Beyond the Progress: Exploring the Trade-Offs of Biodiversity and Renewable Energy Technologies in Aquatic Ecosystems

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2024) | Viewed by 506

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departamento de Zoologia (DZOO), Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora—UFJF, Juiz de Fora 36036-900, MG, Brazil
Interests: aquatic ecosystems; biodiversity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biodiversity has been declining at an alarming rate in recent years, jeopardized by multiple factors, from global climate change to local anthropogenic pressures. Even though species loss results from multiple causes, human activities play direct roles.

Often seen by governments and stakeholders as a viable solution to preserve biodiversity and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, renewable energy technologies, including those derived from water (hydro and tidal), wind power, solar irradiation, biomass (biofuels and wastes), and geothermal heat, are not “impact free” and can also harm ecosystems in multiple ways, depending on factors such as their project design, location, installation methods, and materials.

This Special Issue aims to enhance understanding on how aquatic biodiversity, encompassing species and molecular diversity, distribution patterns, and ecosystem functions, interacts with the diverse range of positive and negative effects resulting from the utilization of renewable energy technologies.

We welcome studies that investigate concepts and applications of biodiversity assessment and preservation, and their interaction with new technologies, including dams, water intake and cooling systems, tidal energy, offshore wind and solar farms, and underwater transmission cables, as well as the influence of environmental sensors, tools, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Dr. Simone Cardoso
Guest Editor

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. Diversity 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

  • biodiversity assessment
  • biodiversity preservation
  • environmental sensors
  • aquatic biodiversity
  • aquatic ecosystems

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 5089 KiB  
Article
Environmental Variables Outpace Biotic Interactions in Shaping a Phytoplankton Community
by Marcella C. B. Mesquita, Caio Graco-Roza, Leonardo de Magalhães, Kemal Ali Ger and Marcelo Manzi Marinho
Diversity 2024, 16(8), 438; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16080438 - 24 Jul 2024
Viewed by 200
Abstract
We evaluated the main environmental factors (abiotic and biotic) driving the phytoplankton community in a shallow tropical reservoir located in an environmentally protected area. Phytoplankton samples were collected from the surface and bottom of the reservoir. The phytoplankton samples were later identified at [...] Read more.
We evaluated the main environmental factors (abiotic and biotic) driving the phytoplankton community in a shallow tropical reservoir located in an environmentally protected area. Phytoplankton samples were collected from the surface and bottom of the reservoir. The phytoplankton samples were later identified at the species level, and the species were further assigned to morphology-based functional groups (MBFGs). Zooplankton were sampled through vertical haul, communities were identified to species level, and functional diversity was estimated based on community-weighted means (CWM). Phytoplankton MBFGs IV, V, and VI contributed the most to the biomass under high light availability coupled with low nutrient availability. Potentially toxic cyanobacteria from MBFG III were observed during thermal stratification. Hydraulic mixing plays a crucial role in reducing the phytoplankton biomass during the warmer/rainy season. Cyclopoid copepods accounted for more than 83% of the zooplankton biomass. There was a weak but significant effect of zooplankton functional diversity on phytoplankton functional diversity, mainly because of the dominance of small zooplankton. Altogether, our findings suggest that environmental filtering plays a greater role than zooplankton grazing in phytoplankton community structure in this shallow tropical reservoir. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop