Sunday, 4th June Freshwater Sciences 2023

• River relations, river rhythms, and river science - Elizabeth Anderson
• Hynes Award for New Investigators - Aaron Koning
• Disturbance and resilience of ecosystems: from streams to cities - Nancy Grimm

• Ngā rangatira mō apōpō ki Patuharakeke rohe: the chiefs and leaders of tomorrow in Patuharakeke area. - Alyssa Thomas
• Te Ārohirohi o Raukawa - Raukawa Freshwater Assessment Framework  - Kyea Ms Watene-Hakaria
• Living Waters or Resource? Ontological differences and the governance of waters and rivers - Sue Jackson
• Indigenous perspectives and involvement of freshwater management in the lower Gulf of Carpentaria. - Murrandoo Yanner Snr
• Hokonui Rūnanga Kaupapa Taiao: Empowering Indigenous-Led Māori Freshwater Management - Tāne T Tamati

Freshwaters are biodiversity hotspots, but among the most threatened habitats on Earth. They provide habitat for threatened and endangered organisms, support crucial biogeochemical cycles and provide key ecosystem services to people. In the Anthropocene Era, river networks are increasingly drying due to climate change and human alterations to flow regimes. Ecological effects of drying are well understood at local scales. We are gradually gaining understanding of drying impacts at the river network scale, where fragmentation alters spatiotemporal patterns of flows of sediments, nutrients and both aquatic and terrestrial organisms. However, the lack of knowledge of how drying shapes these regional-scale fluxes prevents predicting how global change is altering freshwater ecosystem functions and services, and how this may affect public values and perceptions of such services. Drying freshwaters are generally undervalued by people, scientists and managers, and we lack effective conservation strategy or ecosystem management at the river network scale.

Arising from an interdisciplinary group of international scientists involved in large collaborative research projects on drying river networks, we propose a special session that investigates how global change cascades on to hydrology, aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, ecosystem functions and ecosystem services in drying river networks, including ecological, social and economic aspects. It will explore ways to promote the adaptive management of drying river networks across the world. This session welcomes presentations (12min-long) from eco-hydrology, biogeochemistry, community ecology, socio-economy, policy, modelling and management from all continents. A dedicated special issue proposal will emerge from the session.

• Climate change, drought, and fish population resilience in fragmented dryland rivers - Jonathan C Marshall
• Intermittency and environmental filtering explain fish diversity in the Chocó-Darien Global Ecoregion in the Neotropics - Daniel Escobar Camacho
• Using genomics to understand eco-evolutionary consequences of stream drying in the Anthropocene - Meryl C Mims
• How do spatial scale and species traits influence genetic structure of freshwater invertebrates? - Samuel C. Silknetter
• Spatial structure of drying controls community diversity in intermittent stream networks: bridging mechanistic and statistical models across a hydroclimatic gradient - Albert Ruhi Vidal

• Capniid winter stonefly population distributions across time in the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains region - Michelle A. Evans-White
• A study to evaluate causes of mussel declines across the Eastern US - Erin McCombs
• Does mitigation achieve conservation? Evaluating the effectiveness of freshwater mussel species at risk translocations in southern Ontario - Lauren Damphousse
•   Isolation management to protect threatened native galaxiid fish species: lessons from Aotearoa New Zealand - Martha Jolly
• Assigning trend-based conservation status of freshwater fishes despite high uncertainty - Richard White
• Spatio-temporal movements of shortfin eels (Anguilla australis) in the vicinity of a flood pump station - Paul Franklin

Paleoenvironmental research can play a key role in providing crucial information for contemporary environmental challenges that impact freshwater systems, particularly related to alterations in water quality, as well as the form and function of freshwater systems that is directly (e.g., water pollution and invasive species) and/or indirectly (e.g., climate change) linked to anthropogenic influences and processes. This information can then be used to inform contemporary management strategies for freshwater systems through providing contextual knowledge (i.e., baseline data) and/or alterations in the biota of freshwater systems, which can then be applied to current and future management strategies. In addition, this data can also provide insight into how contemporary freshwater systems may respond to future climate change through the provision of past analogues (i.e., in response to different climatic regimes and/or water quality regimes) to previous periods of climate change over centennial and millennial time scales.

This session will be focussing on how the application of paleolimnological and/or palaeoecological data can be applied to address contemporary environmental challenges, particularly related to human influences and processes, impacting freshwater systems. Presentations that focus on individual locations (i.e., palustrine and lacustrine sites) to catchment wide areas, as well addressing issues that impact specific biota or species to the ecological form and function of freshwater systems will form a key component of this session. In addition, the submission of presentations that focus on multiproxy approaches and/or Indigenous perspectives to assisting with responding to contemporary environmental challenges will be strongly encouraged. 

