One-quarter of freshwater fauna threatened with extinction

Sayer, Catherine A, Fernando, Eresha, Jimenez, Randall R, Macfarlane, Nicholas B W, Rapacciuolo, Giovanni, Böhm, Monika, Brooks, Thomas M, Contreras-MacBeath, Topiltzin, Cox, Neil A, Harrison, Ian, and others. (2025) One-quarter of freshwater fauna threatened with extinction. Nature, 638 . pp. 138-145. ISSN 0028-0836. E-ISSN 1476-4687. (doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08375-z) (KAR id:108510)

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08375-z

Abstract

Freshwater ecosystems are highly biodiverse and important for livelihoods and economic development , but are under substantial stress . To date, comprehensive global assessments of extinction risk have not included any speciose groups primarily living in freshwaters. Consequently, data from predominantly terrestrial tetrapods are used to guide environmental policy and conservation prioritization , whereas recent proposals for target setting in freshwaters use abiotic factors . However, there is evidence that such data are insufficient to represent the needs of freshwater species and achieve biodiversity goals . Here we present the results of a multi-taxon global freshwater fauna assessment for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species covering 23,496 decapod crustaceans, fishes and odonates, finding that one-quarter are threatened with extinction. Prevalent threats include pollution, dams and water extraction, agriculture and invasive species, with overharvesting also driving extinctions. We also examined the degree of surrogacy of both threatened tetrapods and freshwater abiotic factors (water stress and nitrogen) for threatened freshwater species. Threatened tetrapods are good surrogates when prioritizing sites to maximize rarity-weighted richness, but poorer when prioritizing based on the most range-restricted species. However, they are much better surrogates than abiotic factors, which perform worse than random. Thus, although global priority regions identified for tetrapod conservation are broadly reflective of those for freshwater faunas, given differences in key threats and habitats, meeting the needs of tetrapods cannot be assumed sufficient to conserve freshwater species at local scales.

Item Type:	Article
DOI/Identification number:	10.1038/s41586-024-08375-z
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
Divisions:	Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation > DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
SWORD Depositor:	JISC Publications Router
Depositing User:	JISC Publications Router
Date Deposited:	18 Feb 2025 15:02 UTC
Last Modified:	19 Feb 2025 10:31 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/108510 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Juffe Bignoli, Diego.

Creator's ORCID:	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1498-4317
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