Preface: Emerging trends in aquatic ecology II
which celebrates the publication of
the 800th Volume of the journal. It was nearly
70 years ago when the first issue circulated among
aquatic biologists and our world has undergone
significant changes since then. The most striking
change is beyond any doubt related to technological
developments
Preface: Emerging trends in aquatic ecology II
Luigi Naselli-Flores 0 1 2 3 4 5
. Koen Martens 0 1 2 3 4 5
. Diego Fontaneto 0 1 2 3 4 5
0 K. Martens Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, OD Nature, Freshwater Biology , Brussels , Belgium
1 L. Naselli-Flores (&) Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies - Section of Botany and Plant Ecology, University of Palermo , Palermo , Italy
2 Guest editors: Koen Martens, Sidinei M. Thomaz, Diego Fontaneto & Luigi Naselli-Flores / Emerging Trends in Aquatic Ecology II
3 S. M. Thomaz Universidade Estadual de Maringa ́, DBI/PEA/Nupe ́lia , Maringa ́, PR , Brazil
4 D. Fontaneto Institute of Ecosystem Study, National Research Council of Italy , Verbania Pallanza , Italy
5 K. Martens Department of Biology, University of Ghent , Ghent , Belgium
Introduction
has enormous and cumulative impacts on our Planet,
at present the only place in the universe where we can
survive.
Survival of human beings as well as economic
development still depend strongly on aquatic
ecosystems, the target habitats of our journal’s aims and
scope. These ecosystems are particularly strongly
exposed to human impacts as they ultimately receive
all kinds of waste from our ever growing industrial and
technological production (e.g. chemical contaminants
and microplastics). They are also strongly influenced
by the human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (e.g.
warming and acidification), a by-product of our
technological and industrial global growth, and by
invasive species, the introduction of which is caused
by increased international travel, be it for trade,
tourism, or other. As a result, the integrity of aquatic
ecosystems has been impaired in many places and
there is a serious risk that this may act as a boomerang
on our future existence. We need to improve and to
increase our knowledge on aquatic ecosystems’
structure and functioning if we want to protect them
and ourselves!
The editorial team of Hydrobiologia is
committed to disseminate and archive knowledge on
biological structure and functioning of aquatic
ecosystems in the broadest way. By handling ca.
1,300 submitted manuscripts a year, Hydrobiologia
editors are constantly screening for emerging trends
in aquatic ecology worldwide (the journal received
manuscripts from 101 different countries in 2015).
This is the reason why the title of this Special Issue
repeats that of the celebratory Volume 750
(Martens, 2015)
. Also, the present volume is a joint effort
of the editors of Hydrobiologia and each paper has at
least one editor as (co-)author. However, this time
the focus is on freshwater ecosystems, the most
endangered ecosystems of our Planet
(WWF, 2016)
,
especially considering the very limited percentage
of water they contain (which sustain all Life on
emerged lands) and the small amount of area they
cover on Earth’s surface.
As pointed out in the popular science book ‘‘A
Short History of Nearly Everything’’
(Bryson,
2003)
, paradoxically, our knowledge about Life on
our Planet is quite limited (especially as regard
aquatic ecosystems which hold the bulk of Earth’s
biodiversity) compared with what we know about
the Moon or other planets in our Solar System. There
is therefore a strong need to increase our knowledge
on freshwaters in order to understand how to use
these resources without impairing the life they host,
and on which we depend. To reach this goal we have
(i) to improve our assessment on freshwater
biological diversity, (ii) to understand how to preserve the
structural integrity of these important ecosystems,
(iii) to fully clarify both their functioning and the
impacts of human actions on their functioning and
(iv) to develop skills addressing their restoration. In
order to achieve these tasks, Hydrobiologia editors
are therefore again proposing a journey through
some of the most imminent emerging trends in
aquatic ecology research. This commitment will not
reach an end with the present Special Issue and we
hope that the ‘‘Emerging Trends in Aquatic
Ecology’’ series can further grow and become a regular
appointment with our readers.
The present collection of ‘‘emerging trends’’ papers
Investigations on freshwater ecosystem functioning
still requires further research investments. A perfect
example is offered by
Forsberg et al. (2017)
, who
analysed large-scale spatial and temporal variability of
planktonic production and respiration in the Amazon
floodplain. They found that these floodplain lakes emit
more carbon dioxide than what is produced by their
planktonic photosynthesis. These results indicate the
existence of large and sustained inputs of
nonphytoplankton organic carbon to (...truncated)