Global patterns of freshwater species diversity, threat and endemism

By B. Collen, Felix J. S. Whitton, E. Dyer, J. Baillie, N. Cumberlidge, W. Darwall, C. Pollock, N. Richman, A. Soulsby, M. Böhm. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2013

625 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Aim Global-scale studies are required to identify broad-scale patterns in the distributions of species, to evaluate the processes that determine diversity and to determine how similar or different these patterns and processes are among different groups of freshwater species. Broad-scale patterns of spatial variation in species distribution are central to many fundamental questions in macroecology and conservation biology. We aimed to evaluate how congruent three commonly used metrics of diversity were among taxa for six groups of freshwater species. Location Global. Methods We compiled geographical range data on 7083 freshwater species of mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, crabs and crayfish to evaluate how species richness, richness of threatened species and endemism are distributed across freshwater ecosystems. We evaluated how congruent these measures of diversity were among taxa at a global level for a grid cell size of just under 1°. Results We showed that although the risk of extinction faced by freshwater decapods is quite similar to that of freshwater vertebrates, there is a distinct lack of spatial congruence in geographical range between different taxonomic groups at this spatial scale, and a lack of congruence among three commonly used metrics of biodiversity. The risk of extinction for freshwater species was consistently higher than for their terrestrial counterparts. Main conclusions We demonstrate that broad-scale patterns of species richness, threatened-species richness and endemism lack congruence among the six freshwater taxonomic groups examined. Invertebrate species are seldom taken into account in conservation planning. Our study suggests that both the metric of biodiversity and the identity of the taxa on which conservation decisions are based require careful consideration. As geographical range information becomes available for further sets of species, further testing will be warranted into the extent to which geographical variation in the richness of these six freshwater groups reflects broader patterns of biodiversity in fresh water.

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5df838060841156038f7b900a346b85b19997aeb

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Citations in the corpus

Patterns, Causes, and Consequences of Anthropocene Defaunation (2016, background): “Also, 98% of threatened freshwater crabs are at risk because of pollution (Collen et al. 2014), many frog species appear to be demasculinized by herbicide exposure (Hayes et al. 2002), and pollution appears to have extirpated fish from 5% of the overall length of Chinese rivers (Dudgeon 1999).”
Emerging threats and persistent conservation challenges for freshwater biodiversity (2018, positive): “Nonetheless, other data, such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, conﬁrm the high proportion of threatened species among freshwater-associated vertebrates (Ricciardi & Rasmussen, 1999; Collen et al. , 2014).”
The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection (2014, background): “For freshwater taxa (26), threat levels span 23% (mammals and fishes) to 39% (reptiles).”
Biogeography of freshwater fishes of the Balkan Peninsula (2014, background): “However, freshwater conservation actions at broader scales, based on the distribution of freshwater species, patterns of endemism and threats imposed on species, are lacking at present (but see relevant plea Abell et al., 2008; Darwall et al., 2011; Hermoso & Clavero, 2011; Tedesco et al., 2012; Col”
Biotic impacts of energy development from shale: research priorities and knowledge gaps (2014, background): “Understanding the impacts of shale development is essential because many shale basins, particularly those in the eastern US, occur in regions of exceptional biological diversity (Figure 3); for instance, the most rapidly growing source of natural gas in the US (ie the Marcellus Shale in the Appalach”
TheAlliance for Freshwater Life: A global call to unite efforts for freshwater biodiversity science and conservation (2018, background): “The causes of this crisis have been recognized for many years (Abell, 2002; Benz & Collins, 1997; Collen et al., 2014; Dudgeon et al., 2006; Foley et al., 2005; Master, Stein, Kutner, & Hammerson, 2000; McAllister, Hamilton, & Harvey, 1997; Strayer & Dudgeon, 2010; Thieme et al., 2011; Vörösmarty…”
Amphibians over the edge: silent extinction risk of Data Deficient species (2014, background): “…et al., 2006; Lees & Peres, 2008; Lee & Jetz, 2011), mammals (e.g. Collen et al., 2006; Cardillo et al., 2008; Davidson et al., 2009; Fritz et al., 2009), amphibians (e.g. Bielby et al., 2008; Cooper et al., 2008; Sodhi et al., 2008), reptiles (Collen et al., 2006) and fish (Collen et al., 2014).”
Fighting their last stand? A global analysis of the distribution and conservation status of gymnosperms (2015, background): “Information regarding spatial distribution and biodiversity is central to many fundamental questions in biogeography, macroecology and conservation biology (Mutke & Barthlott, 2005; Collen et al., 2014).”
GAPeDNA: Assessing and mapping global species gaps in genetic databases for eDNA metabarcoding (2021, background): “Despite their cultural, commercial and ecological importance, fish populations are increasingly depleted or threatened due to overfishing (Anticamara, Watson, Gelchu, & Pauly, 2011) and habitat alterations (Collen et al., 2014).”