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Climate Change and Freshwater Fauna Extinction Risk

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Abstract

Fresh waters—rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands—cover less than 1 percent of the earth’s surface, yet their biodiversity is unrivaled. Fully 10 percent of all known animal species and a third of all vertebrate species, including about 40 percent of the world’s fishes, live in fresh waters. Other well represented groups include insects, crustaceans, mites, and mollusks (table 17-1). Further, an estimated 20,000-200,000 freshwater animal species (mostly invertebrates, including those cryptic species inhabiting ground waters) have yet to be described (Strayer, 2006). Despite this rich diversity, extinction risk of freshwater species has been largely overlooked (Strayer and Dudgeon, 2010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and director of the graduate degree program in ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, US

    N. LeRoy Poff

  2. School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, US

    Julian D. Olden

  3. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, US

    David L. Strayer

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  1. N. LeRoy Poff
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  2. Julian D. Olden
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  3. David L. Strayer
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Lee Hannah

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Poff, N.L., Olden, J.D., Strayer, D.L. (2012). Climate Change and Freshwater Fauna Extinction Risk. In: Hannah, L. (eds) Saving a Million Species. Island Press/Center for Resource Economics. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-182-5_17

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