Charting a course for freshwater biomonitoring: the grand challenges identified by the global scientific community

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Yates, AG, Brua, RB, Culp, JM, Aguiar, FC, Ajayan, AP, Aspin, T, Bundschuh, M, Calderón, MR, Csabai, Z, Dallas, H, Datry, T, Silva, KD, Dzavi, J, England, J, Erős, T, Gebler, D, Goedkoop, W, González-Ferreras, AM, Hamilton, DP, Hughes, RM, Juen, L, Kefford, BJ, Koroiva, R, Krynak, EM, Lavoie, I, Lento, J, Ligeiro, R, Martins, RT, Masese, FO, de Assis Montag, LF, Musetta-Lambert, J, Painter, KJ, Poikane, S, Rico, A, Ruaro, R, Sabater, S, Sala Michelan, T, Schoelynck, J, Smucker, NJ, Stanković, I, Stubbington, R ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8475-5109, van Deventer, H, van Niekerk, L, Van den Brink, PJ, Várbíró, G and Wanderi, EW, 2025. Charting a course for freshwater biomonitoring: the grand challenges identified by the global scientific community. Ecological Indicators, 176: 113646. ISSN 1470-160X

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113646

Abstract

The past 50 years have seen biomonitoring emerge as an essential means of generating the knowledge needed to inform protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems. Despite the successes of biomonitoring, most freshwater ecosystems remain unmonitored. Moreover, degradation of freshwaters continues at a rapid rate with new threats and novel stressors emerging that are difficult to assess using existing techniques. New technologies and techniques have been developed to improve biomonitoring, but application has been slow and integration with existing approaches is often problematic. Clearly, freshwater biomonitoring faces many important challenges that must be addressed to meet management needs of the coming decades. We identify Grand Challenges facing freshwater biomonitoring with the aim of encouraging research and practice to address these challenges. We asked 256 biomonitoring scientists from around the globe to identify what they considered the most important challenges. From their submissions we established five Grand Challenges and 18 associated subchallenges. For each Grand Challenge, we outline the current state of biomonitoring practice and suggest promising pathways and approaches to address them. By identifying and describing these challenges, we strive to position freshwater biomonitoring to take advantage of emerging opportunities and enhance its capacity to meet current and future management needs.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Ecological Indicators
Creators:	Yates, A.G., Brua, R.B., Culp, J.M., Aguiar, F.C., Ajayan, A.P., Aspin, T., Bundschuh, M., Calderón, M.R., Csabai, Z., Dallas, H., Datry, T., Silva, K.D., Dzavi, J., England, J., Erős, T., Gebler, D., Goedkoop, W., González-Ferreras, A.M., Hamilton, D.P., Hughes, R.M., Juen, L., Kefford, B.J., Koroiva, R., Krynak, E.M., Lavoie, I., Lento, J., Ligeiro, R., Martins, R.T., Masese, F.O., de Assis Montag, L.F., Musetta-Lambert, J., Painter, K.J., Poikane, S., Rico, A., Ruaro, R., Sabater, S., Sala Michelan, T., Schoelynck, J., Smucker, N.J., Stanković, I., Stubbington, R., van Deventer, H., van Niekerk, L., Van den Brink, P.J., Várbíró, G. and Wanderi, E.W.
Publisher:	Elsevier BV
Date:	July 2025
Volume:	176
ISSN:	1470-160X
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113646 DOI 2454335 Other
Rights:	© 2025 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Laura Borcherds
Date Added:	17 Jun 2025 16:58
Last Modified:	17 Jun 2025 16:58
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53752