• Persistence and stability of Great Artesian Basin spring wetlands - Peter M Negus
• A Bayesian Belief Network and palaeoecological data show that billabong morphometry controls ecosystem response to catchment disturbance and flow regulation - Michael A Reid
• Palaeolimnological evidence of potential regime shifts in three freshwater lakes in Tropical East Asia - Wayne WB Bannister
• The influence of changing sea level and hydroclimate on the Mungalla Coastal Wetlands in the Wet Tropics of Queensland - Kevin J Welsh
• Environmental change and fire management over 50,000 years in a freshwater spring in the Central Queensland Coast - Seadín Gallagher
• The environmental history of the terminal lakes of the Murray River, Australia's longest river: Implications for management  - John Tibby

• Diatoms as model systems to understand the evolution of organelles in eukaryotes.   - Jane Marks
• Effects of a large dam and flood disturbance on dispersal, connectivity and recovery of Vallisneria nana: critical habitat for the nationally threatened Australian lungfish - Colin L Burke
• Aquatic plants act as ecosystem engineers by trapping propagules and fine sediments - Scott A McKendrick
• Interaction between submerged macrophytes and harmful cyanobacteria Microcystis and their toxins - Yunni Gao
• Understanding environmental drivers of New Zealand freshwater macrophyte traits - Inigo Zabarte-Maeztu

• Controls of benthic microbial communities across a land use gradient   - Joshua M Buonpane
• Dissolved organic matter influence on microbial communities and productivity in the Warrego and Darling Rivers - Manisha Shakya
• Exploring patterns of fungal biodiversity and function across an intermittent stream network in the Great Plains (USA). - Charles T. Bond
• Using quantitative stable isotope probing(qSIP) to characterize epiphytes growing on Cladophora glomerata at 3 successional stages in the Eel river in Northern California. - Raina Fitzpatrick

• Pesticides are important but often unknown stressors for invertebrates in small urban streams - Ian R Waite
• Can metal pollution inhibit the amphibian-killing chytrid fungus in culture? - Milad Esmaeilbeigi
• Patterns of bioaccumulation of PFAS in benthic macroinvertebrates of different trophic functions    - Erasme Uyizeye
• A Tale of Two Rivers - Kelly Kissane
• Spent coffee grounds as a novel biosorbent to remove nitrates from streams. - Nayla Rhein

• Identifying intermittent river sections with similar hydrology using remotely sensed metrics - Thiaggo C Tayer
• Sensor technology in regulatory monitoring and response - Molly Hoak
• The challenges to implement extensive in situ water quality sensor networks - Tim Malthus
• Applicability of combined remote sensing and geomorphic approach to the assessment of surface water connectivity in Queensland floodplain wetlands.   - Maria Julieta Rossi

• Habitat utilisation of small migratory gobiod fish in relation to microhabitat use and benthic communities in small streams on Sado Island, northern Japan - Midori Iida
• Common processes drive metacommunity structure in freshwater lake fish despite region-specific influences - Taku Kadoya
• The emergence of novel freshwater fish communities in the Anthropocene. - Johannes Sassen
• The global emergence of functionally novel freshwater fish communities. - Sarah A. Hampson
• Seed dispersal by water, wind, birds, and bats in the Caliraya Watershed, Laguna - Giancarlo Pocholo L. Enriquez
• Sydney Wetland Institute – an effective model for wetland knowledge sharing - Swapan K Paul

• INDIGENOUS ENGAGEMENT TO SUPPORT RESILIENCE: A CASE STUDY FROM KAMILAROI COUNTRY (NSW, AUSTRALIA). - Bradley J Moggridge
• Wardaman Wiyan (Water) Project - Wardaman Rangers
• Urban billabong restoration benefits from Traditional Owner involvement and regular flooding - Joe Greet
• The Murihiku Cultural Water Classification System: An Indigenous framework to bring different knowledges together to inform the protection and enhancement of cultural uses - Jane Kitson
• Te Arohirohi o Raukawa - Implementing the Raukawa Freshwater Framework - Nikorai Mr Nuttall

