scholarly journals Characteristics, Main Impacts, and Stewardship of Natural and Artificial Freshwater Environments: Consequences for Biodiversity Conservation

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cantonati ◽  
Poikane ◽  
Pringle ◽  
Stevens ◽  
Turak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Flood Pulse ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Oxbow Lakes ◽  
Nutrient Spiraling ◽  
Ecological Features ◽  
Introductory Article

In this overview (introductory article to a special issue including 14 papers), we consider all main types of natural and artificial inland freshwater habitas (fwh). For each type, we identify the main biodiversity patterns and ecological features, human impacts on the system and environmental issues, and discuss ways to use this information to improve stewardship. Examples of selected key biodiversity/ecological features (habitat type): narrow endemics, sensitive (groundwater and GDEs); crenobionts, LIHRes (springs); unidirectional flow, nutrient spiraling (streams); naturally turbid, floodplains, large-bodied species (large rivers); depth-variation in benthic communities (lakes); endemism and diversity (ancient lakes); threatened, sensitive species (oxbow lakes, SWE); diverse, reduced littoral (reservoirs); cold-adapted species (Boreal and Arctic fwh); endemism, depauperate (Antarctic fwh); flood pulse, intermittent wetlands, biggest river basins (tropical fwh); variable hydrologic regime—periods of drying, flash floods (arid-climate fwh). Selected impacts: eutrophication and other pollution, hydrologic modifications, overexploitation, habitat destruction, invasive species, salinization. Climate change is a threat multiplier, and it is important to quantify resistance, resilience, and recovery to assess the strategic role of the different types of freshwater ecosystems and their value for biodiversity conservation. Effective conservation solutions are dependent on an understanding of connectivity between different freshwater ecosystems (including related terrestrial, coastal and marine systems).

Going with the flow: global warming and the challenge of sustaining river ecosystems in monsoonal Asia

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Dudgeon
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Dispersal Ability ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Hydrologic Alteration ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Ecosystem Integrity ◽  
River Ecosystems ◽  
The Rich

River ecosystems in monsoonal Asia are experiencing human impacts to the detriment of the rich biodiversity they support. Threats include hydrologic alteration, pollution, habitat destruction, overexploitation, and invasive exotic species. Global warming will cause further changes to river ecosystems, and may act synergistically with other threat factors. Significant upward or northward range adjustments by the freshwater biota will be necessary to cope with rising temperatures, but there will be significant constraints upon dispersal ability and availability of suitable habitat for many organisms. Global warming will exacerbate existing impacts of hydrologic alteration because of the adaptive human responses that will be engendered by changes in climate and runoff, particularly dams constructed for hydropower generation, flood protection, water storage, and irrigation. The consequences of further hydrologic alteration and habitat fragmentation will be profound, since almost all ecological processes, material transfers and life-cycle events in the rivers of monsoonal Asia are mediated or controlled by flow. Thus a change in the timing or amounts of flow changes everything. Collaborative research to determine the environmental allocation of water flow needed to maintain ecosystem integrity and sustain biodiversity in the human-dominated rivers of monsoonal Asia should be a priority for ecologists, engineers and water-resource managers.

scholarly journals A First Glimpse on Cold-Adapted PCB-Oxidizing Bacteria in Edmonson Point Lakes (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica)

Water ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Maria Papale ◽  
Angelina Lo Giudice ◽  
Alessandro Ciro Rappazzo ◽  
Maurizio Azzaro ◽  
Carmen Rizzo
Keyword(s):  
Human Impacts ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Cold Adapted ◽  
Remote Areas ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Long Lifetime ◽  
Aroclor 1242 ◽  
Edmonson Point

Antarctic freshwater ecosystems are especially vulnerable to human impacts. Polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants that have a long lifetime in the environment. Despite their use having either been phased out or restricted, they are still found in nature, also in remote areas. Once in the environment, the fate of PCBs is strictly linked to bacteria which represent the first step in the transfer of toxic compounds to higher trophic levels. Data on PCB-oxidizing bacteria from polar areas are still scarce and fragmented. In this study, the occurrence of PCB-oxidizing cold-adapted bacteria was evaluated in water and sediment of four coastal lakes at Edmonson Point (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica). After enrichment with biphenyl, 192 isolates were obtained with 57 of them that were able to grow in the presence of the PCB mixture Aroclor 1242, as the sole carbon source. The catabolic gene bphA, as a proxy for PCB degradation potential, was harbored by 37 isolates (out of 57), mainly affiliated to the genera Salinibacterium, Arthrobacter (among Actinobacteria) and Pusillimonas (among Betaproteobacteria). Obtained results enlarge our current knowledge on cold-adapted PCB-oxidizing bacteria and pose the basis for their potential application as a valuable eco-friendly tool for the recovery of PCB-contaminated cold sites.

