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So much to do, so little time: identifying priorities for freshwater biodiversity conservation in the USA and Britain.
... There is a broad array of potential applications for the spatial scale delineation and classification process described herein that would assist natural resource agencies fulfill research, assessment, and management objectives for river systems at local to national scales (e.g., Snelder and Hughey 2005;Sowa and others 2007;Brenden and others 2008a;Wang and others 2008;Higgins and Duigan 2009). For one, the process assembles in a single database the entire stream and river network structure of a state along with the associated descriptors for channel positions, network connectivity, ecological (e.g., ecoregions) and political boundaries, and local and network catchment natural variation and anthropogenic disturbances. ...
Identifying appropriate spatial scales is critically important for assessing health, attributing data, and guiding management actions for rivers. We describe a process for identifying a three-level hierarchy of spatial scales for Michigan rivers. Additionally, we conduct a variance decomposition of fish occurrence, abundance, and assemblage metric data to evaluate how much observed variability can be explained by the three spatial scales as a gage of their utility for water resources and fisheries management. The process involved the development of geographic information system programs, statistical models, modification by experienced biologists, and simplification to meet the needs of policy makers. Altogether, 28,889 reaches, 6,198 multiple-reach segments, and 11 segment classes were identified from Michigan river networks. The segment scale explained the greatest amount of variation in fish abundance and occurrence, followed by segment class, and reach. Segment scale also explained the greatest amount of variation in 13 of the 19 analyzed fish assemblage metrics, with segment class explaining the greatest amount of variation in the other six fish metrics. Segments appear to be a useful spatial scale/unit for measuring and synthesizing information for managing rivers and streams. Additionally, segment classes provide a useful typology for summarizing the numerous segments into a few categories. Reaches are the foundation for the identification of segments and segment classes and thus are integral elements of the overall spatial scale hierarchy despite reaches not explaining significant variation in fish assemblage data.
... Assessments of ecosystem diversity (including environmental processes that sustain the system) at the extent of catchments or whole basins may inform comprehensive conservation and management plans (Higgins et al., 2005;Thieme et al., 2007;Heiner et al., 2011). The identification of locally significant species, processes, and ecosystems within the broader context of an ecoregion or basin can guide the identification of additional protected areas (Higgins et al., 2005;Higgins and Duigan, 2009;Khoury et al., 2011). The ecosystem scale may be used to capture patterns of river connectivity that are critical in providing the freshwater, nutrient inputs, and habitat diversity necessary for the persistence of aquatic species . ...
The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (2011–2020), adopted at the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, sets 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets to be met by 2020 to address biodiversity loss and ensure its sustainable and equitable use. Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 describes what an improved conservation network would look like for marine, terrestrial and inland water areas, including freshwater ecosystems.
To date, there is no comprehensive assessment of what needs to be achieved to meet Target 11 for freshwater biodiversity. Reports on implementation often fail to consider explicitly freshwater ecosystem processes and habitats, the pressures upon them, and therefore the full range of requirements and actions needed to sustain them.
Here the current progress and key gaps for meeting Aichi Target 11 are assessed by exploring the implications of each of its clauses for freshwater biodiversity.
Concerted action on Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 for freshwater biodiversity by 2020 is required in a number of areas: a robust baseline is needed for each of the clauses described here at national and global scales; designation of new protected areas or expansion of existing protected areas to cover known areas of importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, and a representative sample of biodiversity; use of Other Effective Area‐Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) in places where designating a protected area is not appropriate; and promoting and implementing better management strategies for fresh water in protected areas that consider its inherent connectivity, contextual vulnerability, and required human and technical capacity.
Considering the specific requirements of freshwater systems through Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 has long‐term value to the Sustainable Development Goals discussions and global conservation policy agenda into the coming decades.
Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... Freshwater ecosystems have been subjected to significant impacts for centuries, in some cases millennia, and are continuing to be influenced by ever-growing human needs (Higgins and Duigan, 2009). As a result, they have lost a greater proportion of their species and habitats than ecosystems on land or in the oceans, and they face increasing impacts from pollution, over-harvesting, habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change (World Resources Institute et al., 2000;Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). ...
