TYPE Editorial

PUBLISHED 06 February 2023

DOI 10.3389/fevo.2023.1137985

Editorial: Biodiversity conservation

OPEN ACCESS and ecological function restoration
in freshwater ecosystems
EDITED AND REVIEWED BY
Krithi K. Karanth,
Centre for Wildlife Studies, India

*CORRESPONDENCE
Min Zhang Naicheng Wu1 , Min Zhang2,3*, Xiaodong Qu2,3* and
[email protected]
Xiaodong Qu Francisco Martinez-Capel4
[email protected]
1
Department of Geography and Spatial Information Techniques, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China, 2 State Key
SPECIALTY SECTION
Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources
This article was submitted to and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China, 3 Department of Water Ecology and Environment, China Institute
Conservation and Restoration Ecology, of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China, 4 Institut d’Investigació per a la Gestió
a section of the journal Integrada de Zones Costaneres (IGIC), Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Gandia, Spain
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
RECEIVED 05 January 2023
ACCEPTED 20 January 2023 KEYWORDS
PUBLISHED 06 February 2023
anthropogenic factors, biodiversity, ecological function, freshwater, traits
CITATION
Wu N, Zhang M, Qu X and Martinez-Capel F
(2023) Editorial: Biodiversity conservation and
ecological function restoration in freshwater
ecosystems. Front. Ecol. Evol. 11:1137985.
doi: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1137985 Editorial on the Research Topic
COPYRIGHT Biodiversity conservation and ecological function restoration in freshwater
© 2023 Wu, Zhang, Qu and Martinez-Capel. ecosystems
This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License (CC BY). The use, distribution or
reproduction in other forums is permitted,
provided the original author(s) and the The significance and problems of freshwater
copyright owner(s) are credited and that the
original publication in this journal is cited, in ecosystems
accordance with accepted academic practice.
No use, distribution or reproduction is
permitted which does not comply with these As an essential resource for human life, freshwater has no substitutes. Freshwater ecosystems
terms. are among the most diverse and dynamic ecosystems on the planet, covering <1% of the
planet’s surface, yet supporting ∼9.5% of animal species and ∼ one third of vertebrate species
(Dudgeon et al., 2006; Balian et al., 2008; Wu et al., 2023). They also provide a wide range of
ecosystem services to humans, such as flood regulation, food supply and cultural significance.
These ecosystem services are intrinsically linked to the functional diversity of existing organisms
and can therefore connect human societies to their habitat. Freshwater ecosystems are among the
most degraded ecosystems on earth due to land use intensification, point and non-point source
pollution, river modifications and overexploitation (Vörösmarty et al., 2010; Couto and Olden,
2018; Reid et al., 2019). Multiple stressors such as those described above will continue to have
a profound impact on biodiversity and ecological system functions of freshwater ecosystems
(Hering et al., 2015; Guo et al., 2020; Juvigny-Khenafou et al., 2020, 2021; Zhou et al., 2020),
and the changes related with climate and global change are meaning additional threats for
the freshwater communities (e.g., Martínez-Capel et al., 2017; Muñoz-Mas et al., 2018). In
order to maintain biodiversity and key ecosystem processes, the conservation and restoration
of freshwater ecosystems must be a top priority; thus global coordinated efforts are fundamental
to advance in freshwater biodiversity science and conservation (Darwall et al., 2018).
Our goal is to address recent advances in the biodiversity-ecological functioning relationship,
to illuminate the biodiversity maintaining mechanisms, and to proclaim the main environmental
factors (flow discharge, river connectivity, etc.) that influence the biodiversity and ecosystem
functions of freshwater ecosystems at different spatial scales. Through these scientific advances,
we aim to improve our understanding of theories related to ecosystem function and provide
support for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration in freshwater ecosystems
globally. This collection of 15 papers is our modest contribution to achieving this goal.

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Wu et al. 10.3389/fevo.2023.1137985

