Early Cretaceous body and trace fossils in Victoria, Australia, establish the oldest known presence of parastacid crayfish (Decapoda: Astacidea, Parastacoidea) in freshwater environments of Australia, and the oldest known crayfish in Gondwana. Parastacid body fossils, comprised of a partial abdomen (Palaeoechinastacus australianus, gen. et sp. nov.) and two chelae, are from a fluvial deposit in...

Freshwater invertebrate conservation faces 5 important challenges. First, ;10,000 species of freshwater invertebrates around the world may already be extinct or imperiled. Second, human pressures on freshwater resources are intense and will increase in the coming decades, putting yet more species at risk. Third, scientific knowledge about freshwater invertebrates, although substantial and usefu...

Interannual variations in Gulf of Alaska shelf temperature and salinity could significantly influence this ecosystem and hence the recovery and restoration of organisms and services affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. This variability is being quantified from time series at hydrographic station GAK 1, near Seward Alaska, and within the Alaska Coastal Current. Data from this station spans a ...

abell, R. 2013. ‘Conservation and Management of Freshwaters in a Changing World. In J. Snoeks & A. Getahun (eds), Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on African Fish and Fisheries, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 22-26 September 2008. Tervuren: Royal Museum for Central Africa, ‘Zoological Documentation Online Series’, pp. 7-20. Inland water systems and species are on average around the wo...

The functional capabilities of species can have a strong effect on their ability to maintain sustainable populations in anthropogenically altered environments. This is especially true among species comprising freshwater ichthyofaunas on small oceanic islands, where fishes frequently traverse boundaries between different ecosystems. Many aspects of functional performance in fishes relate directl...

Critical habitat is defined under Section 2 of Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) as, “the habitat necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species and that is identified as the species’ critical habitat in the recovery strategy or in an action plan for the species”. SARA requires the development of recovery strategies for species listed as Endangered, Threatened or Extirpat...

This chapter reviews tidal wetlands that occur along the Atlantic coast of the United States from the northern border of North Carolina to the northern distribution limit of mangroves in central Florida. The South Atlantic coast has a warm climate, a wide tidal range, and fewer anthropogenic impacts than the North and Central Atlantic coasts. It is a gently sloping coast that supports extensive...

The Qiantang River is a typical freshwater ecosystem that acts as an irreplaceable water source in Zhejiang Province in southeastern China. However, the effects of environmental factors on the bacterial community of this freshwater ecosystem have not been determined. In this study, seven sediment samples were collected along the river. Their bacterial communities were identified using 454 high-...

More freshwater ecosystems are drying in response to global change thereby posing serious threat to freshwater biota and functions. The production of desiccation-resistant forms is an important adaptation that helps maintain biodiversity in temporary freshwaters by buffering communities from drying, but its potential to mitigate the negative effects of drying in freshwater ecosystems could vary...

1. Over the past decade, studies of the effects of consumer-driven nutrient dynamics have become more common. This work has demonstrated that animals can function as sources and sinks of elements, but few studies have broadly compared these processes among organisms and across ecosystems. 2. Collectively, the articles in this special issue elucidate the important roles that organisms can play i...