• Movement behaviour of invasive carp when small flow events interrupt drought in dryland rivers - Kate Hodges
• Physiological and behavioural plasticity enhances the resilience of a dryland river fish to hypoxia and warming during drought. - Zoe Ross
• Increasing intercontinental hydrologic and climatic variability are altering freshwater fish assemblages - Corey A Krabbenhoft
• Winners and losers: Body size influences the tolerance of aquatic hypoxia and warm water in Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii) - Rebecca Cramp
• Spatial metapopulation modelling of the long-term persistence an Australian freshwater fish (Maquaria ambigua) in the intermittent waterholes of an arid floodplain river. - Nick Bond
• Megadroughts pose mega-risk to native fishes of the American Southwest - Keith Gido

• Relationships of space, time, and invasion status to freshwater species interactions - Samuel F Fritz
• Zebra mussel invasion associated with increased mercury bioaccumulation and food web shifts in walleye and yellow perch - Denver Link
• Introduced trout alter the trait composition of alpine zooplankton communities. - Spencer Cruz
• Going Hog Wild: Using time-integrated samplers to reveal the role of feral hogs on stream sediment yield in small headwater streams - Stella Wilson

The ongoing decline of freshwater biodiversity requires urgent action for conservation and restoration. At present, there is often a gap between the theory of conservation prioritization and applied projects. The objective of this session is to create synergies and bridge this gap by bringing together the theory and science of conservation with applied examples from which important lessons can be learnt. Presentations in this session can cover a wide range of species (e.g., plants, freshwater mussels, insects, fishes, amphibians, mammals), habitats (e.g., springs, aquifers and other groundwater-dependent ecosystems, streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands) and approaches (e.g., single-species conservation, habitat restoration, sediment and flow management, protected areas such as Ramsar sites, innovative techniques). We encourage both reporting of success stories as well as unsuccessful approaches and suggestions for improvement. Presentations that demonstrate collaboration between individuals and organizations (e.g. researchers, policy makers, conservation bodies, NGOs) are especially welcome. The core requirement for each contribution is that an explicit conservation message needs to be covered. Each contribution would also be eligible for the Wiley Aquatic Conservation Prize to be presented at the conference.

• Session Introduction - Juergen Geist
• Functional indicators in aquatic ecosystem management programmes: a concerning disconnect between science and practice - Ryan M Burrows
• Toward empirical assessment of adaptive capacity in aquatic populations across scales: from genomes to landscapes in native rainbow trout populations in Idaho - Chris Caudill
• Modelling the longitudinal distribution, abundance and habitat use of the giant freshwater shrimp (Macrobrachium spinipes) in a large intermittent, tropical Australian river to inform water resource policy - Leah S Beesley
• Using social-ecological models to explore stream connectivity outcomes for stakeholders and Yellowstone cutthroat trout - Colden V Baxter
• Increasing our understanding of the water requirements of riparian vegetation in the lower Fitzroy River, Western Australia - Caroline A Canham

Alterations to natural flow, temperature, and nutrient regimes are disrupting riverine ecosystem functions–including biogeochemical, geomorphic, and ecological processes–accelerating biodiversity loss throughout the world. Predicted climate change and increasing water demand are exacerbating these impacts. Identifying and preserving key ecosystem functions at the basin scale is necessary to maintain diverse and resilient freshwater systems. However, basin-scale approaches to maintain ecosystem functions are constrained by data limitations and difficulties in reliably interpolating local, process-based insights to larger scales. Recent advances in remotely sensed geospatial and biodiversity data along with novel data integration and modelling techniques (such as machine learning) have the potential to address some of these limitations/gaps and provide deeper understanding of ecosystem responses at the basin-scale. This session aims to highlight novel research that identifies key ecosystem functions and considers ways to scale process-based insights over time and space. We are also interested in research that explores the effects of management interventions on ecosystem functions and consequences for species of interest and other indicators of ecosystem health. For this session, we invite talks, demonstrations, case-studies, field-based methods, and modelling at basin- and regional scales, that assess and scale ecosystem functions and incorporate functions-oriented understanding in water and land management decision-making.

• Effect of Natural and Artificial Barriers on Life History Traits of Fishes in the Gilgel Abay River and Its Tributaries, Lake Tana Sub-Basin, Ethiopia. - Tariku Hailu
• Developing tools to incorporate the impacts of climate change and adaptation on water supplies and Basin assets in water planning - Rebecca E Lester
• Restoring functional flows in California’s rivers: evidence and opportunity - Theodore E Grantham
• Designing fit-for-purpose models for improved environment management, with a focus on environmental flows - Carmel Pollino
• Validating floodplain forest responses to inundation: Antecedent inundation histories and inundation threshold influence vegetation condition responses - Luke M McPhan
• Evaluating the effects of environmental water on fish populations in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia - Sally Hladyz

