# Topics and Trends in Most Cited Fish Ecology and Management Studies Papers, Class of 2026

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/fish-ecology-and-management-studies/2026*

## What topics and trends defined most-cited Fish Ecology and Management Studies research in the Class of 2026?

The latest research in Fish Ecology and Management underscores a strong pivot towards ecosystem-wide conservation strategies. Prominent themes like biogeographic regions, dam impacts, and environmental DNA reflect modern, comprehensive approaches to monitoring ecosystem health. Noticeable surges in biomonitoring contrast with declines in traditional, localized aquaculture assessments.

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Field | Fish Ecology and Management Studies |
| Cohort label | Class of 2026 (2024 publications) |
| Papers analyzed | 8209 |
| Papers ranked | 20 |
| Top topics in ranked papers | Biogeographic regions, dam impacts, environmental DNA, biomonitoring |
| Publication window | Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024 |
| Eligibility | Research articles; reviews excluded |
| Citation window | 18 months post-publication |
| 18m citation range | 26–68 |
| Data source | OpenAlex · Retrieved July 2026 |
| License | CC BY 4.0 |

## Rankings

| Rank | Title | Authors | Corresponding authors | Affiliation | Journal | 18m citations | DOI |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| 1 | The Global Dam Watch database of river barrier and reservoir information for large-scale applications | Bernhard Lehner, Penny Beames, Mark Mulligan, Christiane Zarfl, Luca De Felice, Arnout van Soesbergen, Michele Thieme, Carlos Garcia de Leaniz, Mira Anand, Barbara Belletti, Kate A Brauman, Stephanie R Januchowski-Hartley, Kimberly Lyon, Lisa Mandle, Nick Mazany-Wright, Mathis L Messager, Tamlin Pavelsky, Jean-François Pekel, Jida Wang, Qingke Wen, Marcus Wishart, Tianqi Xing, Xiao Yang, Jonathan Higgins | Bernhard Lehner | McGill University, Canada | Scientific Data | 68 | 10.1038/s41597-024-03752-9 |
| 2 | Ecological erosion and expanding extinction risk of sharks and rays | Nicholas K Dulvy, Nathan Pacoureau, Jay H Matsushiba, Helen F Yan, Wade J VanderWright, Cassandra L Rigby, Brittany Finucci, C Samantha Sherman, Rima W Jabado, John K Carlson, Riley A Pollom, Patricia Charvet, Caroline M Pollock, Craig Hilton-Taylor, Colin A Simpfendorfer | Nicholas K. Dulvy, Nathan Pacoureau | Simon Fraser University, Canada | Science | 65 | 10.1126/science.adn1477 |
| 3 | Stock assessment models overstate sustainability of the world’s fisheries | Graham J Edgar, Amanda E Bates, Nils C Krueck, Susan C Baker, Rick D Stuart-Smith, Christopher J Brown | Graham J. Edgar | University of Tasmania, Australia | Science | 51 | 10.1126/science.adl6282 |
| 4 | Uniformity and deformation: A benchmark for multi-fish real-time tracking in the farming | Jinze Huang, Xiaohan Yu, Dong An, Xin Ning, Jincun Liu, Prayag Tiwari | Dong An | Beijing Engineering and Technology Research Centre for Internet of Things in Agriculture, China | Expert Systems with Applications | 50 | 10.1016/j.eswa.2024.125653 |
| 5 | Biological invasions are a population‐level rather than a species‐level phenomenon | Phillip J Haubrock, Ismael Soto, Danish A Ahmed, Ali R Ansari, Ali Serhan Tarkan, Irmak Kurtul, Rafael L Macêdo, Adrián Lázaro-Lobo, Mathieu Toutain, Ben Parker, Dagmara Błońska, Simone Guareschi, Carlos Cano-Barbacil, Victoria Dominguez Almela, Demetra Andreou, Jaime Moyano, Sencer Akalın, Cüneyt Kaya, Esra Bayçelebi, Baran Yoğurtçuoğlu, Elizabeta Briski, Sadi Aksu, Özgür Emiroğlu, Stefano Mammola, Vanessa De Santis, Melina Kourantidou, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, J Robert Britton, Antonín Kouba, Ellen J Dolan, Natalia I Kirichenko, Emili García-Berthou, David Renault, Romina D Fernandez, Sercan Yapıcı, Daniela Giannetto, Martin A Nuñez, Emma J Hudgins, Jan Pergl, Marco Milardi, Dmitrii L Musolin, Ross N Cuthbert | Phillip J. Haubrock | Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Germany | Global Change Biology | 46 | 10.1111/gcb.17312 |
| 6 | Utilizing Deep Learning and the Internet of Things to Monitor the Health of Aquatic Ecosystems to Conserve Biodiversity | Bobir Odilov, Askariy Madraimov, Otabek Y. Yusupov, Nodir Karimov, Rakhima Alimova, Zukhra Yakhshieva, Sherzod A Akhunov | Bobir Odilov | Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, UZ | Natural and Engineering Sciences | 44 | 10.28978/nesciences.1491795 |
| 7 | Floodplain lakes: Linking hydrology to ecology and conservation | Fan Xue, Qi Zhang, John M. Mélack, Hongwu Tang, Saiyu Yuan, Yuxue Jia, Chenyang Xue, Yanyan Song | Qi Zhang | Hohai University, China | Earth-Science Reviews | 41 | 10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104967 |
| 8 | Fishes of the upper rio Paraná basin: diversity, biogeography and conservation | Fernando César Paiva Dagosta, Maristela Sayure Monção, Bárbara Akemi Nagamatsu, Carla Simone Pavanelli, Fernando Rogério Carvalho, Flávio César Thadeo de Lima, Francisco Langeani, Guilherme Moreira Dutra, Renata Rúbia Ota, Thomaz Jefrey Seren, Victor Alberto Tagliacollo., Naércio A. Menezes, Heraldo A. Britski, Mário C. C. de Pinna | Fernando César Paiva Dagosta | Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados, Brazil | Neotropical Ichthyology | 37 | 10.1590/1982-0224-2023-0066 |
| 9 | Fishing for oil and meat drives irreversible defaunation of deepwater sharks and rays | Brittany Finucci, Nathan Pacoureau, Cassandra L Rigby, Jay H Matsushiba, Nina Faure-Beaulieu, C Samantha Sherman, Wade J VanderWright, Rima W Jabado, Patricia Charvet, Paola A Mejía-Falla, Andrés F Navia, Danielle H Derrick, Peter M Kyne, Riley A Pollom, Rachel H L Walls, Katelyn B Herman, Bineesh Kinattumkara, Charles F Cotton, Juan-Martín Cuevas, Ross K Daley, Dharmadi, David A Ebert, Daniel Fernando, Stela M C Fernando, Malcolm P Francis, Charlie Huveneers, Hajime Ishihara, David W Kulka, Robin W Leslie, Francis Neat, Alexei M Orlov, Getulio Rincon, Glenn J Sant, Igor V Volvenko, Terence I Walker, Colin A Simpfendorfer, Nicholas K Dulvy | Brittany Finucci | National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), New Zealand | Science | 36 | 10.1126/science.ade9121 |