Ori stream (one of the tributaries of River Oba, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria) was studied from October to December 2013 with the aim of providing baseline information on its water quality, phytoplankton primary productivity and invertebrate faunal composition. Plankton samples were collected by towing plankton net over a 2 metres horizontal distance, while benthic macroinvertebrate samples were collected by kick-sampling technique. Hydrological and some physico-chemical variables were determined in-situ, and water samples collected for further physico-chemical analyses in the laboratory. A total of 17 phytoplankton species, seven species of zooplankton and eight species of benthic macroinvertebrates were recorded. The upper reach of the stream was the most polluted with the presence of biological indicators of poor water quality, while the lower reach recorded some biological indicators of good water quality. Although the upper reach recorded the highest gross primary productivity, the highest net primary productivity was recorded at the stream’s lower reach. Water quality typically decreased from the upper reach of the stream towards the middle reach but later picked up at the lower reach before discharging into River Oba. The physico-chemical and biotic nature of the different reaches were a reflection of human activities in and around the stream. Keywords: Benthic macroinvertebrates, conservation, headwater stream, plankton; primary productivity, water quality.
... There is a broad array of potential applications for the spatial scale delineation and classification process described herein that would assist natural resource agencies fulfill research, assessment, and management objectives for river systems at local to national scales (e.g., Snelder and Hughey 2005;Sowa and others 2007;Brenden and others 2008a;Wang and others 2008;Higgins and Duigan 2009). For one, the process assembles in a single database the entire stream and river network structure of a state along with the associated descriptors for channel positions, network connectivity, ecological (e.g., ecoregions) and political boundaries, and local and network catchment natural variation and anthropogenic disturbances. ...
One of the most common practices in river research and management is to divide river network into more ecologically meaningful and operationally manageable spatial units. The Great Lakes Regional River Database and Classification System was developed for the four-state region of Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Wisconsin by dividing river network into confluence-to-confluence reaches, merging similar neighboring reaches into segments, and classifying segments into types. This presentation describes how the river reaches, segments, and segments types were developed using Michigan’s data as an example; reports the major differences in some physical characteristics within and among river reaches and multiple-reach segments; and compare the variations in fish assemblages within and among river reaches, multiple-reach segments, and segment types where sampled fish data are available. Because the patterns of changes in physical and biological characteristics of river systems are spatial-scale dependent, our study focused only at the spatial scales that are meaningful for environmental assessment using fish assemblages and for fisheries management. We found that river reach within a segment explained the least, segment type explained moderate, and segment explained the most variances in fish assemblage metrics, fish abundance of all species, and fish abundance for the top-three dominant species.
... Freshwater mussels are amongst the most threaten species worldwide (Lydeard et al., 2004). Human impact on freshwater habitats and species is disproportionately greater than on terrestrial or marine ecosystems (Higgins & Duigan, 2009). Human impacts on biodiversity probably date back to the Pleistocene (Foreman, 2004; Donlan et al., 2006) but have become more significant for European freshwater ecosystems since the nineteenth century, with the industrial and agricultural revolutions. ...
Freshwater mussels are amongst the most threatened invertebrate species worldwide. For some species, current distribution has contracted to a point whereby original extent and ecological requirements are difficult to assess. As a consequence, extirpation rate is poorly evaluated, surveys are not targeted towards suitable areas and species are not taken into account in development impact studies. In this paper, we developed species distribution models (SDM) and produced maps of suitable habitat for conservation purposes. We focused on Margaritifera and Unio species for which enough reliable data could be collated for whole continental France. For the first time at this scale, SDM were based on a river stretch framework which proved to be very efficient. Models performances were highly discriminative, allowing drawing predictive maps of habitat suitability. As no human-induced variables were included, our models approximate species’ ideal original range. Range contraction could then be quantified by comparing the extent of occurrence (EOO) predicted by the models to the currently known EOO of the species. For most species, known distribution matches the predicted suitable habitat suggesting that geographic barriers between main drainages do not impact naiads’ distribution.
... The central goal of this paper is to explore the relationships between energy policies on water use and the implications of these energy-related water impacts on freshwater ecosystems, specifically freshwater fishes. Freshwater fishes are a useful indicator taxa for freshwater biodiversity more broadly: they are widely distributed across the US, their abundance and distribution patterns commonly reflect impacts to many other components of freshwater biodiversity [10], they respond to changes in water consumption and withdrawal [11], and they contribute valuable goods and services to human society [12]. ...
