71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, but most of this water is found primarily in seas and oceans. Although inland waters cover less than 2% of the earth’s surface, it contains 12% of known species and more than half of all fish species. In addition to being home to many living organisms, inland waters are used intensively in agriculture, industry, aquaculture and mining activities, especially in human drinking water needs.
The majority of the main pressures leading to the loss of biodiversity in inland waters are human-induced. Besides climate change, a significant decrease in flow rates of rivers, and agricultural, domestic and industrial pollutants, have emerged as the most important environmental factors damaging inland waters. Environmental pressures affect 80 per cent of freshwater species due to the resulting habitat loss.
The exposure to various pressures resulted in the losses in species diversity in the inland water resources, which have increased further in the last 40-50 years and approached the critical level. Many species have disappeared, and dozens of species are in danger of disappearing altogether. While many species are disappearing due to environmental pressures, there is an increase in the number of toxic cyanobacteria species and invasive species. Biodiversity has been greatly damaged due to reasons such as monitoring of inland water resources for many years with the understanding of “budget-based water management” and ignoring biological quality elements. In the last 20 - 30 years, biological quality elements have been used intensively in evaluating water quality in many countries, especially in the European Union countries.
In Türkiye, ecosystem-based integrated studies have started to be carried out in the basins in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive, and biological quality elements such as fish, invertebrates, macrophytes and algae have been taken into consideration as basic parameters in the determination of trophic levels.
This book is a culmination of efforts from experts across various disciplines who are carrying out research on unravelling the mysteries of freshwater environments. Comprising thirteen chapters, this book covers fundamentals and complexities of freshwater ecosystems, the most recent trends and future perspectives. |
