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Aquatic Ecology for Sustainability: Priorities, Approaches, and Partnerships for Management and Conservation of Freshwaters

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability, Biodiversity and Conservation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (26 March 2023) | Viewed by 11817

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zeb Hogan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Interests: conservation biology; aquatic ecology; fisheries; environmental education; science communication
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ngor Peng Bun

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute (IFReDI), PO Box 582, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Interests: fish migration; aquatic ecology; community ecology; biological diversity; catch assessment; freshwater fisheries

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Freshwater ecosystems provide valuable services, including clean water for human use, fisheries, and sediment transport. Despite their importance, aquatic habitats are increasingly at risk from human impacts that result in degraded ecosystems, lost benefits for humans, and imperiled wildlife. The aim of this Special Issue is to present advances in the sustainability of aquatic ecology, with a focus on rivers and lakes. We are interested in accounts of research on how to maintain critical ecosystem services and biodiversity and inform sustainable development of threatened riverine ecosystems for the benefit of humans and aquatic life.

Contributions are welcome on topics such as new approaches to fish, wildlife, and environmental monitoring, especially in the establishment of baselines and trends; research on water quality, flow, and nutrient transport with a focus on the impacts of dams and other anthropogenic stressors; and studies of relationships between human activities and trends in aquatic biodiversity, in particular, freshwater fish and associated fisheries. These approaches can be informed by participatory research, local knowledge, and citizen science. We encourage research incorporating data sharing initiatives and cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships. Literature reviews, field-based research, case studies, and commentaries are all welcome.

Dr. Zeb Hogan
Dr. Ngor Peng Bun
Guest Editors

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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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • ecosystem function 
  • environmental flows 
  • adaptive management 
  • impact assessments 
  • trade-off analysis 
  • fish monitoring 
  • fish assemblage dynamics 
  • fish diversity 
  • fish growth and population trends 
  • water quality 
  • fisheries policy and governance 
  • freshwater protected areas 
  • fish reserves

