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European and Adjacent Aquatic Ecosystem Hotspots: Fish Impacted by Natural and Anthropogenic Environmental Stress Factors

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A special issue of Fishes (ISSN 2410-3888). This special issue belongs to the section "Environment and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 November 2023) | Viewed by 4501

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Doru Bănăduc

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Guest Editor

Applied Ecology Research Center, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, I. Raţiu Street 5-7, 550012 Sibiu, Romania
Interests: aquatic ecosystems ecology; biodiversity; fish; human impact, assessment; monitoring; management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Angela Curtean-Bănăduc

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Guest Editor

Applied Ecology Research Center, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Transylvania, Romania
Interests: freshwater ecology; biodiversity assessment, monitoring and management; entomology (Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Plecoptera)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water is the Earth’s most critical natural resource, representing the source and habitat of other secondary resources and services, and it can be obtained in enough quantities in an optimum quality only through the natural “laboratories” that aquatic ecosystems are. Without water, the numerous associated ecosystems would be almost lifeless or certainly much too different to constitute an appropriate environment for living and use for a huge number of humans.

The invited authors, esteemed researchers from around the world working in this field of interest and throughout Europe’s and adjacent complex aquatic ecosystems, have the opportunity to share their valuable scientific results in terms of the identified natural and anthropogenic stressors’ impact on fish, from ecologic assessment, monitoring, and management perspectives.

The selection process of the studied aquatic ecosystems hotspots aims to cover Europe’s and adjacent impressive variety of aquatic ecosystems and any fish species or communities of conservative and/or direct or indirect economic interest.

The main objectives of the issue are to identify, characterize, and catalogue some of the main hotspots in Europe’s and adjacent water systems stressors under whose actions/pressures/threats/risks fish individuals, populations, species, associations, communities, habitats, and ecosystems react like genuine highly valuable and significant ecological indicators, highlighting negative impacts or being ecological status precursor indicators for major upcoming changes in aquatic ecologic structures and functions.

If you require guidance or any suggestions regarding the accepted paper topics, please feel free to contact the leading editor and co-editor of this Fishes Special Issue on “European and Adjacent Aquatic Ecosystem Hotspots: Fish Impacted by Natural and Anthropogenic Environmental Stress Factors” at [email protected] and [email protected].

Dr. Doru Bãnãduc
Dr. Angela Curtean-Bănăduc
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fishes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

aquatic ecosystems
Europe
hotspots
natural stressors
anthropogenic stressors
fish

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 4890 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Morphological and Trophic Features of the Invasive Babka gymnotrachelus (Gobiidae) in the Plain and Mountainous Ecosystems of the Dniester Basin: Spatiotemporal Expansion and Possible Threats to Native Fishes

by Sergey Afanasyev, Olena Hupalo, Nataliia Tymoshenko, Olena Lietytska, Anatolii Roman, Oksana Manturova and Doru Bănăduc

Fishes 2023, 8(9), 427; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes8090427 - 22 Aug 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1021

Abstract

Over the last few years, the racer goby B. gymnotrachelus quickly expanded in the mountainous rivers of the Dniester basin at aheight of 300 m a.s.l. and above. The occurrence frequency of the racer goby in fish communities in the mountainous rivers of the Carpathian ecoregion remains low (up to 20%), as compared with the plain rivers, where the species occurs in 70–100% of cases. The major prey groups in its diet in both plain and mountainous were Chironomidae, Diptera, and Crustacea. Chironomidae formed the maximal portion (35% at an occurrence frequency of 72.5%), and Trichoptera formed 18%at an occurrence frequency of 41%, whereas fish larvae were absent in their diet in mountainous rivers. The peculiar environmental conditions of mountainous rivers caused the adaptive modifications of the morphological features of the racer goby at the subpopulation level, which compriseda decrease inthe specimens’ size in rivers with a flow velocity of above 1.5 m/s and rivers with pebble contentsof above 50%in the bottom sediments.The modifications showed an increase inbody streamlining as an adaptation to flow velocity and turbulence and the stony substrate of the river’s bottom. Thus, the morphological adaptation of B. gymnotrachelus to the conditions of the mountainous rivers is in progress, and the formationof astable population in these rivers can be expected. In contrast, the native fish species’ resilience in the face of newcomers is still high, and this is because their alevins are not food for invaders. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue European and Adjacent Aquatic Ecosystem Hotspots: Fish Impacted by Natural and Anthropogenic Environmental Stress Factors)

