Nearly a quarter of the world’s freshwater fish are at risk of extinction due to global heating, overfishing and pollution, according to an expert assessment. From the large-toothed Lake Turkana robber in Kenya to the Mekong giant catfish in south-east Asia, many of the world’s freshwater fish are at risk of disappearing, the first International […]
Below is a call for expressions of interest from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation: Blue Spaces Wales is a new initiative to support imaginative approaches to looking after local freshwaters – rivers, streams, lakes, canals and ponds. As part of this, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is launching an open call for ideas and projects in Wales. We […]
From densely developed cities and geometric agricultural plots to the ubiquitous roadways, pipelines and power grids, an aerial view of the earth reveals our impact on our landscapes. In less populated areas, unprecedented glacial melt and deep craters caused by the thawing of frozen soil and rock called permafrost megaslumps give stark reminders of the […]
Freshwaters are underestimated sources of greenhouse gases. In a study published in Science of The Total Environment, researchers with the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have now shown that even dry water bodies can release considerable amounts of methane. An overview of the causes and magnitudes of methane emissions from freshwaters and […]
The salinisation of fresh-water habitats is a growing threat to biotic communities. To protect the biodiversity and ecosystem services and goods associated with these systems, effective monitoring is essential. Here, researchers present the Salinity Association Group Index (SAGI), a novel tool for the assessment of salinity in fresh-water habitats. Three case studies demonstrate how SAGI […]
Less than 1% of the Earth’s surface is covered by freshwater, yet freshwater ecosystems hold a disproportionately large amount of the world’s species and genetic diversity. At the same time, these ecosystems and species are under threat from human activities. To contribute to halting this biodiversity decline, a new task force of the IUCN Species […]
Humanity’s modification of the water cycle has pushed the world further beyond a safe operating space for continued life on Earth, say scientists. A reassessment of the planetary boundary for freshwater that now includes rainfall, soil moisture and evaporation — so-called “green water” — found the boundary to be “considerably transgressed,” with the situation likely to worsen […]
A new study in the journal Chemosphere studies the effects of polystyrene beads on three freshwater species. The study expands the knowledge on the acute, chronic, and subchronic effects of MP polystyrene beads (PS-MP, size 1.0 µm) on three species of the freshwater chain. These species are the green alga Raphidocelis subcapitata, the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus, the cladoceran crustacean Ceriodaphnia […]