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Systematic conservation planning has become a standard approach globally, but prioritization of conservation efforts hardly considers species traits in decision making. This can be important for species persistence and thus adequacy of the conservation plan. Here, we developed and validated a novel approach of incorporating trophic information into a systematic conservation planning framework. We demonstrate the benefits of this approach using fish data from Europe's second largest river, the Danube. Our results show that adding trophic information leads to a different spatial configuration of priority areas at no additional cost. This can enhance identification of priority refugia for species in the lower position of the trophic web while simultaneously identifying areas that represent a more diverse species pool. Our methodological approach to incorporating species traits into systematic conservation planning is generally applicable, irrespective of realm, geographical area, and species composition and can potentially lead to more adequate conservation plans. ; SL was supported by ARC DECRA fellowship, project number DE130100565. VH was supported by a Ramon y Cajal contract (RYC‐2013‐13979) funded by the Spanish Government.

Since historical times, the inherent human fascination with pearls turned the freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera (Linnaeus, 1758) into a highly valuable cultural and economic resource. Although pearl harvesting in M. margaritifera is nowadays residual, other human threats have aggravated the species conservation status, especially in Europe. This mussel presents a myriad of rare biological features, e.g. high longevity coupled with low senescence and Doubly Uniparental Inheritance of mitochondrial DNA, for which the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly known. Here, the first draft genome assembly of M. margaritifera was produced using a combination of Illumina Paired-end and Mate-pair approaches. The genome assembly was 2.4 Gb long, possessing 105,185 scaffolds and a scaffold N50 length of 288,726 bp. The ab initio gene prediction allowed the identification of 35,119 protein-coding genes. This genome represents an essential resource for studying this species' unique biological and evolutionary features and ultimately will help to develop new tools to promote its conservation. ; A.G.-d.-S. was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the grants SFRH/BD/137935/2018, EF (CEECIND/00627/2017) and MLL (2020.03608.CEECIND). This research was developed under ConBiomics: the missing approach for the Conservation of freshwater Bivalves Project No. 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. Additional strategic funding was provided by FCT UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020. Authors' interaction and writing of the article was promoted and facilitated by the COST Action CA18239: CONFREMU—Conservation of freshwater mussels: a pan- European approach. ; 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 ...

Freshwater mussels of the Order Unionida provide important ecosystem functions and services, yet many of their populations are in decline. We comprehensively review the status of the 16 currently recognized species in Europe, collating for the first time their life-history traits, distribution, conservation status, habitat preferences, and main threats in order to suggest future management actions. In northern, central, and eastern Europe, a relatively homogeneous species composition is found in most basins. In southern Europe, despite the lower species richness, spatially restricted species make these basins a high conservation priority. Information on freshwater mussels in Europe is unevenly distributed with considerable differences in data quality and quantity among countries and species. To make conservation more effective in the future, we suggest greater international cooperation using standardized protocols and methods to monitor and manage European freshwater mussel diversity. Such an approach will not only help conserve this vulnerable group but also, through the protection of these important organisms, will offer wider benefits to freshwater ecosystems. ; The authors appreciate the extensive work of Wendell Haag and two anonymous reviewers that improved the quality of the manuscript; Arthur Bogan and David Strayer for their assistance and careful thoughts; Marco Paulo Magalhães for help with the GIS maps; Imre Potyó for the photo of Pseudanodonta complanata; the people who took part in the Belarusian data collection especially I. A. Rudakovskiy and V. M. Samoilenko (Belarusian State University), and G. M. Tischikov and I. G. Tischikov (Republican GidroMeteoCenter of Belarus); Marco Bodon and Simone Cianfanelli for valuable information on Italian populations; all the people who provided us with the data included in the French INPN database; Zdravko Hubenov, Dimitar Kozuharov, Lyubomir Kenderov and Ivan Botev for the help with the Bulgarian data collection; and I.N. Bolotov, O.V. Aksenova, I.V. Vikhrev, A. A. Makhrov, P. E. Aspholm for help with the collection and analysis of the Russian data. Financial support was provided by: The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and COMPETE funds, project 'CONBI' (Contract: PTDC/ AAC-AMB/117688/2010) and project 'ECO-IAS' (Contract: PTDC/AAC-AMB/116685/2010); The Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection through the Bavarian Mussel Coordination Office; The Federal Government of Upper Austria (Department of Nature Conservation), by the Environmental Councilor (Manfred Haimbuchner) and by the European Union; Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Republic of Belarus, Belarusian Committee of Ecology grant 288/73 from the Belarussian State University grant 444/50 and from the Ministry of Education and Science Republic of Belarus grant 657/65; The Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia (119-1193080-1231), Hrvatske vode and State Institute for Nature Protection; The Czech Science Foundation (13-05872S) and ESF/MŠMT (CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0040); Biotope Consultancy, grants from Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle à Paris, ATM Barcode and Agence Nationale de la Recherche '6eme extinction'; Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education grant NCN No. NN304328836; The Russian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR (grant no. 15-04-05638, 14-04-98801_a) and The Ural Branch of RAS (no.15-12-5-3), President of the Russian Federation (grant no. MD-6465.2014.5). ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion