Suchergebnisse

The Experimental Lakes Area in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, is a globally prominent freshwater research facility, conducting impactful whole-of-lake experiments on so-called 'pristine' lakes and watersheds. These lakes are located in traditional Anishinaabe (Indigenous) territory and the home of 28 Treaty #3 Nations, something rarely acknowledged until now. Indeed, Indigenous peoples in the area have historically been excluded from the research facility's governance and research. Shortly after it changed hands in 2014—from the federal government to the not-for-profit International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD)—the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada released its Calls to Action to all Canadians. The newly named International Institute of Sustainable Development-Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA) began to respond with a number of initiatives aimed to develop relationships with local Indigenous peoples and communities. In this paper, from the perspectives of IISD-ELA staff members, we share findings from an exploratory study into the relationships beginning to develop between IISD-ELA and Treaty #3 Nations. We used semi-structured interviews (n = 10) to identify how staff perceived their initial efforts and contextualize those with the current literature on meaningfully engagement in reconciliation. Our analysis highlights perceived barriers, including time, resources, and funding constraints, as well as an acknowledged lack of cultural awareness and sensitivity training. Participants also recognized the need to engage Indigenous knowledge holders and embrace their ways of knowing at the research station. While the study is small in scale, as an international leader in freshwater science, transparency in the IISD-ELA's journey in reconciliation has the potential to inform, influence, and 'unsettle' settler-colonial scientists, field stations, and institutions across the country and beyond.

Freshwater ecosystems and their biodiversity provide fundamental services to humans such as nutritional resources production, water provisioning, water purification, recreation, and more globally climate regulation. Impacts due to anthropogenic drivers on freshwater ecosystems and their biodiversity, are already strong and several will face higher risk of impacts in the near future. These anthropogenic drivers are widely known and include in particular, climate change, habitat shrinking and/or modification due to land-use (e.g. water abstraction for human and agricultural consumption, urbanization), habitat fragmentation and homogenization in stream flow dynamics due to the damming of rivers, introduction of non-native species, dumping of nutrient or organic loadings increasing eutrophication processes, and biodiversity over-exploitation. Here, I review the current and future effects of these anthropogenic drivers on freshwater ecosystems and their biodiversity and provide some few examples of existing cost-effective solutions, either technological, nature-based or policy-based, that could be applied globally to halt and/or minimize their negative consequences. However, success will require systemic changes across public policy and a sufficient political will to do so.

1 Water and Man -- 1.1 Historical Setting -- 1.2 Management of the Water Cycle -- 2 Freshwater Ecosystems -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Classification of Organisms -- 2.3 Food Chains and Trophic Pyramids -- 2.4 Distribution of Species -- 2.5 Ecological Balance -- 2.6 Community Structure -- 2.7 Still and Flowing Waters -- 2.8 Biological Productivity -- 3 Biological Indicators -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Selection of Indicators -- 3.3 Individuals and Populations as Indicators -- 3.4 Community Structure as an Indicator -- 3.5 Functional Changes in Communities -- 3.6 Bioaccumulative Indicators -- 4 Environmental Stress -- 4.1 Natural environmental stresses -- 4.2 Imposed Environmental Stresses -- 4.3 Environmental Manipulation -- 4.4 Combined Stresses -- 5 Effects of Physical Disturbances -- 5.1 Effects of Suspended Solids -- 5.2 Effects of the Addition of Heat -- 5.3 Effects of Changes in pH -- 6 The Effects of Organic Enrichment -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 General Effects of Organic Discharges -- 6.3 Physical and Chemical Changes -- 6.4 Biological Changes -- 6.5 Field Studies of Organic Pollution -- 7 Effects of Toxic Materials -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Physiological Responses to Poisons -- 7.3 Terminology and Criteria -- 7.4 Factors Which Affect Toxicity -- 7.5 Predicting the Toxicity of Combinations of Poisons -- 7.6 Inorganic Poisons -- 7.7 Organic Poisons -- 7.8 Heavy Metals -- 7.9 Pesticides -- 7.10 Polychlorinated Biphenyls -- 8 Laboratory Evaluation of Pollutants -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Experimental and Laboratory Investigations -- 9 Field Assessments of Environmental Quality -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 Sampling Methods -- 9.3 Sampling Strategies and Programmes -- 9.4 Biotic Indices and Data Analysis -- 10 Biological Surveillance in Environmental Management -- 10.1 Aquatic Resource Management -- 10.2 Basin Management Concepts -- 10.3 Application and Implementation of Uniform Standards -- 10.4 Environmental Impact Statements and Conservation -- 10.5 Future Developments -- Appendices -- 1 Trent Biotic Index -- 2 Chandler Biotic Score -- 3 Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) — Score -- ReferenceS.

