Freshwater salinisation: a research agenda for a saltier world.
David Cunillera-Montcusí, Meryem Beklioğlu, Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles, Erik Jeppesen, Robert Ptacnik, Cihelio A Amorim, Shelley E Arnott, Stella A Berger, Sandra Brucet, Hilary A Dugan, Miriam Gerhard, Zsófia Horváth, Silke Langenheder, Jens C Nejstgaard, Marko Reinikainen, Maren Striebel, Pablo Urrutia-Cordero, Csaba F Vad, Egor Zadereev, Miguel Matias
Author Information
David Cunillera-Montcusí: WasserCluster Lunz - Biologische Station GmbH, Lunz am See, Austria; Freshwater Ecology, Hydrology and Management Group (FEHM), Section of Ecology, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: david.cunillera@dcm.cat.
Meryem Beklioğlu: Limnology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Ecosystem Research and Implementation, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles: Serra Húnter Fellow, Freshwater Ecology, Hydrology and Management group (FEHM), Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Institut de Recerca de l'Aigua (IdRA), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Erik Jeppesen: Limnology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Ecosystem Research and Implementation, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey; Department of Ecoscience and WATEC, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research (SDC), Aarhus, Denmark; Institute of Marine Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Mersin, Turkey.
Robert Ptacnik: WasserCluster Lunz - Biologische Station GmbH, Lunz am See, Austria.
Cihelio A Amorim: Limnology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Ecosystem Research and Implementation, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
Shelley E Arnott: Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Stella A Berger: Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Department of Plankton and Microbial Ecology, Zur alten Fischerhuette 2, 16775 Stechlin, Germany.
Sandra Brucet: Aquatic Ecology Group, University of Vic, Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Catalonia, Spain; Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain.
Hilary A Dugan: Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Miriam Gerhard: Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), Carl-von-Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Schleusenstrasse 1, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
Zsófia Horváth: Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary; Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Silke Langenheder: Department of Ecology and Genetics/Limnology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Ecology and Genetics/Erken Laboratory, Uppsala University, Norra Malmavägen 45, 761 73 Norrtälje, Sweden.
Jens C Nejstgaard: Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Department of Plankton and Microbial Ecology, Zur alten Fischerhuette 2, 16775 Stechlin, Germany.
Marko Reinikainen: Air Pollution & Climate Secretariat (AirClim), Första Långgatan 18, 413 28 Gothenburg, Sweden.
Maren Striebel: Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), Carl-von-Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Schleusenstrasse 1, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
Pablo Urrutia-Cordero: Department of Biology/Aquatic Ecology, Lund University, Ecology building, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden.
Csaba F Vad: Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary; Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Egor Zadereev: Institute of Biophysics, Krasnoyarsk Scientific Centre, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 660036, Akademgorodok 50/50, Krasnoyarsk, Russia; Siberian Federal University, 79 Svobodniy Ave, 660041, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
Miguel Matias: Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain; Biodiversity Research Chair, MED - Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development. Universidade de Évora, Évora, Portugal.
The widespread salinisation of freshwater ecosystems poses a major threat to the biodiversity, functioning, and services that they provide. Human activities promote freshwater salinisation through multiple drivers (e.g., agriculture, resource extraction, urbanisation) that are amplified by climate change. Due to its complexity, we are still far from fully understanding the ecological and evolutionary consequences of freshwater salinisation. Here, we assess current research gaps and present a research agenda to guide future studies. We identified different gaps in taxonomic groups, levels of biological organisation, and geographic regions. We suggest focusing on global- and landscape-scale processes, functional approaches, genetic and molecular levels, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as key future avenues to predict the consequences of freshwater salinisation for ecosystems and human societies.