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18 pages, 1391 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Low Ontogenetic Diet Diversity and Flexibility of the Pike-Perch, Sander lucioperca (Linnaeus, 1758) (Osteichthyes, Percidae): A Case Study

by Aminat K. Alieva, Botagoz M. Nasibulina, Shima Bakhshalizadeh, Tatyana F. Kurochkina, Nikolai N. Popov, Bekzhan I. Barbol, Doru Bănăduc, Nurgul M. Jussupbekova, Gulnur A. Kuanysheva and Attaala M. Ali

Fishes 2023, 8(8), 395; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes8080395 - 31 Jul 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1197

Abstract

This study reveals the diet of pike-perch from two habitats within the Tersko-Caspian region. The feeding habits of pike-perch in the Sulak and Terek rivers and Tersko-Caspian region were investigated based on 354 specimens sampled monthly from a commercial catch in 2019. Their diet consisted of different prey, with fish representing the most important prey group (up to 90%). Rutilus caspicus dominated with a frequency of occurrence of 20.5, and Aspius aspius, Perca fluviatilis, and Chondrostoma oxyrhynchum, had 13, 9.5, and 8.3%. In the earlier ages 1+ and 2+, zooplankton dominated, followed by mysids and chironomids, which continues into the older ages but at decreasing rates. Analysis of monthly variations in stomach fullness indicated that feeding intensity fluctuated in time, with the highest values in March–April, and lowest in September and November. It was found that the diet of pike-perch in the western Caspian changed considerably from season to season. They begin to actively feed after wintering and before, or even during, spawning period. The spectrum of the diet of Sander lucioperca includes more than 20 elements, mainly juveniles of commercially valuable fish. This fish is characterized by a relatively low ontogenetic diet diversity and flexibility, which makes it sensitive to environmental changes, including anthropogenically induced ones. This fish partially compensates for this disadvantage with its lifestyle, namely, its active foraging movements and migrations from fresh water to salt water and back, following its prey species. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue European and Adjacent Aquatic Ecosystem Hotspots: Fish Impacted by Natural and Anthropogenic Environmental Stress Factors)

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Review

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27 pages, 953 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Danube Delta: The Achilles Heel of Danube River–Danube Delta–Black Sea Region Fish Diversity under a Black Sea Impact Scenario Due to Sea Level Rise—A Prospective Review

by Doru Bănăduc, Sergey Afanasyev, John Robert Akeroyd, Aurel Năstase, Ion Năvodaru, Lucica Tofan and Angela Curtean-Bănăduc

Fishes 2023, 8(7), 355; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes8070355 - 7 Jul 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1682

Abstract

The Danube Delta is one of Earth’s biodiversity hotspots and includes many endemic, rare, and important species of both major conservation and economic value. This unique complex of ecosystems also plays a key role for Danube River and Black Sea fish fauna through its role as a natural safe buffer, shelter, feeding, reproduction, and smooth transitional area for a large number of fish species. Climate change is inducing a progressive sea level rise in the Black Sea, a fact that is expected to impact the delta’s key complex and dynamic habitats, biocoenoses, and associated biota, and last but not least the key taxonomic group, namely, fish. Around one-third of the fish species of this delta will be greatly affected, sometimes negatively, by this climate change scenario, another one-third to a lesser extent, and the final one-third not at all. The ecological positive feedback of fish can stimulate environmental change and is expected to be responsible for changes within Danube Delta ecosystems, and also for the near Danube River and Black Sea diverse matrix of aquatic and semi-aquatic ecosystems. Sea level rise in the Black Sea is considered to have been one of the main stress factors of the Danube Delta fish fauna in the past, and is likely to be the case in the future. In this spatio-temporal dynamic context, for the fish species under threat and risk, in situ-adapted management measures are highly required. The current work brings for the first time such a prospective knowledge about the potential impact on Danube River–Danube Delta–Black Sea coast fish diversity in the potential climate change–sea level rise scenario. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue European and Adjacent Aquatic Ecosystem Hotspots: Fish Impacted by Natural and Anthropogenic Environmental Stress Factors)

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