Aquatic Insect Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics in Disturbed Rivers

Dear Colleagues, 

The Diversity Journal is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of a Special Issue entitled “Aquatic Insect Biodiversity and Ecosystem Responses in Disturbed Rivers.”

Aquatic insects are vital yet highly vulnerable components of riverine ecosystems. They act as sensitive bioindicators of environmental change and play a central role in sustaining key ecological functions, including organic matter processing, nutrient cycling, and energy transfer across trophic levels. However, their biodiversity—encompassing taxonomic, genetic, functional, and evolutionary dimensions—is being profoundly reshaped by intensifying anthropogenic pressures such as pollution, hydrological alteration, land-use change, and climate change.

This Special Issue aims to advance a holistic understanding of how these disturbances drive the disassembly, reorganization, and reassembly of aquatic insect communities, and how such changes affect ecosystem functioning, stability, and resilience in freshwater systems. We seek to bridge ecological and evolutionary perspectives to better capture the complexity of biodiversity responses across spatial and temporal scales.

We invite original research articles, reviews, and case studies that explore the mechanisms and trajectories of change in disturbed river systems. Contributions may address ecological and evolutionary responses of aquatic insects, link biodiversity shifts to altered ecosystem processes and services, or present innovative, integrative, and interdisciplinary approaches for diagnosis, monitoring, and prediction in freshwater ecosystems.

By synthesizing insights from genes to ecosystems, this Special Issue aims to provide a robust scientific foundation to support conservation, management, and functional recovery strategies for the world’s increasingly threatened freshwater habitats.

Dr. Carlos Frankl Sperber
Prof. Dr. Ming Bai
Guest Editors

Dr. Ana Daria Leite Viana
Guest Editor Assistant

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. 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 2100 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.