distimake quinquefolius (L.) A.R.Simões & Staples. Six species are cultivated and are now documented as naturalized with self‐sown progeny or vegetative spread. These are the timber tree Swietenia macrophylla King, the liane Stephanotis floribunda Jacques, and the palms Adonidia merrillii (Becc.) Becc., Linospadix monostachyos (Mart.) H.Wendl., and Livistona australis (R.Br.) Mart. Another cultivated plant, Gloriosa superba L., was collected from wild sites but may have established vegetatively as a garden discard. An obscure and earlier record of Cyperus gracilis R.Br. being naturalized is confirmed, as its original and only documentation is a brief and easily overlooked entry in a more general checklist of the weeds of western Polynesia published in 1988. There are supporting and annotated herbarium specimens in Allan Herbarium (CHR) for C. gracilis , with the first collection in 1965 by W. R. Sykes.

Aotearoa New Zealand faces accelerating loss of freshwater fish biodiversity and growing pressures on culturally significant fisheries. Technical solutions alone have failed because the challenge is not only ecological, but also institutional, cultural, and relational. Change is needed across policy, research, and practice to drive better outcomes for freshwater fish, beginning with how science is conceived and undertaken. Drawing on the Fish Futures five‐year transdisciplinary research programme, we outline how a transformative research approach—focused on strengthening relationships between people and freshwater fish—responds to fragmented and justice‐deficient freshwater fish governance. We highlight where change is needed to better embed justice, holism, and coordination in freshwater fish science and governance. Through hui and knowledge co‐production processes grounded in Te Ao Māori, we articulate six values that guide how research is designed and enacted. Sustaining freshwater fish and fisheries will require more than just more science or better science—it demands transforming the way knowledge is produced, shared, and applied to enable governance that honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) and reflects the deep interconnections between ecological and cultural wellbeing.