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

• Main Authors: Cantonati, Marco, Poikane, Sandra, Pringle, Catherine M., Stevens, Lawrence E., Turak, Eren, Heino, Jani, Richardson, John Stuart, Bolpagni, Rossano, Borrini, Alex, Cid, Núria, Čtvrtlíková, Martina, Galassi, Diana M. P., Hájek, Michal, Hawes, Ian, Levkov, Zlatko, Naselli-Flores, Luigi, Saber, Abdullah A., Cicco, Mattia Di, Fiasca, Barbara, Hamilton, Paul B., Kubečka, Jan, Segadelli, Stefano, Znachor, Petr
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2020
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic; Arctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0388484; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0388484

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 ...