AbstractBackgroundThe high production volume of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) may lead to high pressure on the environment, and a scientific assessment of ENMs that bioaccumulate in organisms and biomagnify in the food web is necessary. Within the regulation of chemicals in several jurisdictions, such as the European regulation REACH, the bioconcentration factor is the standard endpoint. The bioconcentration factor is mostly determined by flow-through fish tests. However, nanomaterials tend to agglomerate, which may lead to sedimentation in aquatic environments. The bioavailability of the tested nanomaterials may be thus impaired for pelagic species, including fish, in comparison to benthic or filtrating species. Several risk assessment regulations allow the usage of data gained during tests using invertebrates and such data may allow a waiver of further tests using vertebrates. The aim of this study was to elucidate the potential of different freshwater invertebrate species to be used in laboratory bioaccumulation studies on ENMs and to give some guidance for the use of bioaccumulation endpoints derived from studies using aquatic invertebrate species in the risk assessment process for ENMs.ResultsThe existing literature related to the testing of nanomaterial bioaccumulation with freshwater invertebrates was screened and reviewed to find suitable test species with regard to their ecology and physiology, as well as laboratory test systems allowing to investigate the bioavailability/bioaccumulation of nanomaterials with the respective species. Bivalvia, gastropoda, isopoda, amphipoda, and branchiopoda were reviewed and their suitability for bioaccumulation testing was assessed. Amphipods and bivalves represent worst-case scenarios and show clear advantages to be used as test organisms. However, only amphipods allow the examination of two clearly independent exposure pathways (water and diet).ConclusionAmphipods are suitable test organisms for bioaccumulation testing of ENMs. The results from amphipod bioconcentration and biomagnification tests can be included in a tiered assessment suggested at the end of this study allowing a clear grading of the tested nanomaterials as "bioaccumulative" or "non bioaccumulative." Due to the worst-case scenario of the amphipod test, this approach may allow a waiver of further vertebrate tests.

Freshwater mussels are declining globally, and effective conservation requires prioritizing research and actions to identify and mitigate threats impacting mussel species. Conservation priorities vary widely, ranging from preventing imminent extinction to maintaining abundant populations. Here, we develop a portfolio of priority research topics for freshwater mussel conservation assessment. To address these topics, we group research priorities into two categories: intrinsic or extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors are indicators of organismal or population status, while extrinsic factors encompass environmental variables and threats. An understanding of intrinsic factors is useful in monitoring, and of extrinsic factors are important to understand ongoing and potential impacts on conservation status. This dual approach can guide conservation status assessments prior to the establishment of priority species and implementation of conservation management actions. ; NF-R was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship (Xunta de Galicia Plan I2C 2017-2020, 09.40.561B.444.0) from the government of the autonomous community of Galicia. BY was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (no. 0409-2016-0022). DLS was supported by the G. E. Hutchinson Chair at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. AO was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (no. 17-44-290016). SV was funded by European Investment Funds by FEDER/COMPETE/POCI- Operacional Competitiveness and Internacionalization Programme, under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958 and National Funds by FCT-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UID/AGR/04033/2013. NF-R is very grateful to the University of Oklahoma Biological Survey for providing space to work in the U.S. and especially to Vaughn Lab members. Authors are very grateful to Akimasa Hattori, Allan K. Smith, Andrew Roberts, Daniel Graf, David Stagliano, David T. Zanatta, Dirk Van Damme, Ekaterina Konopleva, Emilie Blevins, Ethan Nedeau, Frankie Thielen, ...

