In their essay “Conservation Biology for the Biodiversity Crisis,” Olson et al. (2002) identify critical research gaps hampering effective conservation planning, with an emphasis on the terrestrial realm. The situation for freshwater biodiversity is so grave that an additional plea for freshwater research is warranted. Freshwater fish alone comprise one-fourth of all living vertebrate species, ...

Short- and long-term responses to direct transfer from seawater to freshwater were examined in gill chloride cells of killifish, which developed distinct freshwater- and seawater-type chloride cells in the respective environments. In a short-term response within 24 h after transfer, seawater-type chloride cells forming a pit structure on the apical surface were transformed into freshwater-type ...

Freshwater mussels are mollusks-close relatives of clams, oysters, and saltwater mussels. Many species of freshwater mussels can live for 20 to 30 years, and individuals of some species live for more than 100 years. Freshwater mussels have been valued by humans throughout history. They can produce pearls, and their shells can be used to make buttons for clothing or to serve as seedstock for the...

Metrics of water scarcity and stress have evolved over the last three decades from simple threshold indicators to holistic measures characterising human environments and freshwater sustainability. Metrics commonly estimate renewable freshwater resources using mean annual river runoff, which masks hydrological variability, and quantify subjectively socio-economic conditions characterising adapti...

Freshwater crab sister group relationships with marine eubrachyuran families were investigated[ A morphology!based cladistic analysis was conducted on representatives of the freshwater crab families Deckeniidae\ Gecarcinucidae\ Parathelphusidae\ Potamidae\ Potamonautidae\ Pseudothelphusidae\ and Trichodactylidae using a disparate assemblage of marine heterotreme and thoracotreme brachyurans as ...

Recent measurements of the strength of the Atlantic overturning circulation at 26∘N show a 1 year drop and partial recovery amid a gradual weakening. To examine the extent and impact of the slowdown on basin wide heat and freshwater transports for 2004–2012, a box model that assimilates hydrographic and satellite observations is used to estimate heat transport and freshwater convergence as resi...

The Cape Verdean islands form a distinct aquatic freshwater ecoregion characterized mainly by temporal water bodies with an adapted invertebrate community. Freshwater fish were not previously recorded from the archipelago. During a non-exhaustive survey of freshwater bodies on five islands of the archipelago, the first presence of a freshwater fish was recorded. Using barcoding sequences, the s...

While micro-organisms actively mediate and participate in freshwater ecosystem services, we know little about freshwater microbial genetic diversity. Genome sequences are available for many bacteria from the human microbiome and the ocean (over 800 and 200, respectively), but only two freshwater genomes are currently available: the streamlined genomes of Polynucleobacter necessarius ssp. asymbi...

Oceanic threespine sticklebacks have repeatedly and independently evolved new morphologies upon invasions of freshwater habitats. A consistent derived feature of the freshwater form across populations and geography is a shape change of the opercle, a large early developing facial bone. We show that the principal multivariate axis describing opercle shape development from the young larva to the ...