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.
A Kobe University study shows that small aquatic beetles survive catfish attacks by resisting ingestion inside the catfish's mouth and being spat out alive. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of size-dependent ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 12, 2026
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As the United States continues to lead global oil and gas production—accounting for roughly 20% of worldwide output in 2024—understanding how different extraction methods affect ecosystems has never been more urgent. A new ...
Environment
Mar 10, 2026
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Researchers at McGill University used 2,000-year-old stone jars in Laos to observe long-term ecological processes, enhancing understanding of how strongly tree cover shapes small freshwater ecosystems. Their findings stand ...
Ecology
Mar 10, 2026
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More than 40% of extant large freshwater animals (megafauna), including carp, salmonids, crocodilians, turtles, beavers, and hippopotamuses, have been deliberately introduced outside their natural range, often for economic ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 9, 2026
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The Environment Agency and the University of Stirling have published a new report on the links between phosphorus concentrations and ecology in English rivers. Phosphorus remains one of the most significant pollutants in ...
Ecology
Mar 7, 2026
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Fish that live in rivers, ditches, and streams are better able to withstand warming water than fish in the sea. This is the conclusion of research by ecologist Wilco Verberk of Radboud University. "It is important not to ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 5, 2026
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Rural communities bordering the Tongass National Forest harvest more than 4.5 million pounds of wild food per year, including 100 different species that our public lands help support. Just how much food is this? An average ...
Ecology
Mar 4, 2026
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A large-scale study led by the University of Jyväskylä revealed that human activity is consistently changing the ecosystems of Northern European lakes. The study shows that hydropower and human activity in catchment areas ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 4, 2026
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Floodplains face increasing pressure: currently protected areas will not be sufficient to preserve the species living in them in the future, a review study conducted under the direction of the Swiss Federal Institute for ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 3, 2026
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The Florida Everglades is a complicated climate actor. The 1.5-million-acre wetland system remains a carbon sink, removing an average of 13.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, but the system ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 2, 2026
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