scholarly journals Breeding biology and post-fledging dispersal of red-crowned parakeets (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae) translocated to a fenced mainland sanctuary

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ellen Irwin
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Release Site ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Breeding Biology ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Species Dispersal ◽  
Dispersal Patterns ◽  
Mammalian Predators

<p>With human impacts like habitat destruction and climate change contributing to range contractions in species, translocations stand out as an important tool for conserving species suffering from these effects. However, an understanding of the life history of many threatened species prior to translocation is often lacking, but critical for translocation success. For example, dispersal away from the release site—particularly when a protected release site is surrounded by unmanaged habitat—can result in translocation failure, and therefore successful translocation practice must include an understanding of a species’ dispersal patterns. I conducted a study examining the breeding biology and post-fledging dispersal of a population of red-crowned parakeets Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae), or kakariki, recently translocated to a mainland sanctuary in Wellington, New Zealand. The sanctuary, ZEALANDIA, is fenced to exclude invasive mammalian predators; however, birds can and do leave. Approximately one-third of juveniles that dispersed outside the sanctuary were killed by predators. Kakariki post-fledging dispersal was male-biased, possibly driven by inbreeding avoidance, and distance dispersed decreased with increasing body condition. Parental age may have also influenced offspring dispersal. In addition, I found that kakariki reproductive success may be affected by age, and estimated lifetime reproductive success was >30 fledglings by age five. Conservation initiatives could work on controlling predators in currently unprotected reserves and around food sources that kakariki targeted, particularly in summer and autumn when many plants are fruiting and recently fledged juveniles are more active. Future translocations should consider selecting younger birds to translocate to take advantage of their high lifetime reproductive success and therefore improve viability of populations.</p>

scholarly journals Effects of flood pulse on the community of Loricariidae (Pisces, Siluriformes) in oxbow lakes of the Pantanal, Brazil

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
Gustavo Figueiredo Marques LEITE ◽  
Renan de Souza REZENDE ◽  
Hugmar PAINS DA SILVA ◽  
Claumir Cesar MUNIZ
Keyword(s):  
Flood Pulse ◽  
Oxbow Lakes

scholarly journals The woody flora of Shettihalli Wildlife Sanctuary, central Western Ghats of Karnataka, India - A checklist

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 20033-20055
Author(s):  
Naveen Babu Kanda ◽  
Kurian Ayushi ◽  
Vincy K. Wilson ◽  
Narayanan Ayyappan ◽  
Narayanaswamy Parthasarathy
Keyword(s):  
Western Ghats ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Forest Type ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Wildlife Sanctuary ◽  
Peninsular India ◽  
Ecological Features ◽  
Central Western Ghats ◽  
The Western Ghats

Documenting the biodiversity of protected areas and reserve forests is important to researchers, academicians and forest departments in their efforts to establish policies to protect regional biodiversity. Shettihalli Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS) is an important protected area located in the central Western Ghats of Karnataka state known for its diverse flora and fauna with distinct ecological features. For the last four decades the sanctuary has witnessed the loss of forest cover, yet the vegetation in few locations is relatively undisturbed. The current inventory was undertaken during 2019–2020 to provide a checklist of woody species from SWS under-researched earlier. The list comprises 269 species of trees, lianas and shrubs distributed in 207 genera and 68 families. The most diverse families are Fabaceae, Moraceae, Rubiaceae, Rutaceae, Lauraceae, Apocynaceae, Meliaceae, Malvaceae, Phyllanthaceae, and Anacardiaceae, representing 48% of total woody flora. The sanctuary shelters 263 native and six exotic plant species. Thirty-nine species were endemic to the Western Ghats, five species to peninsular India and one species to the Western Ghats and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Four forest types, i.e., dry deciduous, moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, and evergreen forests, are represented in the sanctuary. Of the total species, only seven occurred in all forest types, while 111 species are exclusive to a single forest type. One-hundred-and-four taxa were assessed for the International Union for Conservation of Nature & Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List. Ten species that fall under Near Threatened, Vulnerable, and Endangered categories were encountered occasionally. The baseline data generated on plant diversity will be useful in highlighting the importance of these forests for species conservation and forest management. Such data form a cornerstone for further research. For instance, to understand the effect of invasive species and human impacts on the diversity of the region. 

