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Diversity
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Advances in Freshwater Mollusk Research
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Advances in Freshwater Mollusk Research

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Freshwater Biodiversity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2025 | Viewed by 4577

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ioan Sîrbu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Sciences, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 5-7 Raţiu Street, 550012 Sibiu, Romania
Interests: malacology; freshwater ecology; community ecology; statistics; ecological modeling
Prof. Dr. Simone Varandas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Forest Sciences and Landscape Architecture, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: bioindicators; freshwater ecosystems; freshwater bivalves; freshwater conservation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Martin Österling

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
River Ecology and Management, Department of Environmental and Life Sciences, Karlstad University, Universitetsgatan 2, SE-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden
Interests: fish; freshwater mussels; restoration biology in running water

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Freshwaters are under accelerated human pressure, and mollusk communities are among the most sensitive, threatened, and valuable components. Freshwaters are at the extreme end when ranking ecosystems by a multicriterial system, including, but not limited to, their use, functions, requirements, abundance, availability, and threats. They are at the forefront of the global biodiversity crisis as the least abundant, most limiting, most necessary for human well-being, most threatened, and least effectively protected habitats. The causes of imperilment are many, complex, and interacting. Termed "inland islands," freshwaters are prone to changes when altered or disturbed. Freshwater mollusks (gastropods and bivalves) are a crucial component of aquatic ecosystems, providing many services, and are exceptionally threatened with extinction by habitat alteration, biotic interactions, and global change. Yet, despite their importance and precarious conservation status, the knowledge of freshwater mollusks is limited. Moreover, the biology and ecology of freshwater mollusk communities are underdeveloped, understudied, and a relatively small proportion of articles and experts are concerned with this topic. This Special Issue aims to develop and improve our knowledge of freshwater mollusk communities under all conceivable aspects. We welcome studies and articles ranging from case studies to syntheses and reviews on every aspect related to freshwater mollusk communities, such as structure, distribution, changes, dynamics, successions, productivity, relations, invasive species, energetics (patterns of energy flow), diversity, functional traits, environmental genomics, multivariate methods, multimatricial approaches, anthropogenic pressures, responses to and effects of human impact, ecological models, bioindication, monitoring methods, decision-supporting systems, long-term studies, management, conservation, and others.

Dr. Ioan Sîrbu
Prof. Dr. Simone Varandas
Dr. Martin Österling
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

Keywords

  • freshwater mollusks (gastropods, bivalves)
  • biodiversity
  • community ecology
  • biogeography
  • functional traits
  • invasive species
  • human impact
  • multivariate methods
  • bioindication
  • conservation
  • management
  • ecological modeling

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 7141 KiB  
Article
Diversity of Freshwater Mollusks from Lake Pampulha, Municipality of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
by Paulo Ricardo Silva Coelho, Silvana Carvalho Thiengo, Cristiane Lafetá Furtado de Mendonça, Nathália Moreira Teodoro de Oliveira, Sonia Barbosa dos Santos, Roberta Lima Caldeira and Stefan Michael Geiger
Diversity 2024, 16(4), 193; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16040193 - 24 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1811
Abstract
The artificially created Lake Pampulha, within the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, lacks detailed information about its freshwater mollusks, representing a challenge for the assessment and conservation of this ecosystem. In this study, conducted during June and August 2021, we [...] Read more.
The artificially created Lake Pampulha, within the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, lacks detailed information about its freshwater mollusks, representing a challenge for the assessment and conservation of this ecosystem. In this study, conducted during June and August 2021, we collected specimens on four different occasions and at five sampling points around the lake, using different sampling equipment, such as a shovel and a scoop. During these collections, we identified, enumerated and measured 1538 species of mollusks and additionally examined the presence of trematode larvae. We identified twelve species of fresh water bivalves and gastropods: Biomphalaria straminea, Biomphalaria kuhniana, Biomphalaria occidentalis, Drepanotrema cimex, Pomacea maculata, Stenophysa marmorata, Physa acuta, Gundlachia ticaga, Melanoides tuberculata, Pseudosuccinea columella, Omalonyx matheroni and Corbicula largillierti. Echinostome and strigeocercaria types of larval trematodes were detected in B. straminea. Notably, some species of mollusks have not previously been recorded at Lake Pampulha. The analyses revealed differences in the composition and abundance of species, highlighting the higher number of mollusk species in areas more impacted by human actions. This study expands our understanding of mollusk diversity at Lake Pampulha, and provides valuable data for longitudinal comparisons of water quality and considerations of the conservation of native species. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of choosing appropriate sampling equipment, depending on the research objectives. The presence of invasive species of medical and veterinary relevance as intermediate hosts of parasites reinforces the need for efficient environmental protection strategies to preserve this artificial, aquatic environment widely used by the local population and by tourists. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Freshwater Mollusk Research)
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20 pages, 3675 KiB  
Article
Thermal Threats to Freshwater Mussels: An Empirical Stream Assessment
by Tamara J. Pandolfo, W. Gregory Cope, Daniel M. Weaver and Thomas J. Kwak
Diversity 2024, 16(1), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/d16010037 - 5 Jan 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1705
Abstract
Freshwater mussels fulfill an important ecological role in aquatic ecosystems, but they currently face many threats, including thermal regime alteration. Thermal transformation of the aquatic environment is associated with climate change, land use alteration, and other pervasive anthropogenic global changes. To enhance our [...] Read more.
Freshwater mussels fulfill an important ecological role in aquatic ecosystems, but they currently face many threats, including thermal regime alteration. Thermal transformation of the aquatic environment is associated with climate change, land use alteration, and other pervasive anthropogenic global changes. To enhance our understanding of ecological thermal impacts, we combined extensive field measurements of temperature in the stream water column and substrate depths (5 and 15 cm) at sites where mussels occur, measures of abundance and species richness for mussels and fish, and thermal tolerance knowledge for mussels and fish to generate a comprehensive assessment of the potential threats mussels face as temperatures continue to rise as a result of global change. Mean summer (June–August 2010–2012) temperatures at mussel-occupied sites in the upper Tar River basin of North Carolina, USA, ranged from 16.2 to 34.7 °C. The mean temperature from the hottest 96 h at each site ranged from 23.5 to 31.5 °C. At 80% of sites, a period of moderate drought coincided with the hottest 96 h period. Temperature threshold exceedance durations indicated that chronic, combined chronic/acute, and acute freshwater mussel thermal tolerance thresholds (i.e., 28 °C, 30 °C, and 33 °C, respectively) based on laboratory exposures of glochidia (larvae) and juveniles were commonly exceeded. Water temperatures exceeded 28 °C for at least 24 h at 55% of sites and for at least 96 h at 35% of sites, and they exceeded 30 °C for at least 24 h at 15% of sites. We quantified a thermal buffering effect of the substrate that may be protective of mussels. There was a mean difference of 0.5 °C between the water column and the upper substrate (5 cm) and a mean difference of 0.9 °C between the water column and the lower substrate (15 cm). Maximum differences of up to 5.5 °C between the water column and the upper substrate and 11.5 °C between the water column and the lower substrate were observed. Our models estimating the relation between the water column and substrate temperatures more realistically characterize ambient temperature exposures and have widespread implications for mussel conservation and climate change risk assessment in similar streams. Freshwater mussels currently exist on the edge of their thermal limits, but their abundance and species richness cannot be explained by temperature patterns alone. Fish species richness was related to the thermal regime, indicating that species interactions may be an important driver of freshwater mussel responses to global change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Freshwater Mollusk Research)
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