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3545 KiB  
Article
Declines in the Mekong’s Megadiverse Larval Fish Assemblages: Implications for Sustainable Development
by Samol Chhuoy, Zeb S. Hogan, Bunyeth Chan, Sudeep Chandra, Bunthang Touch, Ratha Sor, Sovan Lek and Peng Bun Ngor
Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13535; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813535 - 11 Sep 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1765
Abstract
Migratory fishes of the Mekong Basin are facing challenges from human-induced stressors. Quantifying the patterns of fish’s early life stages provides important information on spawning seasons, spawning and nursery habitats, reproductive strategies, migration and dispersal patterns, and stock status. However, the ecology of [...] Read more.
Migratory fishes of the Mekong Basin are facing challenges from human-induced stressors. Quantifying the patterns of fish’s early life stages provides important information on spawning seasons, spawning and nursery habitats, reproductive strategies, migration and dispersal patterns, and stock status. However, the ecology of the Mekong larval fishes, including patterns and drivers of larval fish dispersal, is not well understood. Here, we investigate the temporal variability of drifting larval and juvenile fish assemblages in the Cambodian Mekong River and identify their environmental drivers using long-term (10 year) daily fish larval/juvenile data collections. We found that, in the Mekong main channel, the larval and juvenile assemblages were dominated by longitudinal migrants from the families Cyprinidae and Pangasiidae. Peak abundance and richness were found to occur in July and August, respectively. We detected a significant decline in larval and juvenile abundance and richness over the study period. Cross-wavelet analysis revealed that water levels always lead larval abundance, but lag richness. In addition, cross-correlation analysis observed that peak abundance and richness occurred eight weeks and one week, respectively, before the peak water level. We also discovered that species abundance and richness had a strongly positive relationship with maximum water levels. Variation in fish larval and juvenile abundance and richness was also related to total phosphorus, nitrate, alkalinity, and conductivity. Maximum water levels and the key water quality parameters (e.g., phosphorus, nitrate, alkalinity, and conductivity) significantly influence larval and juvenile fish abundance and richness patterns. Therefore, safeguarding natural seasonal flows, especially maximum flows associated with the peak flood pulse, as well as maintaining good water quality, are key to the reproductive success of many migratory fishes and effective dispersal of offspring to the lower floodplain for nursing, rearing, and growth. Clean and unregulated rivers support productive and diverse fisheries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecology for Sustainability: Priorities, Approaches, and Partnerships for Management and Conservation of Freshwaters)
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12 pages, 2994 KiB  
Article
Prolonged and Severe Drought in the Most Dammed Tributaries of the Lower Mekong Basin
by Kimsan Chann, Ty Sok, Romduol Khoeun, Vuthy Men, Supattra Visessri, Chantha Oeurng, Ratha Sor and Sarah E. Null
Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 16254; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142316254 - 6 Dec 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2969
Abstract
Drought is a natural hazard that stresses ecosystems, agricultural production, food security, and local economies. Given ongoing hydropower dam development in the Sesan and Srepok Basins, the two most dammed tributaries in the Lower Mekong Basin, characterizing baseline drought events and understanding how [...] Read more.
Drought is a natural hazard that stresses ecosystems, agricultural production, food security, and local economies. Given ongoing hydropower dam development in the Sesan and Srepok Basins, the two most dammed tributaries in the Lower Mekong Basin, characterizing baseline drought events and understanding how dams modify downstream flow is needed to manage water resources and mitigate drought effects. We used the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to estimate streamflow data from 2001 to 2019. For both rivers, we found that runoff varied, but contributed about 75% of streamflow, followed by shallow and deep groundwater, which contributed up to 25%. We used the Standardized Runoff Index to characterize drought and detected frequent, severe, and prolonged drought events in the two basins. Severe and prolonged droughts in the 2009–2011 and 2015–2016 periods corresponded to the occurrence of Typhoon Ketsana and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Streamflow alteration can be caused by climatic conditions and anthropogenic activities such as hydropower dam development and operations (e.g., the timing and magnitude of water releases). Results from this study can be used as a baseline to gauge potential future droughts and design appropriate drought management plans to preserve ecosystems and food security in the Lower Mekong Basin and its tributaries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecology for Sustainability: Priorities, Approaches, and Partnerships for Management and Conservation of Freshwaters)
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18 pages, 2487 KiB  
Article
Evidence of the Anthropic Impact on a Crustacean Zooplankton Community in Two North Patagonian Lakes
by Juan-Alejandro Norambuena, Patricia Poblete-Grant, Jorge F. Beltrán, Patricio De Los Ríos-Escalante and Jorge G. Farías
Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 6052; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106052 - 17 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3100
Abstract
Lately, agriculture, livestock, forestry, and aquaculture activities have been greatly developed in Chilean North Patagonia, negatively impacting the balance of the environmental conditions in lakes and affecting the development and survival of several native species. The aim of this study was to assess [...] Read more.
Lately, agriculture, livestock, forestry, and aquaculture activities have been greatly developed in Chilean North Patagonia, negatively impacting the balance of the environmental conditions in lakes and affecting the development and survival of several native species. The aim of this study was to assess the anthropic impact on a zooplankton community in two North Patagonian lakes. We collected samples from four sites belonging to Lake Icalma and Lake Llanquihue, including four replicates per site. Water samples were analyzed for physicochemical characteristics and zooplankton communities. We focused on the presence of Daphnia pulex, a species of zooplanktonic crustacean that performs a key role in capturing energy from primary producers to deliver it to final consumers such as fish. We found that Llanquihue showed higher total phosphorus, nitrogen, copper, iron, manganese, total dissolved solids (TDS), and conductivity (EC) than Icalma. Furthermore, ecological variables were greatly decreased due to total P, total N, manganese, copper, total dissolved solids, and conductivity, which changed the species dominance of the zooplankton community in Llanquihue, indicating some degree of anthropization. This study provides fundamental information on the anthropogenic impact on water quality, as well as on zooplankton diversity, highlighting the importance of monitoring the health of these North Patagonia freshwater ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecology for Sustainability: Priorities, Approaches, and Partnerships for Management and Conservation of Freshwaters)
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8 pages, 1104 KiB  
Communication
Do Morphological Traits Predict Ecological Guilds of the Mekong Fish Fauna?
by Ratha Chea, Sebastien Brosse, Sovan Lek and Gaël Grenouillet
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8401; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158401 - 28 Jul 2021
Viewed by 2647
Abstract
Southeast Asian riverine fishes are classified into three guilds (‘black’, ‘white’ and ‘grey’ species) based on their reproductive and migration strategies. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether fish morphology could be used to predict the Mekong fish guilds. Nine dimensionless ratios [...] Read more.
Southeast Asian riverine fishes are classified into three guilds (‘black’, ‘white’ and ‘grey’ species) based on their reproductive and migration strategies. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether fish morphology could be used to predict the Mekong fish guilds. Nine dimensionless ratios of fish morphological traits were used to describe the locomotion and food acquisition strategies of 121 fish species. The links between morphological traits and fish guilds were assessed using a principal component analysis (PCA) and a variance partitioning analysis, which revealed a strong morphological overlap between the guilds. Despite the high contribution of intra-guild variability to overall morphological variability (~90%), black and white fish significantly differed in terms of locomotion-related traits. Mekong fish guilds were satisfactorily predicted by using a random forest (RF) model, which produced a percentage of successful classification of ca 50% for each of the three guilds. Caudal propulsion efficiency, pectoral fin vertical position and body elongation were the most significant traits in the RF predictive model. Although the present study provides initial insight into the links between Mekong fish morphology and ecological guilds, further research is needed in order to clarify the relationship between species morphology, migratory status and responses to environmental variation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Ecology for Sustainability: Priorities, Approaches, and Partnerships for Management and Conservation of Freshwaters)
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