• The genomic traits of stream benthic microbiomes in the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) - Saeed Kariunga
• Nutrients, light, and biofilms interact to influence removal rates of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in mesocosms - Emma Thrift
• Pharmaceutical pollution induces antimicrobial resistance and genomic changes in aquatic microbiota - Cami Plum
• Leaf litter differentially impacts the removal of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) from flowing waters - Mitchell J. Liddick

• Seeing through a fish’s eye: Using stable isotopes of fish eye lenses to understand life history - William W Fetzer
• Does the harvesting of diadromous fishes reduce marine-derived subsidies in freshwater fish assemblages? - Ben R. J. Crichton
• Food quality, fish condition and trophic diversity in a free-flow tropical river and wetlands  - Colton N Perna
• How does salinity affect tropical freshwater wetland food webs? - Tegan Dedman
• Changes in the identity and function of freshwater aquatic invertebrates along a mining-induced salinization gradient. - Sally Entrekin
• Investigating conservation challenges and opportunities for native fish in Aotearoa New Zealand lakes in the face of climate change - Simon Stewart

Much of our understanding of how water, organisms, energy, and matter move through riverscapes stems from a long history of research focused on rivers forming a linear continuum from mountain to sea. Yet, grasping the function of hydrologically dynamic systems – such as high-energy braided rivers, anabranching desert rivers, frequently-drying river networks, and wetland floodplains – requires developing more complex spatial and temporal frameworks which consider the interplay of local and regional scale processes and metasystem connectivity. Moreover, a more unified multidisciplinary understanding of these more complex river networks could considerably advance knowledge on multiple fronts. For instance, ecological concepts of meta-ecosystems and metacommunities highlight the role of dispersal and spatial arrangement in community assembly, but have not been embraced as widely by biogeochemists. Similarly, divergent tools and methods used between sub-disciplines can limit progress. In this session we seek to produce a more unified understanding of river systems by inviting presenters from all freshwater science disciplines working in hydrologically dynamic systems; we encourage them to articulate how the characteristics of these dynamic systems drive the patterns they study. Work using, or combining, innovative techniques/approaches (e.g., sensor networks, ‘omics, data science, metacommunity or meta-ecosystem analyses, stable isotopes) to grapple with these conceptually and computationally challenging systems will be considered favourably. We particularly invite work that connects the spatial and temporal movement of water, organisms, energy, nutrients, organic matter, and/or greenhouse gasses within these complex systems. The overall aim is to produce a more synthetic understanding of river systems by focusing on the importance of spatio-temporal dynamism in highly dynamic river systems.

• Meta-food-webs in a hydrologically diverse meltwater riverscape: contributions to ecosystem stability and species persistence - J. Ryan Bellmore
• Stability in food webs connected across a complex braided river landscape. - Holly A L Harris
• Disturbance timing mediates trophic cascade strength in river ecosystems - Jonathan D Tonkin
• Tiny tribs and giant rivers: population & community dynamics at hydrologic disjunctions - David A Lytle
• Habitat complexity and community 
dynamics in New Zealand braided rivers - Christina L McCabe

• Field-based evidence that wing metrics can be used to identify good dispersers - Barbara J Downes
• Coexistence of species with multi-stage life-cycles as exemplified by stream insects - Galen Holt
• Density dependent infection in caddisfly egg masses may support stable species coexistence - Georgia Dwyer
• Species-specific differences in oviposition habits and susceptibility to natural enemies in caddisflies  - Emily K Armstrong
• Trade-offs between available resources and predation risk determine the structure of aquatic bromeliad communities - Catherine M McClure
• Rapid evolution influences species coexistence in aquatic plant communities - Simon P Hart

• The science-communications interface and its importance for adaptive management    - Andy Lowes
• Identifying Management Gaps in the Prevention of Aquatic Invasive Species for the U.S. - Zoey C Hendrickson
• Future water security threats and effective response solutions for water security. - Alexandre AT Teixeira
• Water quality index (WQI) and statistics-based analysis of water quality in streams and rivers in the Philippines - Francis S Magbanua
• Upland swamps and Giant dragonfly - assessing risks from water extraction and determining the water needs to protect these endangered ecological communities. - Joe Cairns
• How the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management has challenged river flow management in Aotearoa-New Zealand - Doug J Booker

• Towards better management of drying river networks: insights from dry streams in a wet country - Rachel Stubbington
• Flow regime shifts in intermittent streams across California, USA - Jessica R Ayers
• Policy makers and the no-flow spell: the quest to develop water quality objectives for intermittent rivers - Alisha Steward
• A drying catchment in South Australia and what can we do differently – people, policy & science - Melissa White
• Emergency response to save headwater stream species from climate drying and heat extremes - Jaye Lobegeiger
• Climate change vulnerability and environmental flow adaptation across a large, connected river basin - Andrew John

