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Biodiversity and Sustainability in Aquatic Environments

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2027 | Viewed by 629

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Biology Department, Vytautas Magnus University, LT-53361 Kaunas City, Lithuania
Interests: freshwater invertebrates

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most biodiversity-rich yet highly threatened environments on Earth. They provide essential ecological services, including water purification, carbon sequestration, and fisheries, yet face increasing pressures from climate change, pollution, habitat loss, and the over-extraction of resources. This Special Issue, "Biodiversity and Sustainability in Aquatic Environments", will advance research at the intersection of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem resilience, and sustainable water management.

This Special Issue will address the following topics:

  • Biodiversity patterns and ecological functions in freshwater systems;
  • Threats to freshwater biodiversity and their socio-economic consequences;
  • Sustainable management strategies, including conservation planning, policy frameworks, and technological innovations;
  • Integrated approaches that link ecological, social, and economic dimensions of freshwater sustainability.

By synthesizing scientific, policy, and management perspectives, this Special Issue will bridge gaps in the existing literature by emphasizing sustainability-focused solutions for freshwater conservation. It will contribute to global discussions on how to quantify, monitor, and implement sustainability measures in freshwater ecosystems.

We invite contributions from ecologists, hydrologists, conservationists, and policymakers to develop a holistic understanding of freshwater sustainability, ensuring that these vital ecosystems continue to support both biodiversity and human well-being.

Dr. Ingrida Šatkauskienė
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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

  • freshwater ecosystems
  • sustainability
  • freshwater monitoring
  • biodiversity conservation
  • conservation applications
  • sustainable management applications
  • aquatic ecology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 816 KB  
Article
How Media Trust Mediates the Adoption of Fish Screens by Irrigators in Australia: The Intermediate Effect of Resource Efficacy
by Tahmid Nayeem, Nicholas Pawsey, Fahad Asmi and Lee Baumgartner
Sustainability 2026, 18(3), 1297; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18031297 - 28 Jan 2026
Viewed by 302
Abstract
Fish screens are a sustainable agricultural innovation that offers economic and environmental benefits by protecting aquatic life and enhancing the efficiency of irrigation. In freshwater irrigation ecosystems, fish screens help protect aquatic organisms by reducing fish entrainment, facilitating ecological connectivity, and lowering mortality [...] Read more.
Fish screens are a sustainable agricultural innovation that offers economic and environmental benefits by protecting aquatic life and enhancing the efficiency of irrigation. In freshwater irrigation ecosystems, fish screens help protect aquatic organisms by reducing fish entrainment, facilitating ecological connectivity, and lowering mortality at early life stages. Therefore, they contribute significantly to aquatic biodiversity conservation. However, the role of trust in media in influencing Australian irrigators’ intentions to use fish screens remains underexplored. The study, guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and incorporating the Theory of Consumption Values, examines trust in media as a persuasive factor impacting the functional, environmental, and Interpersonal Trust Cue of fish screens. The irrigators’ willingness to test, adopt, or implement fish screens can also predict the irrigators’ readiness to act for biodiversity-relevant outcomes. Data were collected between December 2021 and May 2023 from 192 Australian irrigators (sampling frame = 3736; response rate = 5.1%). The PLS-SEM results reveal that trust in media significantly predicts adoption intention (β = 0.134, 95% CI [0.021, 0.246]) and resource (time) efficacy (β = 0.170, 95% CI [0.054, 0.289]), with resource efficacy partially mediating this relationship. The study offers a theoretical contribution by integrating the ELM, the Theory of Consumption Value, and resource efficacy to explain how trust in media influences adoption through different persuasive routes. The model explains 22.5% of the variance in adoption intention. The findings indicate that resource efficacy is a critical enabling factor in translating conservation-oriented communication into an effective measure to protect freshwater biodiversity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biodiversity and Sustainability in Aquatic Environments)
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