• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Wednesday, September 3, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

Biological assessment of world’s rivers presents incomplete but bleak picture

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
February 22, 2021
in Science News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: Oregon State University

An international team of scientists, including two from Oregon State University, conducted a biological assessment of the world’s rivers and the limited data they found presents a fairly bleak picture.

“For the places that we have data, the situations are not really that good. There are many species that are declining, threatened or endangered,” said Bob Hughes, co-author of the paper and a courtesy associate professor in Oregon State’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. “But for most of the globe, there just is little rigorous data.”

The work by Hughes and the team, which included scientists from 16 countries and six continents, was recently published in the journal Water.

The biological assessment of rivers is essential to evaluate the condition of the ecosystems and to establish ways for them to recover. Such assessments occurred in some countries beginning in the 1990s but have not occurred on a global scale.

Data from biological assessments the research team located showed:

  • A striking loss of biodiversity in the past 20 to 30 years in rivers in Japan and New Zealand. In New Zealand, 70% of fish species were threatened or endangered. In Japan, 42% were threatened or endangered.
  • Poor living conditions for fish and macroinvertebrates, such as insects, in 50% of water bodies in Europe, 44% of river miles in the United States and 25% of South Korean rivers.
  • Significantly impaired conditions for fish in 30% of river locations sampled in Australia.

The paper also outlines river rehabilitation efforts, with the greatest implementation occurring in North America, Australia, Western Europe, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. Most rehabilitation measures have focused on improving water quality, river connectivity for fish, or riparian vegetation.

Yet, rehabilitation efforts are usually limited to a river segment, which often constrains the overall improvement of the waterway. Rehabilitation projects also often lack before and after monitoring of ecological conditions. Economic roadblocks are the most cited reason for not implementing monitoring programs and rehabilitation actions.

The authors of the paper offer several recommendations for rehabilitation projects, including establishing rehabilitation needs, defining clear goals, tracking progress towards achieving them and involving local residents and stakeholders.

They also say that long-term monitoring programs are essential to providing a realistic overview of the condition of rivers worldwide. Finally, they propose developing transcontinental teams to develop and improve guidelines for implementing biological monitoring programs and river rehabilitation efforts in collaboration with scientists of nations lacking such expertise.

“If we can correct these problems before they get dreadful, like they are in some places, it will cost a lot less than trying to recover those rivers,” Hughes said. “If they get too bad then they become really, really dangerous for human health.”

In addition to Hughes, Philip Kaufmann, also a courtesy associate professor in the Oregon State’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in the College of Agricultural Sciences, and a scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency, is a co-author of the paper. Maria João Feio of the University of Coimbra in Portugal is the lead author.

“Scientists at the EPA and OSU have been collaborating on implementing biomonitoring programs with Brazilian, Chinese and European scientists since 1990,” Kaufmann said.

###

Media Contact
Sean Nealon
[email protected]

Original Source

https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/biological-assessment-world%E2%80%99s-rivers-presents-incomplete-bleak-picture

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w13030371

Tags: AgricultureBiologyEcology/EnvironmentFisheries/AquacultureMarine/Freshwater Biology
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Targeting Cathepsin S Enhances IL-7 Anti-Tumor Immunity

September 3, 2025

Clinician Concerns: Navigating Opioid Management eConsults

September 3, 2025

Prototyping: Enhancing Understanding and Engagement Early

September 3, 2025

Anxiety and Reassurance in Urban Chinese Seniors

September 3, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Needlestick Injury Rates in Nurses and Students in Pakistan

    296 shares
    Share 118 Tweet 74
  • Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    154 shares
    Share 62 Tweet 39
  • Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    143 shares
    Share 57 Tweet 36
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    118 shares
    Share 47 Tweet 30

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Targeting Cathepsin S Enhances IL-7 Anti-Tumor Immunity

Clinician Concerns: Navigating Opioid Management eConsults

Prototyping: Enhancing Understanding and Engagement Early

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.