Special Issue "Diversity and Conservation of Freshwater Invertebrates"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Neil Cumberlidge
Department of Biology, Northern Michigan University, 1401 Presque Isle Avenue, Marquette, Michigan 49855, USA
Website: http://faculty.nmu.edu/ncumberl/
E-Mail:
Interests: the taxonomy and systematics of the African and Madagascan freshwater crabs; the role of freshwater crabs in the transmission of human lung fluke disease (African paragonimiasis) in West Africa, and in the transmission of river blindness (onchocerciasis) to humans in East Africa; phylogenetic analyses of the freshwater crabs of the world; studies in the ecological physiology of decapod crustaceans; freshwater crab conservation

Dear Colleagues,

Freshwater ecosystems worldwide host a diverse invertebrate fauna but the rapid loss and deterioration of freshwater bodies, driven by human population growth and deforestation, is having a negative impact on inland aquatic biodiversity. The result is that many species are now under imminent threat. Conservation status studies are only available for a few groups of aquatic invertebrates, but these suggest that a third to half of the species in some freshwater habitats may be endangered. However, reliable species lists and diversity estimates are not available for some invertebrate groups, and the threat status of the majority of freshwater invertebrate groups is still not known. The following questions are examples of topics to be discussed. How do we best study, manage, and conserve freshwater invertebrates? Should we develop conservation measures for threatened species that focus at the level of specific habitats, river basins, or entire ecosystems? Do we understand the causes of species extinctions and can we intervene before threatened species decline to levels from which they cannot recover? Finally, global climate change is likely to further increase the negative impacts and threats to invertebrates and may accelerate the number of species in the world’s freshwater ecosystems that are under imminent threat.

Prof. Dr. Neil Cumberlidge
Guest Editor

Submission

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• biodiversity
• taxonomy
• biogeography
• phylogeny
• conservation
• IUCN Red List
• threatened species
• extinction