Body size is a fundamental trait influencing ecological functions, trophic dynamics, and organismal fitness across ecosystems. However, the environmental drivers shaping body size patterns in pond ecosystems across broad spatial scales remain poorly defined. In this study, we assessed the main determinants of body size in cladocerans and copepods, key crustacean zooplankton groups, across 168 ponds including regions in Europe, Asia, and South America. We assess how temperature and latitudinal variation, food availability, and predation influence mean and maximum crustacean body sizes in zooplankton taxa. Using linear mixed models, we identified annual temperature and predation pressure as the strongest predictors of body sizes. Body size increased with lower temperature for both taxa, supporting the temperature-size rule. Fish presence was associated with smaller body sizes for both taxa, while copepod size metrics were additionally influenced by pond morphometry, showing a negative relationship with depth and a positive association with area. These findings suggest temperature and predation pressure act as major selective forces shaping crustacean body size in pond ecosystems. Understanding these patterns is essential for predicting how crustacean communities and processes they mediate may respond to ongoing climate warming, particularly in small-shallow freshwater ecosystems highly sensitive to environmental change.

The study of inland waters - Limnology - is full of fascinating women who have vastly contributed to our understanding of these valuable ecosystems. Although women’s visibility was low during the early years of Limnology, it has increased over time. Nowadays, women represent half of the early-career limnologists in Europe. However, as in many other fields, their scientific contributions have been traditionally neglected from schools to universities (i.e., the Matilda effect). The project “Gender LimnoEdu”, developed by the Gender&Science AIL group and funded by EGU (2020), aims to increase the visibility of women in Limnology and related subjects - such as Ecology, Hydrology or other Geosciences - in academic courses and lectures. We have created a set of online ready-to-use resources: (1) a self-evaluation form to detect gender biases and raise self-awareness for teachers of Limnology and Geosciences courses (the form is applicable to a wide range of courses and disciplines), (2) teaching nutshells highlighting key female limnologists (and their history) to help lecturers to acknowledge the role of women in Limnology in their courses, and (3) a complete teaching unit about the past and present situation of women in the field of Limnology. All these resources are freely available (https://www.genderlimno.org). Here, we will present this toolbox of resources and guide you on how to use them for your teaching needs. Moreover, we will share the preliminary results of the self-evaluation form to showcase how gender-fair Limnology lessons in high-education courses are. We welcome everybody to take it! https://www.genderlimno.org/gender-fair-lessons.html

Ponds are key freshwater habitats supporting biodiversity and ecosystem services, yet they remain understudied in the context of land use and climate change. We examined 240 ponds across eight countries (seven in Europe and Uruguay) to assess how internal pond characteristics, surrounding land cover and livestock intensity, seasonal climatic variation, and climate influence nutrient concentrations across spatial and temporal scales. Nutrient concentrations were strongly associated with internal features: shallow ponds and short hydroperiods had higher total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations, while thermal stratification, typically found in deeper ponds, was associated with higher TN, indicating enhanced internal nutrient recycling. Land use also played a significant role with agricultural intensity increasing nutrient concentration (both TN and TP), whereas forest cover reduced TP. Seasonal variation modulated these patterns, with higher TP concentrations observed in summer, and with dilution effects during wetter and cooler periods, particularly for TN in semi-permanent ponds. These findings underscore the combined influence of physical characteristics, landscape context, and climate variability on nutrient concentrations in ponds and highlight the need for integrated, multi-scale approaches to anticipate the impacts of global climate change effects on these ecologically valuable ecosystems.

