Comparison of freshwater monitoring approaches: strengths, opportunities, and recommendations

AbstractDiclofenac is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory human and veterinary medicine widely detected in European surface waters, especially downstream from Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs). Veterinary uses of diclofenac in Europe are greatly restricted, so wastewater is the key exposure route for wildlife. Proposed Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) which include an assessment of toxicity to aquatic organisms are under consideration by the European Commission (EC) to support the aims of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The EC approach favours the use of a deterministic (single test value and an assessment factor) approach to the derivation of a direct toxicity EQS for diclofenac, resulting in an EQS of 0.040 µg L−1 based on a single mesocosm study. In this paper, we discuss potential issues with this approach with respect to the EC’s own guidance on EQS derivation and derive an evidence-driven alternative EQS of 0.126 µg L−1 using a probabilistic (species sensitivity distribution) approach that accounts for all of the reliable and relevant data and is in accordance with the guidance. Europe-wide freshwater monitoring data for diclofenac are used in an indicative compliance assessment using the EC and the alternative evidence-driven EQS. The implications of using only some data to derive an EQS that does not adhere to the guidance, compared to a guidance-compliant approach that uses all the data available are also discussed.

Download Full-text

Safeguarding Freshwater Life Beyond 2020: Recommendations for the New Global Biodiversity Framework from the European Experience

10.20944/preprints202001.0212.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Charles B. van Rees ◽

Kerry A. Waylen ◽

Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber ◽

Stephen J. Thackeray ◽

Gregor Kalinkat ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biological Diversity ◽

Integrated Water Resources Management ◽

Convention On Biological Diversity ◽

The European Union ◽

Freshwater Biodiversity ◽

Biodiversity Crisis ◽

Implementation Planning ◽

European Experience ◽

Global Biodiversity ◽

Freshwater Monitoring

The drafting of a new Global Biodiversity Framework for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Biodiversity Strategy for the European Union (EU) render 2020 a critical crossroad for biodiversity conservation. Freshwater biodiversity is disproportionately threatened and poorly studied relative to marine and terrestrial biota, despite providing numerous essential ecosystem services. The urgency of the mounting freshwater biodiversity crisis necessitates approaches catered to the unique ecology and threats of freshwater life, which are not adequately addressed by current strategies. We present a set of 15 special recommendations for freshwater biodiversity to guide the CBD’s post-2020 framework and the 2020 EU strategy based on European case studies, both challenges and successes. Our recommendations cover key outcomes and guiding concepts, enabling conditions and methods of implementation, planning and accountability modalities, and cross-cutting issues. They address topics including invasive species, integrated water resources management, strategic conservation planning, data management, and emerging technologies for freshwater monitoring, among others. These recommendations will enhance the ability of global and European post-2020 biodiversity agreements to halt and reverse the rapid global decline of freshwater biodiversity.

Download Full-text

R-Syst::diatom: an open-access and curated barcode database for diatoms and freshwater monitoring

Database ◽

10.1093/database/baw016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 ◽

pp. baw016 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Frédéric Rimet ◽

Philippe Chaumeil ◽

François Keck ◽

Lenaïg Kermarrec ◽

Valentin Vasselon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Open Access ◽

Freshwater Monitoring

Download Full-text

The Baetidae (Ephemeroptera) of the Comoros and Mayotte

African Invertebrates ◽

10.3897/afrinvertebr.62.70632 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 62 (2) ◽

pp. 427-463

Author(s):

Thomas Kaltenbach ◽

Nathalie Mary ◽

Jean-Luc Gattolliat

Keyword(s):

Monitoring Program ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

Type Material ◽

Additional Material ◽

The Family ◽

First Time ◽

Freshwater Monitoring

Material collected in 1974 during the Austrian Hydrobiological Mission of F. Starmühlner to the Comoros and during recent years by one of the authors (NM) in the course of an ongoing freshwater monitoring program in Mayotte is the basis of this first larger study of the mayfly family Baetidae in the Comoros Archipelago (Comoros, Mayotte). We identified eight different species using morphological characters, four species on both the Comoros and Mayotte, three species on the Comoros only and one species on Mayotte only. Two species, Dabulamanzia mayottensis sp. nov. and Nigrobaetis richardi sp. nov., are new to science; they are described and illustrated based on their nymphs. The nymph of Afroptilum bicorne (Ulmer, 1909) is described for the first time and its assignment to this species is discussed. The description of the previously endemic Malagasy species Potamocloeon (Aquaediva) freitagae (Gattolliat, 2001), is complemented based on the additional material from the Comoros and re-examination of the type material. A key to the nymphs of all species of Baetidae in the Comoros and Mayotte is provided and the biogeography of the family in this region is discussed.

Download Full-text

Freshwater monitoring by nanopore sequencing

10.1101/2020.02.06.936302 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lara Urban ◽

Andre Holzer ◽

J Jotautas Baronas ◽

Michael Hall ◽

Philipp Braeuninger-Weimer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cost Effective ◽

Species Level ◽

Portable Devices ◽

Nanopore Sequencing ◽

Sequencing Technology ◽

Core Microbiome ◽

Bacterial Indicator ◽

Freshwater Monitoring ◽

Physicochemical Measurements

ABSTRACTWhile traditional microbiological freshwater tests focus on the detection of specific bacterial indicator species, including pathogens, direct tracing of all aquatic DNA through metagenomics poses a profound alternative. Yet, in situ metagenomic water surveys face substantial challenges in cost and logistics. Here we present a simple, fast, cost-effective and remotely accessible freshwater diagnostics workflow centred around the portable nanopore sequencing technology. Using defined compositions and spatiotemporal microbiota from surface water of an example river in Cambridge (UK), we provide optimised experimental and bioinformatics guidelines, including a benchmark with twelve taxonomic classification tools for nanopore sequences. We find that nanopore metagenomics can depict the hydrological core microbiome and fine temporal gradients in line with complementary physicochemical measurements. In a public health context, these data feature relevant sewage signals and pathogen maps at species level resolution. We anticipate that this framework will gather momentum for new environmental monitoring initiatives using portable devices.

Download Full-text