Environmental flow envelopes: quantifying ecosystem-threatening flow alterations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vili Virkki ◽  
Elina Alanärä ◽  
Miina Porkka ◽  
Lauri Ahopelto ◽  
Tom Gleeson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bound ◽  
Upper Bound ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Environmental Flow ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Low Flow ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressure ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Climate Forcings

&lt;p&gt;The benefits of harnessing rivers into human use should not come with a disproportionate expense on the Earth system. Especially, freshwater ecosystems suffer greatly from direct and indirect human impacts, such as excessive water withdrawals and climate change, which are expected to only increase in the near future. Here, we aim for quantifying the extent and degree of considerable flow alterations that threaten the well-being of freshwater ecosystems, across the world.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At the global scale, the ecological status of river systems is often assessed using global hydrological models (GHMs) and hydrological environmental flow (EF) methods. These suffer from substantial uncertainties: 1) the GHMs parameterised with variable climate forcings may give highly dispersed discharge estimates and 2) individual hydrological EF methods capture ecosystem water needs poorly. We tackle these sources of uncertainty by introducing a novel methodology: environmental flow envelopes (EFEs). The EFE is an envelope of safe discharge variability between a lower and an upper bound, defined at the sub-basin scale in monthly time resolution. It is based on pre-industrial (1801-1860) discharge and a large ensemble of EF methods, GHMs, and climate forcings, using ISI-MIP2b data. Using the EFE, we can simultaneously assess the frequency and severity of ecosystem-threatening flow alterations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Comparing post-industrial (1976-2005) discharge to the EFEs, discharge in 32.7% of the total 3860 sub-basins, covering 28.4% of the global landmass, violates the EFE during more than 10% of all months across four GHMs. These violations are considered as severe threats to freshwater ecosystems. The most impacted regions include areas with high anthropogenic pressure, such as the Middle East, India, Eastern Asia, and Middle America. The violations clearly concentrate on the EFE lower bound during low or intermediate flow seasons. Discharge in 61.4% of sub-basins violates the EFE during more than 10% of low flow season months, average violation being 47.5% below the safe limit denoted by EFE lower bound. Indications of significantly increased flows by violations of the EFE upper bound are fewer and further apart, as well as lower bound violations during high flow season.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Although fractional discharge allocations alone cannot fully capture the ecosystem water needs, this study is a step towards less uncertainty in global EF assessments. The introduced method provides a novel, globally robust way of estimating ecosystem water needs at the sub-basin scale. The results of this study underline the importance of the low flow season, during which EFE violations are the most prevalent. While only preliminary evidence of significantly increased flows emerges in relatively few areas, the EFE upper bound would benefit from further research. The EFE methodology can be used for exploring macro-regional areas where anthropogenic flow alteration threatens freshwater ecosystems the most. However, case-specific studies incorporating factors beyond quantitative flow only are required for practical implications.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Diatoms in a sediment core from a flood pulse wetland in Malaysia record strong responses to human impacts and hydro‐climate over the past 150 years

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte L. Briddon ◽  
Suzanne McGowan ◽  
Sarah E. Metcalfe ◽  
Virginia Panizzo ◽  
Jack Lacey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Core ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Flood Pulse ◽  
The Past

An inventory of riverine biodiversity in monsoonal Asia: present status and conservation challenges

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (11) ◽  
pp. 11-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Dudgeon
Keyword(s):  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Flow Regulation ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Ecosystem Goods And Services ◽  
Knowledge To Action ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Floods And Droughts ◽  
Essential Prerequisite ◽  
Concomitant Species

There are few parts of the planet where human impacts on riverine biodiversity are more apparent than in monsoonal Asia. Flow regulation, drainage-basin degradation and conversion of riverine wetlands to agriculture have been occurring for centuries, while pollution and over-harvesting have become important in recent decades. Concomitant species loss appears both ongoing and rampant. Uncertainty over rates of loss is imposed by the fact that the extremely rich biodiversity of Asian rivers has not been inventoried adequately. It is nevertheless evident that some taxa are gravely threatened. Specialist riverine birds have declined, turtles are highly endangered, and over-harvesting has severely impacted fishes - an effect that is exacerbated by pollution and flow regulation. A particular conflict that constrains biodiversity conservation is the tendency for dam construction, which damages river ecosystems, to produce tangible benefits for humans through hydropower generation and relief from floods and droughts. Resolution of such conflicts requires changes in perception: for instance, realistic economic valuations of the ecosystem goods and services provided by rivers, and promotion of flagship species as conservation icons to increase citizen awareness. Translation of awareness and knowledge to action, however, remains the essential prerequisite for societal commitment to the conservation of freshwater ecosystems.