Unlocking the full potential of ponds (small water bodies) and pondscapes (network of ponds) as Nature-based Solutions (NbS) is critical pursuit for enhancing ecosystems and societal resilience to climate change and other societal challenges. Despite scattered initiatives for pond/pondscape creation, restoration and management—each considered here a distinct NbS—there is a significant knowledge gap in utilising ponds/pondscapes as effective NbS. We aimed to assess these NbS in terms of their objectives, outcomes, effectiveness, multifunctionality, delivery of potentially conflicting effects, and the implementation process while considering their Nature's Contributions to People (NCPs, i.e., benefits to society). We compiled data on 183 NbS actions implemented across 93 ponds/pondscapes from 24 countries, predominantly from Europe, via a questionnaire distributed to experienced stakeholders implementing NbS in ponds/pondscapes. One single pond/pondscape may imply more than one NbS action. Two-thirds were in rural areas, and one-third in urban settings. Our analysis revealed that Creation of habitat for biodiversity was a primary delivery objective (targeted NCP) in the implementation of most NbS in ponds/pondscapes, often also combined with other NCPs such as Learning and inspiration, Regulation of water quantity, and Physical and psychological experiences, showcasing their intended multifunctionality. Implemented NbS primarily focused on climate change adaptation (especially Regulation of hazards and extreme events, and water quantity) rather than mitigation, with less emphasis on measures like direct greenhouse gas emissions reduction or enhancing carbon sinks. The costs associated with pond's NbS varied significantly depending on factors such as project scope, objectives, location, socio-economic-cultural system, and specific implementation requirements. The creation of ponds/pondscapes often entailed the highest financial investment, much more than their restoration or their management. In conclusion, our study underscores the multifunctionality of ponds/pondscapes and provides insights about their significant potential as cost-effective NbS for enhancing ecosystem and societal resilience to climate change and biodiversity. It underscores the importance of further research to fully understand and measure the diverse range of NbS they offer, particularly in the context of climate change mitigation. Standardised measurements of the NCP provided by these NbS in ponds/pondscapes are essential for validating managers' claims and exploring their role in addressing climate change.

The construction of riverine structures (weirs, bridges, or channelization) on riverbeds causes alterations in the flow regime and channel geometry. Once a new stretch is created, species must colonize it. The ecological succession processes that are entailed are decisive for adequate recovery after alterations, and understanding these processes would enable elaborate efficient restoration actions. We analyzed environmental variables and the colonization and succession patterns of fish assemblages in a new channelized stretch of a river from its construction to the present (from 1996 to 2020) in the northern Iberian Peninsula. During the studied period, habitat diversity increased, and mesohabitat became more complex. Depths, depth diversity, and the number of pools in the new channel increased with time. Water temperature decreased because of the new shade provided by riparian forests. The size‐related variables of the fish community (size diversity, mean, and maximum length) increased in the new section, achieving similar values to those in the control section. The slopes of the fish size spectra showed a slow evolution over 25 years from a fish assemblage dominated by small fish to a more size‐diversity fish community. Our results suggest that habitat complexity shape fish assemblage and structure. Moreover, size‐related variables can be effective ecological indicators of fish colonization and succession processes. Finally, small‐scale restoration measures in the riverbed and riparian forest are expected to increase the effectiveness of future restoration projects in rivers.

Adaptive genetic divergence occurs when selection imposed by the environment causes the genomic component of the phenotype to differentiate. However, genomic signatures of natural selection are usually identified without information on which trait is responding to selection by which selective agent(s). Here, we integrate whole-genome-sequencing with phenomics and measures of putative selective agents to assess the extent of adaptive divergence in threespine stickleback occupying the highly heterogeneous lake Mývatn, NE Iceland. We find negligible genome wide divergence, yet multiple traits (body size, gill raker structure and defense traits) were divergent along known ecological gradients (temperature, predatory bird densities and water depth). SNP based heritability of all measured traits was high (h2 = 0.42 – 0.65), indicating adaptive potential for all traits. Whilst environment-association analyses identified thousands of loci putatively involved in selection, related to genes linked to neuron development and protein phosphorylation, only allelic variation linked to pelvic spine length was concurrently linked to environmental variation (water depth) - supporting the conclusion that divergence in pelvic spine length occurred in face of gene flow. Our results suggest that whilst there is substantial genetic variation in the traits measured, phenotypic divergence of Mývatn stickleback is mostly weakly associated with environmental gradients, potentially as a result of substantial gene flow. Our study illustrates the value of integrative studies that combine genomic assays of multivariate trait variation with landscape genomics.

