A large-scale study with data from Brazilian Cerrado streams found that about half of the field sampling effort preserved the ability of most habitat and biological indices to distinguish stream disturbance levels, while greatly reducing time and costs. Macroinvertebrate indices remained robust under reduced sampling, and only fish richness was more sensitive to lower effort. The findings suggest that faster, more cost-effective stream assessments could support biomonitoring programs in tropical regions with limited funding.

A new, consolidated checklist of diatoms—a major group of photosynthetic microalgae—has been compiled for the Salish Sea, northeast Pacific, by a team of Canadian scientists. Integrating historical records with new reports, this first comprehensive baseline establishes a foundation for assessing diatom diversity in the region. As primary producers at the base of marine food webs, diatoms are key indicators of environmental change, providing critical insight into the health and resilience of the Salish Sea bioregion. The checklist is now published in the open-access Biodiversity Data Journal.