scholarly journals Validation and development of COI metabarcoding primers for freshwater macroinvertebrate bioassessment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasco Elbrecht ◽  
Florian Leese
Keyword(s):  
In Silico ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Amplification Efficiency ◽  
Mock Community ◽  
Sequence Alignments ◽  
Freshwater Invertebrate ◽  
Dna Metabarcoding

A central challenge in the present era of biodiversity loss is to assess and manage human impacts on freshwater ecosystems. Macroinvertebrates are an important group for bioassessment as many taxa show specific responses to environmental conditions. However, generating accurate macroinvertebrate inventories based on larval morphology is difficult and error-prone. Here, DNA metabarcoding provides new opportunities. Its potential to accurately identify invertebrates in bulk samples to the species level, has been demonstrated in several case studies. However, DNA based identification is often limited by primer bias, potentially leading to taxa in the sample remaining undetected. Thus, the success of DNA metabarcoding as an emerging technique for bioassessment critically relies on carefully evaluating primers. We used the R package PrimerMiner to obtain and process cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) sequence data for the 15 most globally relevant freshwater invertebrate groups for stream assessment. Using these sequence alignments, we developed four primer combinations optimized for freshwater macrozoobenthos. All primers were evaluated by sequencing ten mock community samples, each consisting of 52 freshwater invertebrate taxa. Additionally, popular metabarcoding primers from the literature and the developed primers were tested in silico against the 15 relevant invertebrate groups. The developed primers varied in amplification efficiency and the number of detected taxa, yet all detected more taxa than standard ‘Folmer’ barcoding primers. Two new primer combinations showed more consistent amplification than a previously tested ribosomal marker (16S) and detected all 42 insect taxa present in the mock community samples. In silico evaluation revealed critical design flaws in some commonly used primers from the literature. We demonstrate a reliable strategy to develop optimized primers using the tool PrimerMiner. The developed primers detected almost all taxa present in the mock samples, and we argue that high base degeneracy is necessary to decrease primer bias as confirmed by experimental results and in silico primer evaluation. We further demonstrate that some primers currently used in metabarcoding studies may not be suitable for amplification of freshwater macroinvertebrates. Therefore, careful primer evaluation and more region / ecosystem specific primers are needed before DNA metabarcoding can be used for routine bioassessment of freshwater ecosystems.

scholarly journals The untapped potential of conservation journals to promote freshwater biodiversity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fengzhi He ◽  
Sonja C. Jähnig ◽  
Annett Wetzig ◽  
Simone D. Langhans
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
General Public ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Freshwater Species ◽  
Freshwater Biodiversity ◽  
Extinct Species ◽  
Marine Turtles ◽  
Fresh Waters

AbstractFreshwater ecosystems are amongst the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. They are subject to intense and increasing threats and have a higher proportion of threatened and extinct species than terrestrial or marine realms. Concurrently, freshwater ecosystems are largely underrepresented in both conservation research and actions arguably as a consequence of less popularity and promotion. To test this assumption, we used cover images as a proxy of exposure and promotion opportunities provided by conservation journals. We collected information on cover images of 18 conservation journals from 1997 to 2016 and data on citations and Altmetric scores of papers published in them. We found that freshwater ecosystems (10.4%) were featured less often than marine (15.2%) or terrestrial (74.4%) ecosystems on covers of these journals. All 15 most featured species are from terrestrial or marine ecosystems, with 14 of them being large vertebrates such as elephants, big cats, rhinos, polar bears, and marine turtles. None of the 95 species featured more than once on the covers of conservation journals spend their whole life history in fresh waters, i.e. they are at least partly associated with terrestrial or marine ecosystems. Our results indicated that cover-featured studies received more attention from academia and the general public, i.e. showed higher citations and Altmetric scores, than non-featured ones within the same issue. By featuring freshwater species and habitats on covers, therewith providing more exposure opportunities, conservation journals hold the potential to promote biodiversity conservation in fresh waters. Scientists can help that endeavour by submitting freshwater-related photos together with their manuscripts for review, therewith providing more options for editors to portray freshwater species and habitats and to ultimately raise awareness and appreciation of freshwater life.

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