Wetlands are among the world's most valuable and most threatened habitats, and in these crucially important ecosystems, the invertebrate fauna holds a focal position. Most of the biological diversity in wetlands is found within resident invertebrate assemblages, and those invertebrates are the primary trophic link between lower plants and higher vertebrates (e.g. amphibians, fish, and birds). As such, most scientists, managers, consultants, and students who work in the world's wetlands should become better informed about the invertebrate components in their habitats of interest. Our book serves to fill this need by assembling the world's most prominent ecologists working on freshwater wetland invertebrates, and having them provide authoritative perspectives on each the world's most important freshwater wetland types. The initial chapter of the book provides a primer on freshwater wetland invertebrates, including how they are uniquely adapted for life in wetland environments and how they contribute to important ecological functions in wetland ecosystems. The next 15 chapters deal with invertebrates in the major wetlands across the globe (rock pools, alpine ponds, temperate temporary ponds, Mediterranean temporary ponds, turloughs, peatlands, permanent marshes, Great Lakes marshes, Everglades, springs, beaver ponds, temperate floodplains, neotropical floodplains, created wetlands, waterfowl marshes), each chapter written by groups of prominent scientists intimately knowledgeable about the individual wetland types. Each chapter reviews the relevant literature, provides a synthesis of the most important ecological controls on the resident invertebrate fauna, and highlights important conservation concerns. The final chapter synthesizes the 15 habitat-based chapters, providing a macroscopic perspective on natural variation of invertebrate assemblage structure across the world's wetlands and a paradigm for understanding how global variation and environmental factors shape wetland invertebrate communities

The IUCN Red List assessments are essentially based on population trends and range, namely Area of Occupancy (AOO) and Extent of Occupancy (EOO). Range estimations are based on fixed grids, but this is likely inappropriate for species living in river networks. Furthermore, AOO and EOO are measured using the whole hydrographic network, therefore disregarding temporary sections, which is particularly problematic in arid and semi-arid regions. Here we mapped the permanent hydrographic network of Morocco using satellite imagery, complemented with field surveys to collect samples for molecular analyses of the five freshwater mussel species present and assess their distribution. The phylogeographic patterns are described for each species and used to identify priority areas and evolutionary significant units for conservation. Permanent hydrographic river sections represent only 18.3% of the whole hydrographic network. A north-to-south gradient of genetic diversity, species richness and distribution range was found, being coherent with water availability and river intermittence. Isolated evolutionary units were detected in southern basins that should also receive particular attention in conservation planning. We propose the mean river width multiplied by the extent of the river network as the best and the most adequate way to estimate both EOO and AOO. Given the worldwide degradation of freshwater systems and biodiversity, an accurate (re)assessment of species conservation status supported with maps of intermittent water bodies will be essential for prioritizing and guiding conservation actions and management plans, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. ; This work was partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under grant SFRH/BD/115728/2016 (MLL) and grant SFRH/BD/137935/2018 (AGS). This research was developed under ConBiomics: the missing approach for the Conservation of freshwater Bivalves Project N° NORTE-01-0145- FEDER-030286, co-financed by COMPETE 2020, Portugal 2020 and the European Union through the ERDF, and by FCT through national funds. This study was additionally conducted within the scope of project "Biodiversity and conservation of the critically endangered freshwater mussels in Morocco: ecogeographic, genetic and physiological information", funded by Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund (Reference 15256799) and project "Breeding the most endangered bivalve on Earth: Margaritifera marocana", funded by IUCN SOS save our species fund (Reference 2015B-015). Official capture and sampling licenses were issued by the Université Cadi Ayyad (Faculté des Sciences, Semlalia, Marrakech, Maroc). ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Anthropogenic freshwater habitats may provide undervalued prospects for long-term conservation as part of species conservation planning. This fundamental, but overlooked, issue requires attention considering the pace that humans have been altering natural freshwater ecosystems and the accelerated levels of biodiversity decline in recent decades. We compiled 709 records of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia, Unionida) inhabiting a broad variety of anthropogenic habitat types (from small ponds to large reservoirs and canals) and reviewed their importance as refuges for this faunal group. Most records came from Europe and North America, with a clear dominance of canals and reservoirs. The dataset covered 228 species, including 34 threatened species on the IUCN Red List. We discuss the conservation importance and provide guidance on how these anthropogenic habitats could be managed to provide optimal conservation value to freshwater mussels. This review also shows that some of these habitats may function as ecological traps owing to conflicting management practices or because they act as a sink for some populations. Therefore, anthropogenic habitats should not be seen as a panacea to resolve conservation problems. More information is necessary to better understand the trade-offs between human use and the conservation of freshwater mussels (and other biota) within anthropogenic habitats, given the low number of quantitative studies and the strong biogeographic knowledge bias that persists. ; This publication is based upon work from COST Action CA18239, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). A.M.L. was financed by the Institute of Environmental Sciences Jagiellonian University (N18/DBS/000003) and K.N. by the Aragón Government. The authors acknowledge Jarosław Andrzejewski, Bartosz Czader, Anna Fica, Marcin Horbacz, Tomasz Jonderko, Steinar Kålås, Tomasz Kapela, Bjørn Mejdell Larsen, Maciej Pabijan, Katarzyna Pawlik, Ilona Popławska, Joanna Przybylska, Tomasz Przybył, Mateusz Rybak, Kjell ...