The capacity to forecast the effects of climate change on biodiversity largely relies on identifying traits capturing mechanistic relationships with the environment through standardized field experiments distributed across relevant spatial scales. The effects of short-term experimental manipulations on local communities may overlap with regional climate gradients that have been operating during longer time periods. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies simultaneously assessing such long-term macroecological drivers with local climate manipulations. We analysed this issue with springtails (Class Collembola), one of the dominant soil fauna groups, in a standardized climate manipulation experiment conducted across six European countries encompassing broad climate gradients. We combined community data (near 20K specimens classified into 102 species) with 22 eco-morphological traits and reconstructed their phylogenetic relationships to track the evolution of adaptations to live at different soil depths, which is key to cope with desiccation. We then applied joint species distribution models to investigate the combined effect of the regional aridity gradient with the local experimental treatment (drought and warming) over the assembly of springtail communities and tested for significant trait-environment relationships mediating their community-level responses. Our results show (1) a convergent evolution in all three major collembolan lineages of species adapted to inhabit at different soil strata; (2) a clear signature of aridity selecting traits of more epigeic species at a biogeographical scale and (3) the association of short-term experimental drought with traits related to more euedaphic life-forms. The hemiedaphic condition would be the plesiomorphic state for Collembola while the adaptations for an epigeic life would have been secondarily gained. Epigeic springtails are not only more resistant to drought, but also have a higher dispersal capacity that allows them to seek more favourable micro-habitats after experiencing drier conditions. The observed relative edaphization of the springtail communities after short-term experimental drought may thus be a transient community response. The disparity between macroecological trends and fast community-level responses after climate manipulations highlights the need of simultaneously assessing long-term and short-term drivers at broad spatial scales to adequately interpret trait-environment relationships and better forecast biodiversity responses to climate change. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Plastic debris is thought to be widespread in freshwater ecosystems globally 1 . However, a lack of comprehensive and comparable data makes rigorous assessment of its distribution challenging 2 , 3 . Here we present a standardized cross-national survey that assesses the abundance and type of plastic debris (>250 μm) in freshwater ecosystems. We sample surface waters of 38 lakes and reservoirs, distributed across gradients of geographical position and limnological attributes, with the aim to identify factors associated with an increased observation of plastics. We find plastic debris in all studied lakes and reservoirs, suggesting that these ecosystems play a key role in the plastic-pollution cycle. Our results indicate that two types of lakes are particularly vulnerable to plastic contamination: lakes and reservoirs in densely populated and urbanized areas and large lakes and reservoirs with elevated deposition areas, long water-retention times and high levels of anthropogenic influence. Plastic concentrations vary widely among lakes; in the most polluted, concentrations reach or even exceed those reported in the subtropical oceanic gyres, marine areas collecting large amounts of debris 4 . Our findings highlight the importance of including lakes and reservoirs when addressing plastic pollution, in the context of pollution management and for the continued provision of lake ecosystem services.

