New International Efforts for Freshwater Research, Education, and Conservation: A report from the Society for Conservation Biology’s Freshwater Working Group

Freshwater ecosystems are vital for human well-being and ecological integrity but are increasingly jeopardized by habitat loss and degradation, fragmentation, water abstraction, and climate change. These threats are diverse and pervasive and thus require new thinking about conservation problems and solutions. Here, we describe the Society for Conservation Biology’s Freshwater Working Group (FWWG) and invite ICOET members to join this initiative. First, we review the origins of the FWWG and briefly describe previous accomplishments. Second, we describe the international composition of the FWWG and current activities. Third, we propose new research questions regarding the effects of transportation networks on freshwater ecosystems. We explain that the landscape structure of freshwater ecosystems is distinct from terrestrial environments and that localized, direct effects of roads must be understood in the context of regional, indirect effects of landscape connectivity and other factors. We conclude that freshwater conservation requires new research across ecological scales and new collaborations across political boundaries

New International Efforts for Freshwater Research, Education, and Conservation: A report from the Society for Conservation Biology’s Freshwater Working Group

Freshwater ecosystems are vital for human well-being and ecological integrity but are increasingly jeopardized by habitat loss and degradation, fragmentation, water abstraction, and climate change. These threats are diverse and pervasive and thus require new thinking about conservation problems and solutions. Here, we describe the Society for Conservation Biology’s Freshwater Working Group (FWWG) and invite ICOET members to join this initiative. First, we review the origins of the FWWG and briefly describe previous accomplishments. Second, we describe the international composition of the FWWG and current activities. Third, we propose new research questions regarding the effects of transportation networks on freshwater ecosystems. We explain that the landscape structure of freshwater ecosystems is distinct from terrestrial environments and that localized, direct effects of roads must be understood in the context of regional, indirect effects of landscape connectivity and other factors. We conclude that freshwater conservation requires new research across ecological scales and new collaborations across political boundaries

Integrating social justice into higher education conservation science

Because biodiversity loss has largely been attributed to human actions, people, particularly those in the Global South, are regularly depicted as threats to conservation. This context has facilitated rapid growth in green militarization, with fierce crackdowns against real or perceived environmental offenders. We designed an undergraduate course to assess student perspectives on biodiversity conservation and social justice and positioned those students to contribute to a human heritage-centered conservation (HHCC) initiative situated in Uganda. We evaluated changes in perspectives using pre- and postcourse surveys and reflection instruments. Although the students started the course prioritizing biodiversity conservation, even when it was costly to human well-being, by the end of the course, they were recognizing and remarking on the central importance of social justice within conservation. We present a framework for further integration of HHCC approaches into higher education courses so as to conserve the integrity of coupled human and natural systems globally

Carbon stable isotopes suggest that hippopotamus‐vectored nutrients subsidize aquatic consumers in an East African river

© 2015 McCauley et al. The common hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius, transports millions of tons of organic matter annually from its terrestrial feeding grounds into aquatic habitats. We evaluated whether carbon stable isotopes (δ13C) can be used as tracers for determining whether H. amphibius-vectored allochthonous material is utilized by aquatic consumers. Two approaches were employed to make this determination: (1) lab-based feeding trials where omnivorous river fish were fed a H. amphibius dung diet and (2) field sampling of fish and aquatic insects in pools with and without H. amphibius. Lab trials revealed that fish fed exclusively H. amphibius dung exhibited significantly more positive δ13C values than fish not fed dung. Fish and aquatic insects sampled in a river pool used for decades by H. amphibius also exhibited more positive δ13C values at the end of the dry season than fish and insects sampled from an upstream H. amphibius-free reference pool. Fish sampled in these same pools at the end of the wet season (high flow) showed no significant differences in δ13C values, suggesting that higher flows reduced retention and use of H. amphibius subsidies. These data provide preliminary evidence that δ13C values may be useful, in certain contexts, for quantifying the importance H. amphibius organic matter

Carbon stable isotopes suggest that hippopotamus‐vectored nutrients subsidize aquatic consumers in an East African river

© 2015 McCauley et al. The common hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius, transports millions of tons of organic matter annually from its terrestrial feeding grounds into aquatic habitats. We evaluated whether carbon stable isotopes (δ13C) can be used as tracers for determining whether H. amphibius-vectored allochthonous material is utilized by aquatic consumers. Two approaches were employed to make this determination: (1) lab-based feeding trials where omnivorous river fish were fed a H. amphibius dung diet and (2) field sampling of fish and aquatic insects in pools with and without H. amphibius. Lab trials revealed that fish fed exclusively H. amphibius dung exhibited significantly more positive δ13C values than fish not fed dung. Fish and aquatic insects sampled in a river pool used for decades by H. amphibius also exhibited more positive δ13C values at the end of the dry season than fish and insects sampled from an upstream H. amphibius-free reference pool. Fish sampled in these same pools at the end of the wet season (high flow) showed no significant differences in δ13C values, suggesting that higher flows reduced retention and use of H. amphibius subsidies. These data provide preliminary evidence that δ13C values may be useful, in certain contexts, for quantifying the importance H. amphibius organic matter