Freshwater Key Biodiversity Areas in Canada

Tognelli, Marcelo F.; Máiz-Tomé, Laura; Kraus, Daniel; Lepitzki, Dwayne; Mackie, Gerry; Morris, Todd J.; Carney, Joseph P.; Alfonso, Noel; Tonn, Bill; Cox, Neil A.; Smith, Kevin G.

doi:10.2305/iucn.ch.2017.16.en

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…In South Africa, for example, it has been shown that rivers within PAs tend to be a lot more intact than outside PAs [24], while several PAs along the Tanzanian shores of Lake Tanganyika effectively contribute to the conservation of freshwater fish diversity despite their largely terrestrial focus [25]. It is, therefore, important to expand and reinforce the PA system in those countries with low surface water protection, preferentially focusing on water bodies of conservation importance, to safeguard the rich biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services associated with aquatic habitats [26–28].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inland surface waters in protected areas globally: Current coverage and 30-year trends

et al. 2019

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Inland waters are unique ecosystems offering services and habitat resources upon which many species depend. Despite the importance of, and threats to, inland water, global assessments of protected area (PA) coverage and trends have focused on land habitats or have assessed land and inland waters together. We here provide the first assessment of the level of protection of inland open surface waters and their trends (1984–2015) within PAs for all countries, using a globally consistent, high-resolution (30 m) and validated dataset on permanent and seasonal surface waters based on Landsat images. Globally, 15% of inland surface waters are covered by PAs with mapped boundaries. Estimated inland water protection increases to 16.4% if PAs with reported area but delineated only as points are included as circular buffers. These coverage estimates slightly exceed the comparable figure for land but fall below the 17% goal of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi Target 11 for 2020. Protection levels are very uneven across countries, half of which do not yet meet the 17% target. The lowest coverage of surface water by PAs (<5%) was found in Africa and in parts of Asia. There was a global trend of permanent water losses and seasonal water gains within PAs, concomitant with an increase of both water types outside PAs. In 38% of countries, PAs lost over 5% of permanent water. Global protection targets for inland waters may well be met by 2020, but much stronger efforts are required to ensure their effective conservation, which will depend not only on sound PA governance and management but also on the sustainable use of water resources outside PAs. Given the pressures on water in a rapidly changing world, integrated management planning of water resources involving multiple sectors and entire basins is therefore necessary.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inland surface waters in protected areas globally: Current coverage and 30-year trends

et al. 2019

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“…For example, urban areas concentrated in the southern and the eastern part of the country (Fig. 1) coincide with areas of greater species richness, diversity (Chu et al 2015; Anas and Mandrak 2022), and higher numbers of at-risk species (Tognelli et al 2017). In some areas, fish populations are at risk from overexploitation due to significant recreational harvesting pressures, facing what has been referred to as 'an invisible collapse' (Post et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental DNA (eDNA) applications in freshwater fisheries management and conservation in Canada: overview of current challenges and opportunities

Bernos

Yates

Docker

et al. 2023

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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Environmental DNA (eDNA) monitoring methods have played a significant role in improving fisheries management decisions. Yet, their impact to date has been rather limited in Canada, where eDNA analyses are only beginning to be used to inform management and conservation decisions, practices, and policies. Studies investigating hurdles to the incorporation of eDNA data into fisheries management decisions generally focus on technical challenges (i.e. risks of false positive and false negative detections). We set out to identify challenges that eDNA researchers and conservation practitioners must overcome to fully unlock the benefits of eDNA for fish management in the Canadian context. We discuss aspects of the broad and heterogeneous geography, preponderance of regions located far from densely populated areas, complex political landscape, and cultural diversity of Canada that may complicate the design of reliable eDNA monitoring tools or restrict their use if not adequately addressed. To advocate for the wider use of eDNA, we outline a number of action items that would facilitate the broad adoption of eDNA as a monitoring tool at the Canadian scale.

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The alarming state of freshwater biodiversity in Canada

Desforges

Clarke

Harmsen

et al. 2022

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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Little is known about the current state of freshwater biodiversity in Canada, one of the countries with the greatest amount of surface waters in the world. To address this knowledge gap, we compiled a list of all available assessments of conservation status for freshwater species (over 3,000 taxa) and further evaluated the overall status of six distinct taxonomic groups, focusing on organisms reliant on freshwaters [i.e., aquatic plants, invertebrates (with a focus on freshwater mussels), fishes, herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians), birds, and mammals]. Overall, 11.7% of all freshwater species of plants and animals assessed were found to be ‘at risk’ (i.e., listed as ‘Threatened’, ‘Endangered’, or ‘Extirpated’) and 17.9% identified as ‘Special Concern’. We found that 37.9% of species lacked sufficient data to enable their status to be assessed. Data gaps in Canada’s assessment of its freshwater species were most prevalent in invertebrates (excluding freshwater mussels). Given the alarming state of freshwater biodiversity in Canada, we conclude by providing recommendations that focus on evaluating temporal trends and informing conservation actions.

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Freshwater Key Biodiversity Areas in Canada

Cited by 5 publications

References 16 publications

Inland surface waters in protected areas globally: Current coverage and 30-year trends

Inland surface waters in protected areas globally: Current coverage and 30-year trends

Environmental DNA (eDNA) applications in freshwater fisheries management and conservation in Canada: overview of current challenges and opportunities

The alarming state of freshwater biodiversity in Canada

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