The recovery of European freshwater biodiversity has come to a halt

Haase, P, Bowler, DE, Baker, NJ, Bonada, N, Domisch, S, Garcia Marquez, JR, Heino, J, Hering, D, Jähnig, SC, Schmidt-Kloiber, A, Stubbington, R ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8475-5109, Altermatt, F, Álvarez-Cabria, M, Amatulli, G, Angeler, DG, Archambaud-Suard, G, Jorrín, IA, Aspin, T, Azpiroz, I, Bañares, I, Ortiz, JB, Bodin, CL, Bonacina, L, Bottarin, R, Cañedo-Argüelles, M, Csabai, Z, Datry, T, de Eyto, E, Dohet, A, Dörflinger, G, Drohan, E, Eikland, KA, England, J, Eriksen, TE, Evtimova, V, Feio, MJ, Ferréol, M, Floury, M, Forcellini, M, Forio, MAE, Fornaroli, R, Friberg, N, Fruget, J-F, Georgieva, G, Goethals, P, Graça, MAS, Graf, W, House, A, Huttunen, K-L, Jensen, TC, Johnson, RK, Jones, JI, Kiesel, J, Kuglerová, L, Larrañaga, A, Leitner, P, L’Hoste, L, Lizée, M-H, Lorenz, AW, Maire, A, Arnaiz, JAM, McKie, BG, Millán, A, Monteith, D, Muotka, T, Murphy, JF, Ozolins, D, Paavola, R, Paril, P, Peñas, FJ, Pilotto, F, Polášek, M, Rasmussen, JJ, Rubio, M, Sánchez-Fernández, D, Sandin, L, Schäfer, RB, Scotti, A, Shen, LQ, Skuja, A, Stoll, S, Straka, M, Timm, H, Tyufekchieva, VG, Tziortzis, I, Uzunov, Y, van der Lee, GH, Vannevel, R, Varadinova, E, Várbíró, G, Velle, G, Verdonschot, PFM, Verdonschot, RCM, Vidinova, Y, Wiberg-Larsen, P and Welti, EAR, 2023. The recovery of European freshwater biodiversity has come to a halt. Nature. ISSN 0028-0836

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Abstract

Owing to a long history of anthropogenic pressures, freshwater ecosystems are among the most vulnerable to biodiversity loss. Mitigation measures, including wastewater treatment and hydromorphological restoration, have aimed to improve environmental quality and foster the recovery of freshwater biodiversity. Here, using 1,816 time series of freshwater invertebrate communities collected across 22 European countries between 1968 and 2020, we quantified temporal trends in taxonomic and functional diversity and their responses to environmental pressures and gradients. We observed overall increases in taxon richness (0.73% per year), functional richness (2.4% per year) and abundance (1.17% per year). However, these increases primarily occurred before the 2010s, and have since plateaued. Freshwater communities downstream of dams, urban areas and cropland were less likely to experience recovery. Communities at sites with faster rates of warming had fewer gains in taxon richness, functional richness and abundance. Although biodiversity gains in the 1990s and 2000s probably reflect the effectiveness of water-quality improvements and restoration projects, the decelerating trajectory in the 2010s suggests that the current measures offer diminishing returns. Given new and persistent pressures on freshwater ecosystems, including emerging pollutants, climate change and the spread of invasive species, we call for additional mitigation to revive the recovery of freshwater biodiversity.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Nature
Creators: Haase, P., Bowler, D.E., Baker, N.J., Bonada, N., Domisch, S., Garcia Marquez, J.R., Heino, J., Hering, D., Jähnig, S.C., Schmidt-Kloiber, A., Stubbington, R., Altermatt, F., Álvarez-Cabria, M., Amatulli, G., Angeler, D.G., Archambaud-Suard, G., Jorrín, I.A., Aspin, T., Azpiroz, I., Bañares, I., Ortiz, J.B., Bodin, C.L., Bonacina, L., Bottarin, R., Cañedo-Argüelles, M., Csabai, Z., Datry, T., de Eyto, E., Dohet, A., Dörflinger, G., Drohan, E., Eikland, K.A., England, J., Eriksen, T.E., Evtimova, V., Feio, M.J., Ferréol, M., Floury, M., Forcellini, M., Forio, M.A.E., Fornaroli, R., Friberg, N., Fruget, J.-F., Georgieva, G., Goethals, P., Graça, M.A.S., Graf, W., House, A., Huttunen, K.-L., Jensen, T.C., Johnson, R.K., Jones, J.I., Kiesel, J., Kuglerová, L., Larrañaga, A., Leitner, P., L’Hoste, L., Lizée, M.-H., Lorenz, A.W., Maire, A., Arnaiz, J.A.M., McKie, B.G., Millán, A., Monteith, D., Muotka, T., Murphy, J.F., Ozolins, D., Paavola, R., Paril, P., Peñas, F.J., Pilotto, F., Polášek, M., Rasmussen, J.J., Rubio, M., Sánchez-Fernández, D., Sandin, L., Schäfer, R.B., Scotti, A., Shen, L.Q., Skuja, A., Stoll, S., Straka, M., Timm, H., Tyufekchieva, V.G., Tziortzis, I., Uzunov, Y., van der Lee, G.H., Vannevel, R., Varadinova, E., Várbíró, G., Velle, G., Verdonschot, P.F.M., Verdonschot, R.C.M., Vidinova, Y., Wiberg-Larsen, P. and Welti, E.A.R.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 9 August 2023
ISSN: 0028-0836
Identifiers:
Number
Type
10.1038/s41586-023-06400-1
DOI
1790825
Other
Rights: © The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Divisions: Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by: Laura Ward
Date Added: 14 Aug 2023 09:32
Last Modified: 14 Aug 2023 09:32
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/49550

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