Limnology and Oceanography BulletinVolume 32, Issue 4 p. 145-146 Meeting Highlights My Teaching Is Not Gender Biased, Is It? Clara Mendoza-Lera, Clara Mendoza-Lera [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-3222-2498 iES, RPTU, University of Kaiserlautern-Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorMaria Anton-Pardo, Maria Anton-Pardo [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0003-1722-9867 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Valencia, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorMireia Bartrons, Mireia Bartrons [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0003-0617-9577 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Aquatic Ecology Group, University of Vic (UVic-UCC), Carrer de la Laura 13, Vic, Barcelona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorXavier Benito-Granell, Xavier Benito-Granell orcid.org/0000-0003-0792-2625 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Marine and Continental Waters Programme, Institute of Agrifood and Technology Research (IRTA), La Ràpita, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorSusana Bernal, Susana Bernal orcid.org/0000-0002-6726-8840 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Blanes, Girona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorEliana Bohorquez Bedoya, Eliana Bohorquez Bedoya Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorMiguel Cañedo-Argüelles, Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0003-3864-7451 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), CSIC, Barcelona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorNúria Catalán, Núria Catalán orcid.org/0000-0002-2433-4190 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Instituto de Diágnotico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua (IDAEA-CSIC), Barcelona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorIsabel Fernandes, Isabel Fernandes Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), University of Minho, Braga, PortugalSearch for more papers by this authorAnna Freixa, Anna Freixa orcid.org/0000-0003-1149-6526 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Girona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorAna Genua-Olmedo, Ana Genua-Olmedo orcid.org/0000-0002-0293-1664 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorElizabeth León-Palmero, Elizabeth León-Palmero orcid.org/0000-0001-8220-1188 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USASearch for more papers by this authorAnna Lupon, Anna Lupon Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Girona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorAda Pastor, Ada Pastor orcid.org/0000-0002-7114-770X Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Group of Continental Aquatic Ecology Research (GRECO), Institute of Aquatic Ecology, University of Girona, Girona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorSílvia Poblador, Sílvia Poblador Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Research Group of Plants and Ecosystems, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, BelgiumSearch for more papers by this authorMaría del Mar Sánchez-Montoya, María del Mar Sánchez-Montoya orcid.org/0000-0001-8179-7805 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorAitziber Zufiaurre, Aitziber Zufiaurre orcid.org/0000-0001-6696-6949 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Área de Biodiversidad, Gestiónambiental de Navarra-Nafarroako Ingurumenkudeaketa (GAN-NIK), Pamplona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorPablo Rodríguez-Lozano, Pablo Rodríguez-Lozano [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-5130-8107 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain GLOWATER Research Group, Department of Geography, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, SpainSearch for more papers by this author Clara Mendoza-Lera, Clara Mendoza-Lera [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-3222-2498 iES, RPTU, University of Kaiserlautern-Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorMaria Anton-Pardo, Maria Anton-Pardo [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0003-1722-9867 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Valencia, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorMireia Bartrons, Mireia Bartrons [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0003-0617-9577 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Aquatic Ecology Group, University of Vic (UVic-UCC), Carrer de la Laura 13, Vic, Barcelona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorXavier Benito-Granell, Xavier Benito-Granell orcid.org/0000-0003-0792-2625 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Marine and Continental Waters Programme, Institute of Agrifood and Technology Research (IRTA), La Ràpita, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorSusana Bernal, Susana Bernal orcid.org/0000-0002-6726-8840 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Blanes, Girona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorEliana Bohorquez Bedoya, Eliana Bohorquez Bedoya Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorMiguel Cañedo-Argüelles, Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0003-3864-7451 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), CSIC, Barcelona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorNúria Catalán, Núria Catalán orcid.org/0000-0002-2433-4190 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Instituto de Diágnotico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua (IDAEA-CSIC), Barcelona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorIsabel Fernandes, Isabel Fernandes Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA), University of Minho, Braga, PortugalSearch for more papers by this authorAnna Freixa, Anna Freixa orcid.org/0000-0003-1149-6526 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Girona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorAna Genua-Olmedo, Ana Genua-Olmedo orcid.org/0000-0002-0293-1664 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorElizabeth León-Palmero, Elizabeth León-Palmero orcid.org/0000-0001-8220-1188 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USASearch for more papers by this authorAnna Lupon, Anna Lupon Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Girona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorAda Pastor, Ada Pastor orcid.org/0000-0002-7114-770X Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Group of Continental Aquatic Ecology Research (GRECO), Institute of Aquatic Ecology, University of Girona, Girona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorSílvia Poblador, Sílvia Poblador Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Research Group of Plants and Ecosystems, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, BelgiumSearch for more papers by this authorMaría del Mar Sánchez-Montoya, María del Mar Sánchez-Montoya orcid.org/0000-0001-8179-7805 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorAitziber Zufiaurre, Aitziber Zufiaurre orcid.org/0000-0001-6696-6949 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain Área de Biodiversidad, Gestiónambiental de Navarra-Nafarroako Ingurumenkudeaketa (GAN-NIK), Pamplona, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorPablo Rodríguez-Lozano, Pablo Rodríguez-Lozano [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-5130-8107 Grupo Gender & Science, Asociación Ibérica de Limnología, Mislata, Valencia, Spain GLOWATER Research Group, Department of Geography, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, SpainSearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 September 2023 https://doi.org/10.1002/lob.10598Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Reference Atir, S., and M. J. Ferguson. 2018. How gender determines the way we speak about professionals. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 115: 7278–7283. doi:10.1073/pnas.1805284115. Volume32, Issue4November 2023Pages 145-146 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Research in limnology is nurtured by the work of many fascinating and passionate women, who have contributed enormously to our understanding of inland waters. Female limnologists have promoted and established the bases of our knowledge about inland waters and fostered the need of protecting the values of those ecosystems. However, on numerous occasions, their contribution to the advancement of limnology has not been duly recognized. Here, we review the presence of women in limnology through the history of the discipline: from the pioneers who contributed to the origins to present day' developments. We aim at visibilizing those scientists and establish them as role models. We also analyze in a simple and illustrative way the current situation of women in limnology, the scientific barriers they must deal with, and their future prospects. Multiple aspects fostering the visibility of a scientist, such as their presence in conferences, awards, or representation in societal or editorial boards show a significant gap, with none of those aspects showing a similar visibility of women and men in limnology. This article raises awareness of the obstacles that women in limnology faced and still face, and encourages to embrace models of leadership, scientific management, and assessment of research performance far from those commonly established. This article is categorized under: Science of Water > Methods Water and Life > Methods

