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

• Published in: Water
• Main Authors: Cantonati, Marco, Poikane, Sandra, Pringle, Catherine M, Stevens, Lawrence E., Turak, Eren, Heino, Jani, Richardson, John S., Bolpagni, Rossano, Borrini, Alex, Cid, Nuria, Čtvrtlíková, Martina, Galassi, Diana M. P., Hájek, Michal, Hawes, Ian, Levkov, Zlatko, Naselli-Flores, Luigi, Saber, Abdullah A, Cicco, Mattia, Fiasca, Barbara, Hamilton, Paul B, Kubečka, Jan, Segadelli, Stefano, Znachor, Petr
• Other Authors: Museo delle Scienze, Drexel University, JRC Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen Ispra (IPSC), European Commission - Joint Research Centre Ispra (JRC), Department of Infectious Diseases Athens, GA, USA (Odum School of Ecology), University of Georgia USA -College of Veterinary Medicine Athens, GA, USA, Museum Northern Arizona Springs Stewardship Inst, ‎ NSW Dept Planning Ind & Environm, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences Sydney (BEES), University of New South Wales Sydney (UNSW), Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), University of British Columbia (UBC), Università degli studi di Parma = University of Parma (UNIPR), Riverly (Riverly), Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Czech Academy of Sciences Prague (CAS), University of L'Aquila Italy (UNIVAQ), Masaryk University Brno (MUNI), University of Waikato Hamilton, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (UKIM), Università degli studi di Palermo - University of Palermo, Université Ain Shams, Canadian Museum of Nature (CANADA), Servizio Osservatorio Suoli e Bonifiche (ARPAV), ARPAV, AQUALIFE LIFE12 BIO/IT/000231, ERDF/ESF project CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_025/0007417, GX19-28491X
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: freshwater; habitat; biodiversity; ecosystem; impact; conservation; stewardship; foundation species; least-impaired habitat relicts; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Arctic; Antarctic; Antarc*; Climate change
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03464486; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12010260

International audience 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).