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Ecol Lett. 2021 Dec 01; doi: 10.1111/ele.13931. Epub 2021 Dec 01.

A global agenda for advancing freshwater biodiversity research.

Ecology letters

Alain Maasri, Sonja C Jähnig, Mihai C Adamescu, Rita Adrian, Claudio Baigun, Donald J Baird, Angelica Batista-Morales, Núria Bonada, Lee E Brown, Qinghua Cai, Joao V Campos-Silva, Viola Clausnitzer, Topiltzin Contreras-MacBeath, Steven J Cooke, Thibault Datry, Gonzalo Delacámara, Luc De Meester, Klaus-Douwe B Dijkstra, Van Tu Do, Sami Domisch, David Dudgeon, Tibor Erös, Hendrik Freitag, Joerg Freyhof, Jana Friedrich, Martin Friedrichs-Manthey, Juergen Geist, Mark O Gessner, Peter Goethals, Matthew Gollock, Christopher Gordon, Hans-Peter Grossart, Georges Gulemvuga, Pablo E Gutiérrez-Fonseca, Peter Haase, Daniel Hering, Hans Jürgen Hahn, Charles P Hawkins, Fengzhi He, Jani Heino, Virgilio Hermoso, Zeb Hogan, Franz Hölker, Jonathan M Jeschke, Meilan Jiang, Richard K Johnson, Gregor Kalinkat, Bakhtiyor K Karimov, Aventino Kasangaki, Ismael A Kimirei, Bert Kohlmann, Mathias Kuemmerlen, Jan J Kuiper, Benjamin Kupilas, Simone D Langhans, Richard Lansdown, Florian Leese, Francis S Magbanua, Shin-Ichiro S Matsuzaki, Michael T Monaghan, Levan Mumladze, Javier Muzon, Pierre A Mvogo Ndongo, Jens C Nejstgaard, Oxana Nikitina, Clifford Ochs, Oghenekaro Nelson Odume, Jeffrey J Opperman, Harmony Patricio, Steffen U Pauls, Rajeev Raghavan, Alonso Ramírez, Bindiya Rashni, Vere Ross-Gillespie, Michael J Samways, Ralf B Schäfer, Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber, Ole Seehausen, Deep Narayan Shah, Subodh Sharma, Janne Soininen, Nike Sommerwerk, Jason D Stockwell, Frank Suhling, Ram Devi Tachamo Shah, Rebecca E Tharme, James H Thorp, David Tickner, Klement Tockner, Jonathan D Tonkin, Mireia Valle, Jean Vitule, Martin Volk, Ding Wang, Christian Wolter, Susanne Worischka

Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany.
  2. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
  3. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
  4. Research Center in Systems Ecology and Sustainability, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania.
  5. Institut für Biologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
  6. Universidad Nacional de San Martin, San Martin, Argentina.
  7. Environment & Climate Change Canada/University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
  8. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Bogotá, Colombia.
  9. Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
  10. School of Geography & water@leeds, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
  11. Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
  12. Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway.
  13. Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
  14. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
  15. Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
  16. UR RiverLy, INRAE, Villeurbanne, France.
  17. IMDEA Water Institute, Madrid, Spain.
  18. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
  19. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
  20. Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Ha Noi, Vietnam.
  21. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
  22. Balaton Limnological Research Institute, Tihany, Hungary.
  23. Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines.
  24. Museum für Naturkunde-Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany.
  25. Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Geesthacht, Germany.
  26. Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany.
  27. Berlin Institute of Technology, Berlin, Germany.
  28. Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, Germany.
  29. Ghent University, Gent, Belgium.
  30. Zoological Society of London, London, UK.
  31. University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
  32. Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
  33. International Commission for Congo-Ubangui-Sangha Basin, Kinshasa, D.R. Congo.
  34. University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
  35. University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
  36. University of Koblenz-Landau, Koblenz and Landau, Germany.
  37. Institute for Groundwater Ecology IGÖ GmbH, Landau, Germany.
  38. Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA.
  39. Finnish Environment Institute, Oulu, Finland.
  40. Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya, Solsona, Spain.
  41. University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA.
  42. Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China.
  43. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
  44. Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
  45. Kabale University, Kabale, Uganda.
  46. Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
  47. EARTH University, San José, Costa Rica.
  48. Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
  49. Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
  50. Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Oslo, Norway.
  51. University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
  52. Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Leioa, Spain.
  53. University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
  54. IUCN Species Survival Commission, Cambridge, UK.
  55. University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
  56. National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan.
  57. Institute of Zoology, Ilia State University, Tiblis, Georgia.
  58. Universidad Nacional de Avellaneda, Avellaneda, Argentina.
  59. Université de Douala, Douala, Cameroon.
  60. WWF-Russia, Moscow, Russia.
  61. University of Mississippi, University Park, Mississippi, USA.
  62. Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa.
  63. World Wildlife Fund, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
  64. Global Wildlife Conservation, Austin, Texas, USA.
  65. Justus-Liebig-University, Gießen, Germany.
  66. Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, India.
  67. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
  68. Institute of Applied Science, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.
  69. NatureMetrics Ltd, Surrey, UK.
  70. Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
  71. University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
  72. University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
  73. Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.
  74. Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal.
  75. Kathmandu University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
  76. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
  77. University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA.
  78. Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany.
  79. Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal.
  80. Riverfutures, Buxton, UK.
  81. Université de Tours, Tours, France.
  82. University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
  83. WWF-UK, Woking, UK.
  84. Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
  85. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
  86. School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
  87. National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA.
  88. AZTI, Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Sukarrieta, Spain.
  89. Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil.
  90. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, Germany.

PMID: 34854211 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13931

Abstract

Global freshwater biodiversity is declining dramatically, and meeting the challenges of this crisis requires bold goals and the mobilisation of substantial resources. While the reasons are varied, investments in both research and conservation of freshwater biodiversity lag far behind those in the terrestrial and marine realms. Inspired by a global consultation, we identify 15 pressing priority needs, grouped into five research areas, in an effort to support informed stewardship of freshwater biodiversity. The proposed agenda aims to advance freshwater biodiversity research globally as a critical step in improving coordinated actions towards its sustainable management and conservation.

© 2021 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords: data infrastructure; ecology; freshwater biodiversity crisis; freshwaters; management; monitoring; research priorities; social ecology

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