Ponds and "pondscapes" (networks of ponds) are crucial habitats for biodiversity and for delivering multiple benefits to humans, so-called "Nature's Contribution to People", such as climate mitigation and adaptation to climate change, creation, and maintenance of habitat for biodiversity, water purification, flood mitigation and cultural benefits (e.g., recreational possibilities). However, ponds are not often considered as Nature-based Solutions to provide all these benefits. In addition, there is insufficient knowledge on how to manage and restore ponds to maximise their role to increase the resilience of ecosystems and society to climate change. To facilitate improved implementation of ponds as Nature-based Solutions for the delivery of a wide range of Nature Contributions to People, it is important to generate and integrate biodiversity, ecosystems, societal, economic and policy knowledge. Hence, there is a need for evidence-based guidance to support the broader use of ponds. Here, we review the role of ponds and pondscapes in delivering Nature's Contributions to People and provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities for their broader implementation as Nature-based Solutions. Finally, we propose a conceptual framework that can help the implementation of pond Nature-based Solutions, and that outlines future research needs.

One of the severe impacts of rivers is the construction of new structures on the riverbed bringing about diversions and changes in the flow course. These new sections must then be colonized by the species present in the ecosystems. These colonizations are critical processes that regulate the communities’ persistence and ecological resilience. Understanding these colonization and succession processes is essential for biodiversity conservation. However, studies that analyze these processes are rare for freshwater environments. This study explored the colonization and succession patterns of fish assemblages in a new channelized section of the Larraun River (Navarra, Spain) from its construction to the present (twenty-five year period). We also checked the usefulness of size-related variables as indicators of the changes in these processes for fish populations. Two sites (control and new section) were sampled by electrofishing from 1996 to 2020, physicochemical parameters were measured, and habitat was characterized. Our results show that constraining environmental features shape freshwater fish species’ biological characteristics and distribution in the colonization processes. Initially, the mesohabitat of the new stream segment was simple and dominated by runs. Throughout the years, the complexity increased and mesohabitats became more diverse, with an increase in pools and higher width, depth and diversity of depths of the new section. The water temperature decreased due to the increased shade produced for the expansion of the riparian forest. Moreover, size-related variables of the fish community, such as size diversity, mean and maximum length, increased in the new section throughout the succession process, achieving values comparable to the control site. Regarding the slopes of the fish size spectra (i.e., the linear rate of decline of fish abundance as body size increases), it took twenty years for the new section to obtain values comparable to the control site, indicating a slow transition from a community dominated by small fish to a community where all sizes were well represented. This study suggests that habitat complexity (diversity of substrates, depths, water velocity, etc.) determines the structure of fish populations and that size-related variables can be effective ecological indicators when assessing the evolution of fish colonization and succession in temperate European rivers.

We provide a unique fish individual body size dataset collected from our own sampling and public sources in north-eastern Spain. The dataset includes individual body size measures (fork length and mass) of 12,288 individuals of 24 fish species within 10 families collected at 118 locations in large rivers and small streams. Fish were caught by one-pass electrofishing following European standard protocols. The fish dataset has information on the local instream conditions including climatic variables (i.e., temperature and precipitation), topography (i.e., altitude), nutrient concentration (i.e., total phosphorus and nitrates), and the IMPRESS values (a measure of cumulative human impacts in lotic ecosystems). The potential uses of this new fish dataset are manifold, including developing size-based indices to further estimate the ecological status of freshwater ecosystems, allometric models, and analysis of variation in body size structure along environmental gradients.

The role of sea birds as carriers of pollutants over long distances was evaluated by analyzing organochlorine and organobromine compounds in lake sediment cores from three remote sites around the North Water polynya (North West Greenland). One lake, NOW5, was in the vicinity of a little auk (Alle alle L.) bird colony, whereas the other two lakes, NOW14 and Q5, were undisturbed by seabirds. The former was strongly acidic (pH = 3.4) but the latter had a pH close to 8. Due to the guano loading, NOW5 exhibited higher chlorophyll concentrations (74 μg/L) than the other two lakes (1.6-3.4 μg/L), higher content of total phosphorous (0.34 mg/L vs. 0.007-0.01 mg/L) and total nitrogen (3.75 mg/L vs. 0.21-0.75 mg/L). The concentrations of all organohalogen compounds were substantially greater in NOW5 than in the other lakes, indicating the strong influence of these seabirds in the transport and deposition of these compounds to remote sites. However, not all compounds showed the same increases. Hexachlorocyclohexanes and endosulfans were more than 18 times higher in NOW5, the drin pesticides and hexachlorobenzene (HCB), between 9.5 and 18 times and DDTs, polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and chlordanes about 2.7-6 times. These differences demonstrated that the bird-mediated deposition has preservation effects of the less stable and more volatile compounds, e.g. those with log Kaw < -2.4, log Koa < 9 and/or log Kow < 6.8. The sedimentary fluxes of PCBs, HCHs, drins, chlordanes, PBDEs, HCB and endosulfans were highest in the upper sediment layer of the polynya lake (year 2014). In contrast, the highest DDT fluxes were found in 1980. These trends indicate that despite restrictions and regulations, bird transport continues to introduce considerable amounts of organohalogen pollutants to the Arctic regions with the exception of DDTs, which show successful decline, even when mediated by bird metabolism.

