The conservation status of the world’s freshwater molluscs

Böhm, Monika; Richman, Nadia I.; Seddon, Mary; Ledger, Sophie; Albrecht, Christian; Allen, David J.; Bogan, Arthur E.; Cordeiro, Jay; Cummings, Kevin S.; Cuttelod, Annabelle; Darrigran, Gustavo; Darwall, W.R.T.; Fehér, Zoltán; Gibson, Claudine; Graf, Daniel; Köhler, Frank; Lopes‐Lima, Manuel; Pastorino, Guido; Perez, Kathryn E.; Smith, Kevin G.; Damme, Dirk Van; Vinarski, Maxim V.; Proschwitz, Ted von; Rintelen, Thomas von; Aldridge, David C.; Aravind, N. A.; Budha, Prem Bahadur; Clavijo, Cristhian; Tu, Do Van; Gargominy, Olivier; Ghamizi, Mohamed; Haase, Martín; Hilton‐Taylor, Craig; Johnson, Paul D.; Kebapçı, Ümit; Lajtner, Jasna; Lange, Charles N.; Lepitzki, Dwayne; Martínez‐Ortí, Alberto; Moorkens, Evelyn; Neubert, Eike; Pollock, Caroline M.; Prié, Vincent; Radea, Canella; Ramírez, Rina; Ramos, Marian A.; Santos, Sonia Barbosa dos; Slapnik, Rajko; Son, Mikhail O.; Stensgaard, Anna‐Sofie; Collen, Ben

doi:10.1007/s10750-020-04385-w

Cited by 91 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Overall, we show that 15% of sh species in our sample are estimated to be threatened with extinction and that threat is higher in freshwaters compared to marine systems. Our results con rm previous ndings on the truly alarming conservation status of freshwater shes 57,58 ; in the same way that other freshwater biodiversity is highly threatened with extinction 13,20,48 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The level of data de ciency in our Sampled List of shes is comparable to that found in other species groups such as cray sh 48 and reptiles 17 , and lower than that observed in freshwater crabs 47 and freshwater molluscs 20 . While Data De cient species should be considered as potentially threatened until their status can be assessed 8 , they cannot contribute to the Red List Index 10 unless their status can be predicted using trait-based methods.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…We calculated proportions of threatened species in our sample by assuming that DD species will fall into threatened categories in the same proportion as non-DD species, as per previous studies on other species groups 12,20,48 : . We also estimated the sampled Red List Index in 2010, following the modi ed formula of Butchart et al 76 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…for birds 11 ). Subsequently, this approach has been applied to reptiles 17 , dragon ies 18 , plants 19 and freshwater molluscs 20 . Sampled assessments for other species groups are still work in progress (e.g., butter ies 21 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More than 30,000 freshwater species have now been assessed for the IUCN Red List 9 , including comprehensive assessments for freshwater crabs, shrimps and cray sh, and sampled assessments for freshwater molluscs 20,47,48 . The Freshwater Biodiversity Unit, within the IUCN Global Species Programme, has been central to the assessment effort for freshwater species, including shes, generally carried out on a region-by-region basis 9 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Monitoring Extinction Risk and Threats of the World’s Fishes based on the Sampled Red List Index

Miranda¹,

Miqueleiz²,

Darwall³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Global biodiversity targets require us to identify species at risk of extinction and quantify status and trends of biodiversity. The Red List Index (RLI) tracks trends in the conservation status of entire species groups over time by monitoring changes in categories assigned to species. Here, we calculate this index for the world’s fishes in 2010, using a sampled approach to the RLI based on a randomly selected sample of 1,500 species, and also present RLI splits for freshwater and marine systems separately. We further compare specific traits of a worldwide fish list to our sample to assess its representativeness. Overall, 15.1% of species in the sample were estimated to be threatened with extinction, resulting in an sampled RLI of 0.914 for all species, 0.972 in marine and 0.860 in freshwater ecosystems. Our sample showed fishing as the principal threat for marine species, and pollution by agricultural and foresty effluents for freshwater fishes. The sampled list provides a robust representation for tracking trends in the conservation status of the world’s fishes, including disaggregated sampled indices for marine and freshwater fish. Reassessment and backcasting of this index is urgent to check the achievement of the commitments proposed in global biodiversity targets.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Monitoring Extinction Risk and Threats of the World’s Fishes based on the Sampled Red List Index

