Charting a course for freshwater biomonitoring: The grand challenges identified by the global scientific community

Charting a course for freshwater biomonitoring: The grand challenges identified by the global scientific community

The past 50 years have seen biomonitoring emerge as an essential means of generating the knowledge needed to inform protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems. Despite the successes of biomonitoring, most freshwater ecosystems remain unmonitored. Moreover, degradation of freshwaters continu...

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Main Authors: Adam G. Yates, Robert B. Brua, Joseph M. Culp, Francisca C. Aguiar, Anila P. Ajayan, Thomas Aspin, Mirco Bundschuh, Mirian R. Calderón, Zoltán Csabai, Helen Dallas, Thibault Datry, Karina Dias Silva, Jean Dzavi, Judy England, Tibor Erős, Daniel Gebler, Willem Goedkoop, Alexia Maria González-Ferreras, David P. Hamilton, Robert M. Hughes, Leandro Juen, Ben J. Kefford, Ricardo Koroiva, Edward M. Krynak, Isabelle Lavoie, Jennifer Lento, Raphael Ligeiro, Renato T. Martins, Frank O. Masese, Luciano Fogaça de Assis Montag, Jordan Musetta-Lambert, Kristin J. Painter, Sandra Poikane, Andreu Rico, Renata Ruaro, Sergi Sabater, Thaisa Sala Michelan, Jonas Schoelynck, Nathan J. Smucker, Igor Stanković, Rachel Stubbington, Heidi van Deventer, Lara van Niekerk, Paul J. Van den Brink, Gábor Várbíró, Elizabeth W. Wanderi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-07-01
Series:Ecological Indicators
Subjects:
Develop protocols
Construct infrastructure
Holistic ecological context
Empower communities
Ensure FAIR data
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X2500576X
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Summary:The past 50 years have seen biomonitoring emerge as an essential means of generating the knowledge needed to inform protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems. Despite the successes of biomonitoring, most freshwater ecosystems remain unmonitored. Moreover, degradation of freshwaters continues at a rapid rate with new threats and novel stressors emerging that are difficult to assess using existing techniques. New technologies and techniques have been developed to improve biomonitoring, but application has been slow and integration with existing approaches is often problematic. Clearly, freshwater biomonitoring faces many important challenges that must be addressed to meet management needs of the coming decades. We identify Grand Challenges facing freshwater biomonitoring with the aim of encouraging research and practice to address these challenges. We asked 256 biomonitoring scientists from around the globe to identify what they considered the most important challenges. From their submissions we established five Grand Challenges and 18 associated subchallenges. For each Grand Challenge, we outline the current state of biomonitoring practice and suggest promising pathways and approaches to address them. By identifying and describing these challenges, we strive to position freshwater biomonitoring to take advantage of emerging opportunities and enhance its capacity to meet current and future management needs.
ISSN:1470-160X

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