Impacts and solutions Grill et al., 2019); furthermore, the effects of flow regulation by dams
can be intensified in an additive or synergistic way with climate and
In this research theme we have collected many latest pieces global change (Martínez-Capel et al., 2017; e.g., Bruno et al., 2019).
of research on freshwater ecosystems functions and freshwater Here we present a few articles on the impact of human engineering
biodiversity (including fish, micro-eukaryotic, phytoplankton, on organisms. Li Y. et al. elucidated the ecological response of
benthic algae, wetland plant and macroinvertebrates). planktonic eukaryotes by identifying their diversity and ecological
Uncovering the underlying drivers of biodiversity patterns has distribution in trans-basin diversion channels. Liu et al. quantified
been a major Research Topic in ecology and biogeography for a the genetic diversity and population structure patterns of Saurogobio
long time (Myers et al., 2000; Chase, 2003; Leibold et al., 2004). dabryi after habitat fragmentation caused by dams, which provided a
Here we present three studies on the community assembly processes reference for resource protection and management of this species in
and their drivers. Ren at al. used 18S rRNA gene sequencing to the upper Yangtze River. By studying the response of phytoplankton
assess the biogeography of micro-eukaryotic communities (MECs) functional diversity to physicochemical conditions in subtropical
and their driving factors in sediments of thermokarst lakes across cascade reservoirs, Shen et al. found inconsistent patterns concerning
the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and concluded MECs in this region the cascading reservoir continuum concept (CRCC) and contributed
were jointly controlled by spatial and climatic factors as well as to the further development of the theory of the CRCC. Wang, Wu
sediment properties. Wang, Li et al. showed through a temporal et al., in the Xiangxi River, described how small run-of-river dams
food web study of urban and woodland rivers that land use and affect different facets of β-diversity and community assembly process
seasonal changes in environmental conditions influence biological of benthic diatoms, and suggested that such kind of studies could
communities and their trophic interactions in riverine ecosystems. be extended to other aquatic organisms (such as macroinvertebrates,
Xiang, Wang et al. studied the spatio-temporal dynamics of fish phytoplankton, fish).
assemblages in the karst tributaries of the upper Yangtze River Li D. et al. revealed the complex quantitative relationships
and showed that fish assemblages differed significantly between of planktonic food chains in wild aquatic ecosystems from the
river reaches, whereas did not vary in a significant manner during perspective of species interactions. Ecological threshold detection of
4 months. Fish communities in that region should therefore be cladocera-cyanobacterial abundances provides a quantitative basis
protected by conserving intermediate habitats, particularly the many for early warning and a key to the mechanisms of cyanobacterial
pools and riffles. The development of effective monitoring and blooms, contributing to more effective control and prevention
management strategies to halt biodiversity decline has become an methods. Zhou et al. and Wagutu et al. elucidated the relationship
important topic in freshwater research (Myers et al., 2000; Stendera between crayfish and hydrilla and their environment from a genetic
et al., 2012; Hermoso et al., 2016), and several of the above studies ecology perspective, providing valuable information for management
provide support for a comprehensive understanding of the processes strategies of such species. The former study will contribute to
that shape freshwater communities. control strategies for invasive species, thereby reducing the damage
Recently, community ecologists have realized the need to start to ecosystem function caused by invasive species (Simberloff et al.,
with information not only at the taxonomic level, but also from a 2013).
functional perspective to understand the environmental interactions Finally, we also collected three novel and valuable papers.
and the mechanisms shaping the community assembly in animals Higher water temperatures could accelerate the decomposition of
and plant communities (McGill et al., 2006; Tabacchi et al., 2019; leaf-litter. Xiang, Li et al. pointed out that this may lead to
Liu et al., 2021). Ao et al. harmonized and searched representative the depletion of food for detritivores during future summers.
databases of macroinvertebrate traits from several continents and Golpour et al. showed the Shannon diversity index of water eDNA
implemented this method in the Three Parallel Rivers Region, China, targeting fish (wf-eDNA) method was significantly higher than
filling a research gap in those regions, including China, where traditional sampling methods. Thus wf-eDNA seems to be a reliable
macroinvertebrate trait studies were lagging. This approach has and complementary approach for biomonitoring and ecosystem
greatly contributed to the uniformity of global trait studies and to the management of freshwater ichthyofauna. Finally, the study by Feng
accuracy and comparability of trait studies in different regions (Vieira et al. provided guidance on the deployment of artificial spawning
et al., 2006; Sarremejane et al., 2020). grounds at both temporal and spatial scales, and also supported the
Furthermore, the relationship between biodiversity and enhancement of lake fish breeding and fisheries in Chinese lakes.
ecosystem functioning is a central topic in ecological research.
However, most relevant research publications mainly focus on
grassland and forest ecosystems (Ptacnik et al., 2008; Filstrup et al., Implications and conclusions
2014). Zhang et al. highlighted the importance of functional diversity
in maintaining the relationship between biodiversity and stability of In summary, freshwater ecosystems provide us with numerous
phytoplankton community in the Xiangxi Bay of the Three Gorges ecosystem services and are the ecosystems on which human beings
Reservoir; this work contributes to the mechanistic understanding of depend for their survival. In the 21st century, human activities
the biodiversity-stability relationships in aquatic ecosystems. and climate change will continue to have a profound impact on
In addition, several studies have shown that human infrastructure freshwater ecology. We have collected numerous recent research
construction is a major driver of the losses in biodiversity and advances on the conservation of biodiversity and restoration of
ecological function. For example, the construction of dams, reservoirs ecological functions in freshwater ecosystems in this Research Topic.
and hydropower stations threatens biodiversity, the ecosystem We believe this collection can provide additional useful information
processes and services supported by rivers (Anderson et al., 2015; for the realization of the topic. From a broader perspective, we

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Wu et al. 10.3389/fevo.2023.1137985

have a responsibility and an obligation to work together to protect Conflict of interest

freshwater ecosystems.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be
Author contributions construed as a potential conflict of interest.

NW wrote the first draft. All authors contributed to the article

and approved the submitted version. Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the
Acknowledgments authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated
organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers.
We are very grateful to all our colleagues who submitted, Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may
reviewed, and edited manuscripts for this Research Topic. Guohao be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the
Liu drafted this editorial. publisher.

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