Miranda¹,

Miqueleiz²,

Darwall³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Systematics, distribution, biology, and conservation of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionida) in China

Liu

Wü

et al. 2022

Aquatic Conservation

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Freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionida) have a broad global distribution on every continent except Antarctica. However, owing to human activities, the diversity of freshwater mussels is seriously globally threatened. China is an important global biodiversity hotspot for this fauna. This article comprehensively reviews the 99 currently recognized species in China, collating for the first time their systematics, distribution, life‐history traits, habitat preferences, conservation status, and main threats to suggest future management actions. The review showed that the taxonomic status and species validity of many freshwater mussels are still not well resolved. The freshwater mussel diversity in the Yangtze River Basin is higher than that in other freshwater habitats in China. Life history characteristics and habitat preferences are poorly known for most species. Only half of the total number of species in China have been assessed for their conservation status. Among those assessed, around half of them are threatened with extinction with more than 10% being considered as Data Deficient. The key threats identified as potentially related to species declines are pollution, habitat loss and fragmentation, loss of access to host fishes and overharvesting of mussels or their host fishes. The review shows that there is a strong geographical bias in the amount of knowledge available for freshwater mussels, with most of the available data being concentrated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze basin. Almost no data are available for these taxa north of the Yellow River basin and in the west and south‐west regions of China. To make future conservation and management more effective we suggest that efforts should be concentrated on: (i) increasing the amount of research on basic ecological and life‐history features, including growth, life‐span, reproductive cycle, host fish identification and habitat requirements of each species; (ii) establishing the interspecific and intraspecific genetic diversity patterns of Chinese freshwater mussels, to clarify their taxonomy, systematics and phylogeny, and to understand the phylogeography and population structure of each species; and (iii) urgently establishing protected areas for fish and mussels in locations of high species richness, such as Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake, and also in regions with high levels of endemism or genetic uniqueness, such as Guangxi Province, Yunnan Province and Heilongjiang Province. In addition, the need for habitat restoration and the conservation of freshwater mussels has become urgent in China, and an integrated systematic conservation and management plan should be developed and effectively implemented.

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Long‐term monitoring shows that drought sensitivity and riparian land use change coincide with freshwater mussel declines

Lopez

DuBose

Franzen

et al. 2022

Aquatic Conservation

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1. Freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionoida) are globally imperilled and are the subjects of wide-ranging conservation initiatives. This study combined traditional species-monitoring surveys with a novel functional trait classification scheme and publicly available environmental data to assess potential environmental drivers of declining mussel abundance and species richness. 2. Surveys to document mussel abundance and assemblage composition in south-east Oklahoma, United States were conducted on the Glover, Mountain Fork and upper Little rivers. Present day survey results (2015-2021) were compared with those from previous studies (1993-1999, 2010) to document long-term changes in the species and functional composition of mussel assemblages and concurrent changes in climate and land use. 3. Mussel catch per unit effort declined by 71.5% between historical and present day surveys. Species richness declined by 44.4% over this same period. Using a novel classification of mussel drought sensitivity, it was found that the declines were associated with a disproportionate loss of drought-sensitive taxa (67.0% decline)those classified as drought-tolerant did not decline in abundance. Mussel declines coincided with the loss of open surface waters (such as streams, ponds and lakes) and riparian wetlands, increased local air temperatures and longer and more intense hydrological drought. 4. These findings indicate that for a complete understanding of the causes and consequences of mussel declines, conservation biologists must not only monitor the species composition and abundance of threatened organisms, but also consider functional traits. The results further underscore the importance of long-term monitoring for long-lived organisms owing to the decadal time scales over which climate and land use change occur.

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The conservation status of the world’s freshwater molluscs

Cited by 91 publications

References 71 publications

Monitoring Extinction Risk and Threats of the World’s Fishes based on the Sampled Red List Index

Monitoring Extinction Risk and Threats of the World’s Fishes based on the Sampled Red List Index

Systematics, distribution, biology, and conservation of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionida) in China

Long‐term monitoring shows that drought sensitivity and riparian land use change coincide with freshwater mussel declines

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