Investigation of the trends and drivers of freshwater biodiversity recovery in Europe

This project publication summarises a scientific article that investigates the trends and drivers of freshwater biodiversity recovery in Europe over the past five decades.

The authors of the research analysed data from more than 1,800 sites across 22 European countries, where freshwater invertebrates were monitored from 1968 to 2020. They found that taxon richness, functional richness and abundance of organisms increased over time, but the recovery slowed down or stopped in the 2010s. They also found that environmental factors, such as dams, land use and climate change, affected the recovery of freshwater biodiversity. The authors concluded that current mitigation measures were not enough to sustain the recovery, and called for more actions to protect freshwater ecosystems from new and existing threats.

Read the full article to learn more about the outcomes of the research activities.