Since 1990, the intense threat faced by the Atlantic Forest pushed the enactment of dedicated laws safeguarding its native vegetation.

Current successional stages’ parameters are subjective and imprecise, hindering environmental permitting and related offset policies.

We highlight the current classification’s main limitations, propose specific improvements, and suggest creating a new inclusive framework.

It is urgent to review, clarify, simplify, and increase the scientific reliability of the classification of successional stages.

Brazil’s Amazonian hydroelectric dams are a concern regarding Lula’s presidency.

Lula initiated and still defends the Belo Monte Dam, which has catastrophic impacts.

The Volta Grande, a 130-km river stretch, has lost over 80% of its natural flow.

Traditional people, including three indigenous groups, have lost food security.

Renewal of Belo Monte’s operating license tests Lula’s socioenvironmental commitment.

Open biomes cover ∼60% of land worldwide, and are associated with many biodiversity hotspots.

There, plants typically allocate most biomass belowground, yet functional roles of belowground coarse organs are overlooked.

Perenniality and decomposability of belowground coarse organs can differ greatly from that of fine roots.

We call for the inclusion of belowground coarse organs and their functions, especially in carbon cycling research.

Such inclusive approach can refine mitigation policies and our view on the functioning and conservation of open biomes.

Data collection can deplete conservation resources.

This can be circumvented by making better use of readily available data.

We provide a roadmap for how researchers can make better use of existing data.

Doing so will make conservation research more efficient and effective.

The Amazon basin is approaching a tipping point, and is therefore of paramount concern for biodiversity conservation.

While attention is paid to the protection of terrestrial ecosystems, freshwater efforts lag behind, despite rising threats.

Basin-wide conservation policy development, implementation, and enforcement requires commitments across all scales.

Stakeholder's participation in the system could be facilitated by supporting cross-border and cross-scalar capacity-building.

Campos Sulinos are neglected in terms of conservation and biodiversity studies.

We recovered 58 works about population genetics and phylogeography in Campos Sulinos.

High genetic variability and population structure were found in plants from Campos Sulinos.

There is a gap in genetics and genomics data availability in Campos Sulinos to apply in biodiversity conservation.

Genetics and genomics data are critical to address goals for CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework in Campos Sulinos.

We design a multi-objective Integer Linear Programming model for MPA selection.

The model maximizes ecological habitat and connectivity along the Kuroshio current.

We simulate larval drift from Batanes, Philippines to settlement areas in Taiwan.

We feed estimated travel time to the optimization model.

Our framework can inform a potential transboundary MPA network.

Large forest patches within PAs aid at maintaining the connectivity for small dispersal mammals.

High anthropization in the Andean region limits the connectivity for forest mammals.

Deforestation in the Andes Amazon Transition Belt (AATB) threatens identified priority corridors.

Multiple facets of biodiversity should be considered to understand phytoplankton dynamics.

Anthropogenic effects operate through the regulation of phytoplankton abundance, which in turn mediates species richness, and through it, functional evenness.

Connectivity to water, resource availability, pond size and design are key factors in understanding phytoplankton dynamics in livestock farm ponds.

Pond design should be considered for the construction and management of livestock farm ponds in the tropics.

CUs and ILs help regulate energy balance components, with lower LST and albedo and higher ET than multiple-use areas.

External pressures (deforestation, burned areas) have led to significant changes in LST and albedo over the past two decades, particularly in MUs.

The main predictors of changes in LST, ET, and albedo were the CUs and ILs, burned area, % native vegetation, NDVI, water deficit , and precipitation.

Results showed significant differences between biomes, with higher daytime LST and lower ET in the Cerrado compared with the Amazon.

The conversion rates of native vegetation were higher in MUs than in protected areas, , particularly in the Amazon region of Mato Grosso state.

Dams promote ecological changes on rivers tackled by the Serial Discontinuity Concept.

Multidimensional diversity of fish was studied along a 1700 km river stretch.

Species richness and trophic and isotopic diversity increased towards the river mouth.

Dam cascades caused declines in fish species richness and ecological diversity and higher turnover.

Long dam-free stretches of rivers were key for the recovery of ecological diversity.

Coffee crops have higher herpetofauna diversity than other anthropic cover types.

We identified 33 species, including frogs, toads, lizards, and snakes.

Fixed band transects for visual encounter were used to sample herpetofauna.

Microhabitats (leaf litter, humidity, rocks) influenced herpetofauna richness.

Six principles of sustainable management are proposed to coexist with herpetofauna.