Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 6, 2026

Assessing Intertidal Populations of the Invasive European Green Crab
Published on: September 16, 2020
Multiple threats imperil freshwater biodiversity in the Anthropocene
1Chair of Ecology & Biodiversity, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong S.A.R., China.
Abstract:
Appropriation of fresh water to meet human needs is growing, and competition among users will intensify in a warmer and more crowded world. This essay explains why freshwater ecosystems are global hotspots of biological richness, despite a panoply of interacting threats that jeopardize biodiversity. The combined effects of these threats will soon become detrimental to humans since provision of ecosystem services, such as protein from capture fisheries, can only be sustained if waters remain healthy. Climate change poses an insidious existential threat to freshwater biodiversity in the Anthropocene, but immediate risks from dams, habitat degradation and pollution could well be far greater.
Related Concept Videos
Threats to Biodiversity
What is an Ecosystem?
What is Biodiversity?
Habitat Fragmentation
Biodiversity and Human Values
What is Conservation Biology?