Conferences are ideal platforms for studying gender gaps in science because they are important cultural events that reflect barriers to women in academia. Here, we explored women’s participation in ecology conferences by analyzing female representation, behavior, and personal experience at the 1st Meeting of the Iberian Society of Ecology (SIBECOL). The conference had 722 attendees, 576 contributions, and 27 scientific sessions. The gender of attendees and presenters was balanced (48/52% women/men), yet only 29% of the contributions had a woman as last author. Moreover, men presented most of the keynote talks (67%) and convened most of the sessions. Our results also showed that only 32% of the questions were asked by women, yet the number of questions raised by women increased when the speaker or the convener was a woman. Finally, the post-conference survey revealed that attendees had a good experience and did not perceive the event as a threatening context for women. Yet, differences in the responses between genders suggest that women tended to have a worse experience than their male counterparts. Although our results showed clear gender biases, most of the participants of the conference failed to detect it. Overall, we highlight the challenge of increasing women’s scientific leadership, visibility and interaction in scientific conferences and we suggest several recommendations for creating inclusive meetings, thereby promoting equal opportunities for all participants.

Aquatic ecosystems are strongly body-size structured with a decline of numerical abundance with increasing body size (hereafter, the size spectrum). Marine and lake fish studies have reported consistent variations of size spectra in relation to environmental conditions and biotic composition, but little is known about stream fishes. Accordingly, in this study we test several hypotheses about the effects of local water conditions, biotic introductions and cumulative pressures (measured as the IMPRESS index) on the fish size-spectrum slope (that is, the linear rate of decline of fish abundance as body size increase in a log-log scale) and the size-spectrum intercept (commonly used as proxy for carrying capacity) among 118 local fish assemblages in streams of the NE Iberian Peninsula. To our knowledge, this is the first time that an extensive river fish dataset is used in a dendritic network to cover systematic changes of size-spectrum parameters. We find that the slope and intercept of the fish size spectrum are negatively correlated with nutrient concentration (mainly total phosphorus), with a greater relative abundance of small fishes but a decline of overall carrying capacity. Moreover, fish assemblages with greater relative abundance of non-native species have flatter size-spectrum slopes. In contrast, the IMPRESS index and climate-related variables are poor predictors of the shape of the fish size spectra. This study contributes to better understanding of the main factors structuring fish assemblages in lotic environments of the Iberian Peninsula. We encourage more research on this line to further explore the use of fish size structure to evaluate the ecological health of riverine ecosystems.

Context Resource movements across ecosystem boundaries are important determinants of the diversity and abundance of organisms in the donor and recipient ecosystem. However the effects of cross-ecosystem movements of materials at broader spatial extents than a typical field study are not well understood. Objectives We tested the hypotheses that (1) variation in abundance of 57 forest songbird species within four foraging guilds is explained by modeled emergent aquatic insect biomass inputs from adjacent lakes and streams and (2) the degree of association varies across foraging guilds and species within guilds. We also sought to determine the importance of emergent aquatic insects while accounting for variation in local forest cover and edge. Methods We spatially modeled the degree to which distribution and abundance of songbirds in different foraging guilds was explained by modeled emergent aquatic insect biomass. We used multilevel models to simultaneously estimate the responses of species in four different insectivorous guilds. Bird abundance was summarized from point counts conducted over 24 years at 317 points. Results Aerial insectivores were more abundant in areas with high estimated emergent insect biomass inputs to land (regression coefficient 0.30, P < 0.05) but the overall abundance of gleaners, bark-probers, and ground-foragers was not explained by estimated emergent insect abundance. The coursing aerial insectivores had the strongest association with emergent insects followed by willow flycatcher, olive-sided flycatcher, and alder flycatcher. Conclusions Modeling cross-ecosystem movements of materials at broad spatial extents can effectively characterize the importance of this ecological process for aerial insectivorous songbirds.