| 10 | Passive eDNA sampling facilitates biodiversity monitoring and rare species detection | Xiaoyu Chen, Sheng Li, Jindong Zhao, Meng Yao | Meng Yao | Peking University, China | Environment International | 34 | 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108706 |
| 11 | An Integrated Smart Pond Water Quality Monitoring and Fish Farming Recommendation Aquabot System | Md Moniruzzaman Hemal, Atiqur Rahman, Nurjahan, Farhana Islam, Samsuddin Ahmed, M Shamim Kaiser, Muhammad Raisuddin Ahmed | Nurjahan | Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Digital University, Bangladesh | Sensors | 34 | 10.3390/s24113682 |
| 12 | Harnessing multimodal data fusion to advance accurate identification of fish feeding intensity | Zhuangzhuang Du, Meng Cui, Xianbao Xu, Zhuangzhuang Bai, Jie Han, Wanchao Li, Jianan Yang, Xiaohang Liu, Cong Wang, Daoliang Li, Daoliang Li | Wanchao Li, Daoliang Li, Daoliang Li | China Agriculture University, China | Biosystems Engineering | 34 | 10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2024.08.001 |
| 13 | Phylogenomics of Characidae, a hyper-diverse Neotropical freshwater fish lineage, with a phylogenetic classification including four families (Teleostei: Characiformes) | Bruno Francelino de Melo, Rafaela Priscila Ota, Ricardo C. Benine, Fernando Rogério Carvalho, Flávio César Thadeo de Lima, George Mendes Taliaferro Mattox, Camila S. Souza, Tiago C. Faria, Lais Reia, Fábio Fernandes Roxo, Martha Valdéz-Moreno, Thomas J. Near, Cláudio Oliveira | Bruno Francelino de Melo | American Museum of Natural History, United States | Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | 32 | 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae101 |
| 14 | Salmon Aquaculture in Chile: Production Growth and Socioeconomic Impacts | Adams Ceballos‐Concha, Frank Asche, Roberto Cárdenas‐Retamal | Frank Asche | University of Florida, United States | Reviews in Aquaculture | 32 | 10.1111/raq.12993 |
| 15 | Emergence of lake conditions that exceed natural temperature variability | Lei Huang, R. Iestyn Woolway, Axel Timmermann, Sun‐Seon Lee, Keith B. Rodgers, Ryohei Yamaguchi | R. Iestyn Woolway | Institute for Basic Science, South Korea | Nature Geoscience | 31 | 10.1038/s41561-024-01491-5 |
| 16 | Land use and river-lake connectivity: Biodiversity determinants of lake ecosystems | Huiyu Xie, Yu Ma, Xiaowei Jin, Shiqi Jia, Xu Zhao, Xianfu Zhao, Yongjiu Cai, Jian Xu, Fengchang Wu, John P Giesy | Xiaowei Jin | Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, China | Environmental Science and Ecotechnology | 30 | 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100434 |
| 17 | Underestimated nutrient from aquaculture ponds to Lake Eutrophication: A case study on Taihu Lake Basin | Jiaqi Chen, Jiaqi Chen, Xiangmei Liu, Jiansheng Chen, Jiansheng Chen, Haixia Jin, Tao Wang, Wei Zhu, Ling Li | Jiaqi Chen, Jiansheng Chen | Hohai University, China | Journal of Hydrology | 28 | 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.130749 |
| 18 | River ecological status is shaped by agricultural land use intensity across Europe | Christian Schürings, Lidija Globevnik, Jan U Lemm, Alexander Psomas, Luka Snoj, Daniel Hering, Sebastian Birk | Christian Schürings | University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany | Water Research | 28 | 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121136 |
| 19 | Past and recent anthropogenic pressures drive rapid changes in riverine fish communities | Alain Danet, Xingli Giam, Julian D Olden, Lise Comte | Alain Danet | Illinois State University, United States | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 28 | 10.1038/s41559-023-02271-x |
| 20 | Unravelling large-scale patterns and drivers of biodiversity in dry rivers | Arnaud Foulquier, Thibault Datry, Roland Corti, Daniel von Schiller, Klement Tockner, Rachel Stubbington, Mark O Gessner, Frédéric Boyer, Marc Ohlmann, Wilfried Thuiller, Delphine Rioux, Christian Miquel, Ricardo Albariño, Daniel C Allen, Florian Altermatt, Maria Isabel Arce, Shai Arnon, Damien Banas, Andy Banegas-Medina, Erin Beller, Melanie L Blanchette, Joanna Blessing, Iola Gonçalves Boëchat, Kate Boersma, Michael Bogan, Núria Bonada, Nick Bond, Katherine Brintrup, Andreas Bruder, Ryan Burrows, Tommaso Cancellario, Cristina Canhoto, Stephanie Carlson, Núria Cid, Julien Cornut, Michael Danger, Bianca de Freitas Terra, Anna Maria De Girolamo, Rubén Del Campo, Verónica Díaz Villanueva, Fiona Dyer, Arturo Elosegi, Catherine Febria, Ricardo Figueroa Jara, Brian Four, Sarig Gafny, Rosa Gómez, Lluís Gómez-Gener, Simone Guareschi, Björn Gücker, Jason Hwan, J Iwan Jones, Patrick S Kubheka, Alex Laini, Simone Daniela Langhans, Bertrand Launay, Guillaume Le Goff, Catherine Leigh, Chelsea Little, Stefan Lorenz, Jonathan Marshall, Eduardo J Martin Sanz, Angus McIntosh, Clara Mendoza-Lera, Elisabeth I Meyer, Marko Miliša, Musa C Mlambo, Manuela Morais, Nabor Moya, Peter Negus, Dev Niyogi, Iluminada Pagán, Athina Papatheodoulou, Giuseppe Pappagallo, Isabel Pardo, Petr Pařil, Steffen U Pauls, Marek Polášek, Pablo Rodríguez-Lozano, Robert J Rolls, Maria Mar Sánchez-Montoya, Ana Savić, Oleksandra Shumilova, Kandikere R Sridhar, Alisha Steward, Amina Taleb, Avi Uzan, Yefrin Valladares, Ross Vander Vorste, Nathan J Waltham, Dominik H Zak, Annamaria Zoppini | Arnaud Foulquier | Univ. Grenoble Alpes, France | Nature Communications | 26 | 10.1038/s41467-024-50873-1 |

