Freshwater ecosystems are inland aquatic systems dominated by low-salinity water, encompassing rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands, and groundwater-dependent habitats. They are structured by hydrological regime, nutrient availability, light penetration, thermal stratification, and substrate characteristics, and support diverse communities of microorganisms, algae, macrophytes, invertebrates, fish, and amphibians. Biogeochemical processes in these systems, including primary production, decomposition, and nutrient cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, regulate water quality and contribute to regional and global elemental fluxes. Research on freshwater ecosystems examines food web dynamics, ecological resilience, responses to eutrophication, pollution, flow alteration, climate change, and their role in providing ecosystem services such as drinking water supply and biodiversity maintenance.
Only 25% of newly-delineated priority areas identified for the protection of freshwater fishes in Colombia overlap with existing protected areas, according to a recent study published in Diversity and Distributions by the ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 1, 2026
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Beavers should be embraced as key allies in the fight against biodiversity loss according to scientists at the University of Stirling, after new research revealed the significant ecological benefits the animals bring to wetland ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 26, 2026
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Hidden beneath the surface of the world's rivers, some of Earth's great animal movements unfold—migrations that rival, in sheer biomass, the famous mass movements of zebra and wildebeest across the Serengeti.
Ecology
Mar 25, 2026
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Urban stormwater ponds provide important habitats for birds, including both resident and migrating species, according to research led by the University of Toronto. For the study, researchers placed audio recorders at 16 stormwater ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 24, 2026
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Some of the longest, most important migrations of species on Earth are happening beneath the surface of the world's rivers and many are rapidly collapsing, according to a major new assessment by the Convention on the Conservation ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 24, 2026
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Rising temperatures in a Southcentral Alaska river have led to a hungrier population of invasive northern pike, a trend that could imperil native salmon and other fish species. A University of Alaska Fairbanks-led research ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 22, 2026
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A study conducted by researchers at the Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture at the University of São Paulo (CENA-USP) and published in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe identified residues of different classes ...
Ecology
Mar 20, 2026
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Across Europe, beaver numbers are increasing after a long period of decline. As these aquatic mammals recolonize rivers, they are gradually rebuilding wetlands that once existed across many river valleys.
Plants & Animals
Mar 18, 2026
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Beavers could engineer riverbeds into promising carbon dioxide sinks, according to a new international study led by researchers at the University of Birmingham. The paper, published in Communications Earth & Environment, ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 18, 2026
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Pesticides used in pet flea treatments occur widely in Welsh rivers and were detected in over three quarters of river water samples, finds new research by Cardiff University and Natural Resources Wales. The study found that ...
Environment
Mar 15, 2026
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