The recovery of European freshwater biodiversity has come to a halt

Owing to a long history of anthropogenic pressures, freshwater ecosystems are among the most vulnerable to biodiversity loss1. Mitigation measures, including wastewater treatment and hydromorphological restoration, have aimed to improve environmental quality and foster the recovery of freshwater biodiversity2. Here, using 1,816 time series of freshwater invertebrate communities collected across 22 European countries between 1968 and 2020, we quantified temporal trends in taxonomic and functional diversity and their responses to environmental pressures and gradients. We observed overall increases in taxon richness (0.73% per year), functional richness (2.4% per year) and abundance (1.17% per year). However, these increases primarily occurred before the 2010s, and have since plateaued. Freshwater communities downstream of dams, urban areas and cropland were less likely to experience recovery. Communities at sites with faster rates of warming had fewer gains in taxon richness, functional richness and abundance. Although biodiversity gains in the 1990s and 2000s probably reflect the effectiveness of water-quality improvements and restoration projects, the decelerating trajectory in the 2010s suggests that the current measures offer diminishing returns. Given new and persistent pressures on freshwater ecosystems, including emerging pollutants, climate change and the spread of invasive species, we call for additional mitigation to revive the recovery of freshwater biodiversity.

Invasion of Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774) (Bivalvia: Corbiculidae) in water bodies from the East Aegean River Basin in Bulgaria

Two decades after the first record of the invasive mussel Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774) in Bulgaria in 2001, it has been found in many surface lotic and standing waters in the Bulgarian Danube River Basin. The aim of the current study is to report the finding of C. fluminea in lotic environment of the East Aegean water basin in Bulgaria. Six new localities of the mussel, all situated in the lower stretches of the Tundzha (two) and Maritsa (four) River were registered. The distributional patterns of the mussel and the abundance of its populations in relation to the environmental conditions were analyzed. The adaptive character of the Corbicula, the possible path for invasion as well as the probability of rapid spread of the mussel in the largest rivers and their tributary systems in south-eastern part of Balkan Peninsula was discussed.