## Topic trends

### What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

The Class of 2026 in Fish Ecology and Management Studies is dominated by a diverse set of research areas that reflect a dual focus on conservation biology and the anthropogenic impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Topics such as biogeographic regions, functional diversity, and freshwater macroinvertebrates highlight the field's ongoing dedication to understanding intricate biodiversity patterns and ecosystem functions. Simultaneously, pressing issues like overfishing and dam impacts underscore the critical need to address human-induced stressors on aquatic life. The prominence of modern techniques is notably evident, with environmental DNA (eDNA) and advanced biomonitoring playing an increasingly vital role in observing and managing these fragile ecosystems. Together, these topics illustrate a discipline that is successfully leveraging novel monitoring tools to tackle urgent ecological challenges and refine broad-scale management strategies.

*Leading research themes*

### How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

Between the Class of 2025 and 2026, research focus shifted significantly toward advanced ecological assessment and extensive conservation planning. The most striking increases were observed in biomonitoring and freshwater macroinvertebrates, both showing substantial growth as researchers prioritize robust and scalable indicators of ecosystem health. Similarly, studies addressing biogeographic regions and dam impacts saw notable upward trends, reflecting an increased global emphasis on understanding large-scale habitat connectivity and the far-reaching consequences of infrastructure. Conversely, topics such as aquaculture monitoring and community turnover experienced relative declines. This pattern suggests a broader transition within the field: moving away from localized, commercially-focused monitoring toward holistic, biodiversity-centric ecological tracking using innovative approaches. The data clearly indicates that the discipline is rapidly evolving to meet complex, ecosystem-wide challenges head-on.

*How topics shifted year over year*

## Cite this ranking

```
Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited Fish Ecology and Management Studies Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/fish-ecology-and-management-studies/2026. Accessed 2026-07-15.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459
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