• The role of parasites in crayfish invasions - Lindsey S Reisinger
• The crawling dead: Microsporidian parasite alters invasive crayfish ecosystem impacts in mesocosms - Cheyenne E Stratton
• Clicks not bricks: A global assessment of the growing online trade in invasive ornamental crayfish - Julian Olden
• Habitat use by an introduced amphidromous crustacean, Macrobrachium lar, and potential interactions with endemic species in Hawaiian streams - Ayron M Strauch
• Floating aquatic fern Azolla has its own mind! - Swapan K Paul

• Guiding the strategic management of aquatic fauna - Robin Hale
• Conservation of endangered European freshwater fishes and mussels: Genetic monitoring in captive breeding - Juergen Geist
• Genetic diversity and population structure of the critically endangered mussel, Margaritifera marrianae, and implications for conservation - Raquel M Gonzalez
• From theory to practice; translocation of the threatened Flinders Ranges purple-spotted gudgeon – Mogurnda clivicola – in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia - Mark Lethbridge
• Evaluating threats to global inland fisheries - Gretchen Stokes

• Prioritizing Stream Protection, Restoration and Management Actions Using Landscape Modeling and Spatial Analysis - Eric D. Stein
• Re-imagining Water Infrastructure for a Biodiverse Future - Charles van Rees
• Novel assessment of trajectories of change in Murray-Darling Basin riverine tree ecosystems - Tanya M Doody
• Investing in new ecosystem functions knowledge in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia - Ashmita Sengupta
• Knowledge and methods to support the assessment of potential water resource development impacts on ecology in northern Australia  - Danial Stratford

• Microbial ecology & methane production in a hypersaline coastal lagoon - Christopher Keneally
• Multiscale assessment of methane derived carbon in freshwater: from catchment to microorganisms - Michael Hinchliffe
• Influence of historical inundation frequency on the responses of microbial communities in semi-arid floodplain wetlands - Tsuyoshi Kobayashi
• Effects of temperature on microbial activity: insights from a 3-year whole-stream warming experiment - Vladislav Gulis
• Aquatic hyphomycetes: Are they even aquatic? - Helen Ochs

• Aquatic food web response to an invasive plant across the Copper River Delta of Alaska, USA - Amaryllis Adey
• Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside: C:N ratios are remarkably consistent between dragonfly exuviae and their respective emergent adults. - Karen H Gaines
• An agent-based model of lake food web dynamics: the effect of introduced trout on the coexistence of two native fish - Finnbar Lee
• The dark side of rocks: an underestimated high-quality food resource in river ecosystems - Fen Guo

• Dynamic control of non-native fish effects on natives due to interactive disturbance and network position influences - Angus McIntosh
• SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL CHANGES IN ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION THROUGH A CONNECTION EVENT IN THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER FLOODPLAIN - Munique C Reid
• Hydrology and geomorphic setting as prevailing drivers of hyporheic assemblages in young streams undergoing primary succession - Deb Finn
• The biofilm capricious response to drying in Neotropical streams of the Pacific lowlands - Daniela Rosero-Lopez

Panel Discussion with all Special Session Presenters

• Investigating long-term trends in salmonfly emergence in two Montana rivers: Can pulsed drought disturbance alter aquatic-terrestrial carbon flux? - Jade E Ortiz
• Cross boundary temperature regimes and their effects on giant salmonfly (Pteronarcys Californica) emergence - Alzada Roche
• Response of stream macroinvertebrate assemblages to forest harvesting in the Piedmont region of North Carolina - Zanethia C Barnett
• Living Water: Working together to reimagine the lowland waterway network in Ararira (LII) Canterbury - Katie E Collins
•  Multi-criteria assessment and decision-support for application of edge-of-field and flow-path mitigations for diffuse agricultural pollution - Chris C Tanner

• Bookending engagement: Risk analysis incorporating community input as a decision-making tool for a declining South Australian water resource - Stuart Sexton
• Ensuring your work has impact long after the research funding is spent - Siwan Lovett
• A framework to evaluate modelled outputs to inform ecosystem-based management of the Coorong.  - Gareth Oerman
• Quantifying the effect of environmental water management interventions under potential future climates - Thomas Job
• How kupu whakarite (metaphors) and te reo Māori (Māori language) are transforming freshwater science and management in Aotearoa New Zealand - Joanne Clapcott
• What is the antonym of requirement? - Ben Gawne