We present the most updated list of non-native freshwater fauna established in Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira archipelagos. This list includes 67 species at national level but corresponds to 84 species records, of which 53 are in the mainland, 23 in the Azores and 8 in Madeira archipelagos. We also discuss the progression of the cumulative number of introductions since 1800 and identify the most probable vectors of introduction, main taxonomic groups and their regions of origin. Furthermore, we review the existing knowledge about ecological and economic impacts, invasion risk and potential distribution of invaders, under present and future climatic conditions, and the applied management actions, including the production of legislation. Along the 20th century the number of successful introductions increased at an approximate rate of two new species per decade until the beginning of 1970s. Since then, this rate increased to about 14 new species per decade. These introductions were mainly a result of fisheries, as contaminants or for ornamental purposes. Fish and mollusks are the taxonomic groups with more established species, representing more than half of the total. Most species (>70%) are native from other regions of Europe and North America. Studies about ecological or socioeconomic impacts are more common for fish, crustaceans and mollusks. Impacts for most amphibians, reptiles and mammals are not thoroughly studied. A few studies on the impacts and management actions of health-threatening mosquitoes are also available. The potential distribution in the Portuguese territory was modelled for 26 species. Only a minority of these models provides projections of distributions under scenarios of future climate change. A comparison of the Portuguese and EU legislation shows large discrepancies in the invasive species lists. Using the EU list and a ranking procedure for the national context, we identify freshwater species of high national concern for which actions are urgently needed. ; This work was ...

Modern society too often views water as a convenient vehicle for disposing of waste � and the results are becoming increasingly apparent. Analysis of freshwater supplies frequently reveals disturbing levels of pollution, including human waste, heavy metals and synthetic chemicals, to the detriment of our health, and the health of entire ecosystems. The Water Crisis examines the roots of freshwater pollution � urbanization, industrialization and intensive farming � supported by case studies from the Rhine and the Great Lakes. It explores the impact of major pollutants and discusses methods of prevention. The final section provides a detailed overview of possible solutions, including soil-based treatment systems and constructed wetlands. A separate chapter is devoted to the important issue of groundwater pollution. Practical concise and accessible, this is ideal for students in environmental studies and environmental science, biology and geography, and general readers. Originally published in 1998.