Current protected areas provide limited benefits for European river biodiversity

Protected areas are a principal conservation tool for addressing biodiversity loss. Such protection is especially needed in freshwaters, given their greater biodiversity losses compared to terrestrial and marine ecosystems. However, broad-scale evaluations of protected area effectiveness for freshwater biodiversity are lacking. Here, we provide a continental-scale analysis of the relationship between protected areas and freshwater biodiversity using 1,754 river invertebrate community time series sampled between 1986 and 2022 across ten European countries. Protected areas primarily benefited poor-quality communities (indicative of higher human impacts) that were protected, or that gained protection, across a substantial proportion of their upstream catchment. Protection had little to no influence on moderate- and high-quality communities, although high-quality communities potentially provide less scope for effect. Our results reveal the overall limited effectiveness of current protected areas for freshwater biodiversity, likely because they are typically designed and managed to achieve terrestrial conservation goals. Broadly improving effectiveness for freshwater biodiversity requires catchment-scale management approaches involving larger and more continuous upstream protection, and efforts to address remaining stressors. These approaches would also benefit connected terrestrial and coastal ecosystems, thus generally helping bend the curve of global biodiversity loss.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2025-12-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67125-5
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.43

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article

Current protected areas provide limited benefits for European river biodiversity

James S. Sinclair, Riku Paavola, Miguel Cañedo‐Argüelles, Martial Ferréol et al.
2 citations
Nature Communications
Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology
3.43
article

Current protected areas provide limited benefits for European river biodiversity

James S. Sinclair, Riku Paavola, Miguel Cañedo‐Argüelles, Martial Ferréol, Peter Haase, Kaisa-Leena Huttunen, Marie Anne Eurie Forio, Sami Domisch, Jukka Aroviita, Nathan Jay Baker, Rudy Vannevel, Timo Muotka, Ellen A. R. Welti, Gábor Várbíró, Richard K. Johnson, Martin Wilkes, Lenka Kuglerová, Zoltán Csabai, Aitor Larrañaga, Peter L.M. Goethals, Alexia María González-Ferreras, Mathieu Floury, David Cunillera‐Montcusí, Petr Pařil, Ralf Bernhard Schäfer, Rachel Stubbington, Jes Jessen Rasmussen
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Protected areas are a principal conservation tool for addressing biodiversity loss. Such protection is especially needed in freshwaters, given their greater biodiversity losses compared to terrestrial and marine ecosystems. However, broad-scale evaluations of protected area effectiveness for freshwater biodiversity are lacking. Here, we provide a continental-scale analysis of the relationship between protected areas and freshwater biodiversity using 1,754 river invertebrate community time series sampled between 1986 and 2022 across ten European countries. Protected areas primarily benefited poor-quality communities (indicative of higher human impacts) that were protected, or that gained protection, across a substantial proportion of their upstream catchment. Protection had little to no influence on moderate- and high-quality communities, although high-quality communities potentially provide less scope for effect. Our results reveal the overall limited effectiveness of current protected areas for freshwater biodiversity, likely because they are typically designed and managed to achieve terrestrial conservation goals. Broadly improving effectiveness for freshwater biodiversity requires catchment-scale management approaches involving larger and more continuous upstream protection, and efforts to address remaining stressors. These approaches would also benefit connected terrestrial and coastal ecosystems, thus generally helping bend the curve of global biodiversity loss.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 16(1)
University of Essex (GB), Universidad de Cantabria (ES), Ifremer (FR), University of the Basque Country (ES), Kansas State University (US), Aarhus University (DK), Masaryk University (CZ), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Finnish Environment Institute (FI), Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt/M (DE), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE), Ghent University (BE), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Communauté urbaine de Lyon (FR), Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (DE), HUN-REN Balaton Limnological Research Institute (HU), Nature Research Centre (LT), HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research (HU), Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (ES), Flanders Environment Agency (BE), Instituto de Física de Cantabria (ES), Nottingham Trent University (GB), University of Duisburg-Essen (DE), University of Pecs (HU), University of Oulu (FI)
Grantová Agentura České Republiky, Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas, Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, Lietuvos Mokslo Taryba, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, European Social Fund
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology
3.43
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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