Rising energy consumption in coming decades, combined with a changing energy mix, have the potential to increase the impact of energy sector water use on freshwater biodiversity. We forecast changes in future water use based on various energy scenarios and examine implications for freshwater ecosystems. Annual water withdrawn/manipulated would increase by 18-24%, going from 1,993,000-2,628,000 Mm(3) in 2010 to 2,359,000-3,271,000 Mm(3) in 2035 under the Reference Case of the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Water consumption would more rapidly increase by 26% due to increased biofuel production, going from 16,700-46,400 Mm(3) consumption in 2010 to 21,000-58,400 Mm(3) consumption in 2035. Regionally, water use in the Southwest and Southeast may increase, with anticipated decreases in water use in some areas of the Midwest and Northeast. Policies that promote energy efficiency or conservation in the electric sector would reduce water withdrawn/manipulated by 27-36 m(3)GJ(-1) (0.1-0.5 m(3)GJ(-1) consumption), while such policies in the liquid fuel sector would reduce withdrawal/manipulation by 0.4-0.7 m(3)GJ(-1) (0.2-0.3 m(3)GJ(-1) consumption). The greatest energy sector withdrawal/manipulation are for hydropower and thermoelectric cooling, although potential new EPA rules that would require recirculating cooling for thermoelectric plants would reduce withdrawal/manipulation by 441,000 Mm(3) (20,300 Mm(3) consumption). The greatest consumptive energy sector use is evaporation from hydroelectric reservoirs, followed by irrigation water for biofuel feedstocks and water used for electricity generation from coal. Historical water use by the energy sector is related to patterns of fish species endangerment, where water resource regions with a greater fraction of available surface water withdrawn by hydropower or consumed by the energy sector correlated with higher probabilities of imperilment. Since future increases in energy-sector surface water use will occur in areas of high fish endemism (e.g., Southeast), additional management and policy actions will be needed to minimize further species imperilment.
... There is a broad array of potential applications for the spatial scale delineation and classification process described herein that would assist natural resource agencies fulfill research, assessment, and management objectives for river systems at local to national scales (e.g., Snelder and Hughey 2005;Sowa and others 2007;Brenden and others 2008a;Wang and others 2008;Higgins and Duigan 2009). For one, the process assembles in a single database the entire stream and river network structure of a state along with the associated descriptors for channel positions, network connectivity, ecological (e.g., ecoregions) and political boundaries, and local and network catchment natural variation and anthropogenic disturbances. ...
Identifying appropriate spatial scales is critically important for assessing health, attributing data, and guiding management actions for rivers. We describe a process for identifying a three-level hierarchy of spatial scales for Michigan rivers. Additionally, we conduct a variance decomposition of fish occurrence, abundance, and assemblage metric data to evaluate how much observed variability can be explained by the three spatial scales as a gage of their utility for water resources and fisheries management. The process involved the development of geographic information system programs, statistical models, modification by experienced biologists, and simplification to meet the needs of policy makers. Altogether, 28,889 reaches, 6,198 multiple-reach segments, and 11 segment classes were identified from Michigan river networks. The segment scale explained the greatest amount of variation in fish abundance and occurrence, followed by segment class, and reach. Segment scale also explained the greatest amount of variation in 13 of the 19 analyzed fish assemblage metrics, with segment class explaining the greatest amount of variation in the other six fish metrics. Segments appear to be a useful spatial scale/unit for measuring and synthesizing information for managing rivers and streams. Additionally, segment classes provide a useful typology for summarizing the numerous segments into a few categories. Reaches are the foundation for the identification of segments and segment classes and thus are integral elements of the overall spatial scale hierarchy despite reaches not explaining significant variation in fish assemblage data.
Aim Species loss has increased significantly over the last 1000 years and is ultimately attributed to the direct and indirect consequences of increased human population growth across the planet. A growing number of species are becoming endangered and require human intervention to prevent their local extirpation or complete extinction. Management strategies aimed at mitigating a species loss can benefit greatly from empirical approaches that indicate the rate of decline of a species providing objective information on the need for immediate conservation actions, e.g. captive breeding; however, this is rarely employed. The current study used a novel method to examine the distributional trends of a model endangered species, the freshwater pearl mussel, Margaritifera margaritifera (L.).Location United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.Methods Using species presence data within 10-km grid squares since records began three-parameter logistic regression curves were fitted to extrapolate an estimated date of regional extinction.Results This study has shown that freshwater pearl mussel distribution has contracted since known historical records and outlier populations were lost first. Within the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, distribution loss has been greatest in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England, respectively, with the Republic of Ireland containing the highest relative proportion of M. margaritifera distribution, in 1998.Main conclusions This study provides empirical evidence that this species could become extinct throughout countries within the United Kingdom within 170 years under the current trends and emphasizes that regionally specific management strategies need to be implemented to prevent extirpation of this species.
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