Dataset Information

Bending the Curve of Global Freshwater Biodiversity Loss: An Emergency Recovery Plan.

ABSTRACT: Despite their limited spatial extent, freshwater ecosystems host remarkable biodiversity, including one-third of all vertebrate species. This biodiversity is declining dramatically: Globally, wetlands are vanishing three times faster than forests, and freshwater vertebrate populations have fallen more than twice as steeply as terrestrial or marine populations. Threats to freshwater biodiversity are well documented but coordinated action to reverse the decline is lacking. We present an Emergency Recovery Plan to bend the curve of freshwater biodiversity loss. Priority actions include accelerating implementation of environmental flows; improving water quality; protecting and restoring critical habitats; managing the exploitation of freshwater ecosystem resources, especially species and riverine aggregates; preventing and controlling nonnative species invasions; and safeguarding and restoring river connectivity. We recommend adjustments to targets and indicators for the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Sustainable Development Goals and roles for national and international state and nonstate actors.

SUBMITTER: Tickner D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7138689 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Bending the Curve of Global Freshwater Biodiversity Loss: An Emergency Recovery Plan.

Tickner David D Opperman Jeffrey J JJ Abell Robin R Acreman Mike M Arthington Angela H AH Bunn Stuart E SE Cooke Steven J SJ Dalton James J Darwall Will W Edwards Gavin G Harrison Ian I Hughes Kathy K Jones Tim T Leclère David D Lynch Abigail J AJ Leonard Philip P McClain Michael E ME Muruven Dean D Olden Julian D JD Ormerod Steve J SJ Robinson James J Tharme Rebecca E RE Thieme Michele M Tockner Klement K Wright Mark M Young Lucy L

Bioscience 20200219 4

Despite their limited spatial extent, freshwater ecosystems host remarkable biodiversity, including one-third of all vertebrate species. This biodiversity is declining dramatically: Globally, wetlands are vanishing three times faster than forests, and freshwater vertebrate populations have fallen more than twice as steeply as terrestrial or marine populations. Threats to freshwater biodiversity are well documented but coordinated action to reverse the decline is lacking. We present an Emergency ...[more]

PMID: 32284631

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Project description:An often-invoked benefit of high biodiversity is the provision of ecosystem services. However, evidence for this is largely based on data from small-scale experimental studies of relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function that may have little relevance to real-world systems. Here, large-scale biodiversity datasets are used to test the relationship between the yield of inland capture fisheries and species richness from 100 countries.Inland waters of Africa, Europe and parts of Asia.A multimodel inference approach was used to assess inland fishery yields at the country level against species richness, waterside human population, area, elevation and various climatic variables, to determine the relative importance of species richness to fisheries yields compared with other major large-scale drivers. Secondly, the mean decadal variation in fishery yields at the country level for 1981-2010 was regressed against species richness to assess if greater diversity reduces the variability in yields over time.Despite a widespread reliance on targeting just a few species of fish, freshwater fish species richness is highly correlated with yield (R (2)?=?0.55) and remains an important and statistically significant predictor of yield once other macroecological drivers are controlled for. Freshwater richness also has a significant negative relationship with variability of yield over time in Africa (R (2)?=?0.16) but no effect in Europe.The management of inland waters should incorporate the protection of freshwater biodiversity, particularly in countries with the highest-yielding inland fisheries as these also tend to have high freshwater biodiversity. As these results suggest a link between biodiversity and stable, high-yielding fisheries, an important win-win outcome may be possible for food security and conservation of freshwater ecosystems. However, findings also highlight the urgent need for more data to fully understand and monitor the contribution of biodiversity to inland fisheries globally.

Dataset Information

Bending the Curve of Global Freshwater Biodiversity Loss: An Emergency Recovery Plan.

Publications

Bending the Curve of Global Freshwater Biodiversity Loss: An Emergency Recovery Plan.

Similar Datasets

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