Discovering the world's most endangered great whale species did not advance an issue-attention cycle in news media: Implications for Rice's whale conservation and management.

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Ambio, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Marcus B ReamerDepartment of Environmental Science and Policy, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL, 33149, USA. marcusreamer@earth.miami.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4140-0989

Emily YeagerDepartment of Environmental Science and Policy, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL, 33149, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4291-2994

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Issue-attention cycles (IACs) follow the predictable rise and fall of media and public attention to topics through five defined stages. Using content analysis and critical discourse analysis, we analyzed 35 newspaper texts (2021-2024) about the Rice's whale, a newly discovered and Critically Endangered species exclusive to the Gulf of Mexico. We investigated whether this discovery was enough to advance an IAC and found that, while Rice's whale science, conservation, and policy has the elements of a topic likely to undergo an IAC, it remains in the first stage of the IAC with limited media attention and a focus on regional stakeholders and policy debates. Comparing this case to the North Atlantic right whale IAC (2010-2024), we offer insights for scientists, professionals, and advocates to prepare for potential future media attention and conservation conflict. Our findings highlight the importance of strategic communication and media analysis to conservation.

Indexed as

Conservation of Natural ResourcesEndangered SpeciesMass MediaWhalesAnimalsContent analysisCritical discourse analysisEnvironmental communicationIssue-attention cycleMarine conservationRice’s whale

Identifiers

PMID41269569

DOI10.1007/s13280-025-02265-y

PMCPMC12960916

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.