Freshwater Fish Biodiversity Under Pressure: Ecological Responses, Adaptive Capacity, and Conservation of Inland Fisheries in a Changing World

Inland waters cover less than 1% of Earth’s surface yet harbor more than half of all fish species and sustain some of the most rapidly declining vertebrate populations on the planet. Rivers, lakes, and wetlands are simultaneously biodiversity hotspots and working ecosystems, exploited by fisheries that shape - and are shaped by - the communities of species they target. Climate change, flow alteration, habitat fragmentation, pollution, invasive species, and harvest pressure now interact in ways that classical single-stressor ecology struggles to capture, and the evolutionary consequences for freshwater fish assemblages remain poorly resolved.This Research Topic seeks contributions that advance the ecology, evolution, and conservation of inland fish and the fisheries they support. We welcome empirical, comparative, modelling, and synthesis studies that examine how freshwater fish populations, communities, and ecosystems respond to anthropogenic pressures, and how this ecological knowledge can inform conservation action and adaptive management.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:- Patterns and drivers of freshwater fish diversity across spatial and temporal scales- Population, community, and food-web responses to multiple stressors- Evolutionary and life-history responses to harvest, fragmentation, and climate change- Adaptive capacity and resilience of inland fish populations and fisheries systems- Indicators, monitoring frameworks, and expert-knowledge approaches to address data gaps- Conservation prioritization, protected area design, and restoration for freshwater fish- Coupled social-ecological perspectives where human use is a driver of ecological changeWe particularly encourage studies that bridge data-rich and data-poor systems, integrate traditional and local ecological knowledge with quantitative approaches, and connect site-level evidence to global biodiversity frameworks. Together, the collection aims to strengthen the ecological foundation needed to conserve freshwater fish diversity and the inland fisheries that depend on it. Topic editors: Gretchen L. Stokes, Bonnie Myers Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85075/freshwater-fish-biodiversity-under-pressure-ecological-responses-adaptive-capacity-and-conservation-of-inland-fisheries-in-a-changing-world