(Press-News.org)
The Yangtze River Basin, a global biodiversity hotspot, has endured severe ecological degradation over several decades due to intense human activity, leading to a marked decline in aquatic biodiversity. In order to halt this 70-year trend, the Chinese government instituted a comprehensive 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River in 2021.
The initial effects of the ban have now been evaluated. In a recent study, researchers led by Prof. CHEN Yushun from the Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with domestic and international collaborators, have revealed that the Yangtze River fishing ban has not only halted the 70-year decline in fish resources but has also triggered an initial recovery. The study was published in Science on February 12.
Based on systematic monitoring data from 2018 to 2023, the researchers comprehensively analyzed the dynamics of fish communities in the Yangtze's main channel before and after full enforcement of the fishing ban, examining dimensions such as fish species richness, biomass, abundance, evenness, and beta diversity. They also quantified the stressors affecting fish diversity, including water quality, hydrology, climate change, land use, shoreline development, shipping, and fishing pressure.
The results showed significant improvement in key indicators, including fish biomass, body condition, species diversity, and the initial recovery of threatened species. Notably, larger-bodied species benefited greatly from the fishing ban, showing significant increases in biomass, which was also evidenced by an increase in the fish condition factor for both larger- and smaller-bodied species.
Some species, such as the slender tongue sole (Cynoglossus gracilis), showed an increase in population after the ban, with their freshwater migration extending further upstream. Endangered fish species such as the Yangtze sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus), Chinese sucker (Myxocyprinus asiaticus), and tube fish (Ochetobius elongatus), although still rare, also showed signs of initial recovery. However, the population status of Acipenser sinensis still faces an uncertain future.
In addition, the short-term recovery trajectory of the only extant freshwater mammal in the Yangtze River, the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis), showed improvement, with its population increasing from 445 in 2017 to 595 in 2022, a gain of one-third.
By analyzing the links between conservation measures and biodiversity relationships using Generalized Least-Squares (GLS)-based Structural Equation Models (SEM), the researchers revealed that the fishing ban was the primary driver of the initial recovery of the Yangtze ecosystem. Other factors, such as reduced vessel traffic, the creation of riparian vegetation buffers, and improved water quality, also contributed to biological recovery.
The full fishing ban under the Yangtze River Protection Law has effectively halted seven decades of biodiversity decline. While short-term monitoring data show promising signs, the long-term sustainability of this recovery requires further verification. Future efforts should focus on consolidating the results of the fishing ban, systematically addressing multiple stressors, and promoting further coordination between ecological conservation and sustainable development.
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Amsterdam, 12 February 2026 – An international research team of Amsterdam UMC, VU LaserLab, the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and the University of Edinburgh have gained new insights into the dynamics of myelin swellings in the brain. Myelin swellings are considered as the precursor of lesions in the brain of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The results have been recently published in the leading magazine Science.
MS is characterised by lesions in the brain and the spinal cord. Aside from these inflammations, damage can also be visible in the myelin; the protective layer surrounding nerve ...
Many Vile Earthlings Munch Jam Sandwiches Under Newspapers and My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos. What sounds like gibberish half-sentences are memory aids taught to children to help remember the order of the planets in our Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
The eight familiar planets can be sorted into two different types: rocky and gaseous. The inner planets that are closest to the Sun – Mercury to Mars – are rocky, and the outer planets – Jupiter to Neptune – are gaseous.
This general pattern, ...
New research has found that we are more likely to back policies aimed at tackling climate change when we feel fearful – but feelings of dread make us less likely to support such policies.
Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, the study is the first to investigate if incidental state emotions, referring to how people are feeling in that moment, can predict people’s belief in climate change, their willingness to behave pro-environmentally and to support policies to address climate change.
Led by a team of researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge, England, the study involved 418 ...
Researchers at Oxford University and the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) are proposing a new way to observe tightly bound supermassive black hole binaries. Formed naturally when galaxies merge, only widely separated systems have confidently been observed to date. In a paper published today in Physical Review Letters, the researchers suggest hunting down the hidden systems by searching for repeating flashes of light from individual stars lying behind the black holes as they are temporarily magnified by gravitational lensing as the binary ...
Embargoed until 8:30 AM PST, February 12, 2026
Novel AI Model Accurately Detects Placenta Accreta in Pregnancy Before Delivery, New Research Shows
Las Vegas, NV – A novel artificial intelligence (AI) model accurately detected the presence of placenta accreta spectrum (PAS), a dangerous pregnancy condition that often goes undetected with current screening methods, according to new research presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) 2026 Pregnancy Meeting™. PAS is a leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity, but only half of all ...
The Interactions Collaboration has announced the winning images of the 2025 Global Physics Photowalk. These photographs transform the invisible frontier of particle physics — from a detector hunting for dark matter a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, to a deep-sea neutrino telescope studying violent astrophysical phenomena — into visual testaments that capture the beauty, precision and nature of humankind’s search to understand the universe.
Selected from hundreds of images submitted by more than 100 amateur and professional photographers across the U.S., Europe and Asia, the Global ...
Exercise does more than strengthen muscles; it also rewires the brain. In a study publishing February 12 in the Cell Press journal Neuron, researchers reveal that the lasting gain in endurance from repeated exercise—such as the ability to run farther and faster over time—involves changes in brain activity that help muscles and hearts to become stronger.
“A lot of people say they feel sharper and their minds are clearer after exercise,” says corresponding ...
About The Study: In this nationwide cohort of U.S. veterans with type 2 diabetes, semaglutide initiators had a 2-fold nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) risk than sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor initiators, while the absolute risk was low. Clinicians and patients should be counseled on the rare but evident increased risk of NAION after semaglutide initiation.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jennifer S. Lee, MD, PhD, email jennifer.lee23@va.gov.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2025.6262)
Editor’s ...
About The Study: The findings of this cohort study suggest that access to higher-level neonatal care is limited at rural birth hospitals, as less than 20% offered this care in 2022 vs 74% of urban hospitals. While rural hospitals are losing childbirth care capacity, urban birth hospitals are expanding higher-level neonatal care, accentuating geographic discrepancies in access to care for high-risk infants.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Katy B. Kozhimannil, PhD, MPA, email kbk@umn.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...
Our past experiences shape how much we eat and where and what we choose to eat. Using preclinical models, researchers from Mass General Brigham and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have identified brain cells that translate contextual information into appetite control. The findings suggest that dysfunction in this brain circuit could be a factor in disordered eating and obesity, meaning that these neurons could be a new target for treatment. Results are published in Neuron.
“We identified a neural circuit that is responsible for linking our prior experiences with ...
