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Understanding how increasing risk of frequent and severe fires affects biodiversity and ecosystem function is important for effective conservation and recovery, but large knowledge gaps exist for many taxa in many parts of the world, especially invertebrates.After Australia's 2019–2020 catastrophic bushfire disaster, estimates of biodiversity loss and government priorities for post‐fire conservation activities were focused on vertebrates and plants because of lack of knowledge about invertebrates.Our synthesis of published evidence reveals a fragmented and ambiguous body of literature on invertebrate responses to fire in Australian ecosystems, limiting the capacity of evidence to inform effective conservation policy in response to extreme fire events. Peer‐reviewed studies are available for only six of the more than 30 invertebrate phyla and 88% were on arthropods, predominantly ants.Nearly all studies (94%) were conducted in terrestrial habitats, with only four studies measuring impacts in freshwater habitats and no studies of impacts on marine invertebrates. The high variation in study designs and treatment categories, as well as the absence of key methodological details in many older observational studies, means that there is substantial opportunity to improve our approach to collating meaningful estimates of general fire effects.To understand the full ecological effects of catastrophic fire events, and design effective policies that support recovery of ecosystems now and in future, it is critical that we improve understanding of how fire regimes affect invertebrates. We list key priorities for research and policy to support invertebrate conservation and ecosystem recovery in the face of increasing fire risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current synopsis reviews the types of aquatic habitats, that are located in the city of Plovdiv and analyses their importance for the biodiversity. Studies of the biodiversity in urban landscapes are of particular importance because they are still scarce. Several plant and animal groups are studied in the city of Plovdiv – mosses, mollusks, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Their distribution among habitats is presented, as well as specific threats and conservation problems.

Abstract: Freshwater gastropods are a major component of aquatic communities in arid regions. The isolation of aquatic habitats and poor dispersal abilities of organisms has resulted in the evolution of endemic species with small ranges. Human demands for water threaten the integrity of desert spring systems and as a result many freshwater snails from these regions are of conservation concern. One widespread lymnaeid species in North America, Stagnicola caperata (Say, ), exhibits distinct shell morphologies among populations in the south‐west United States. Because S. caperata is listed as endangered by the State of New Mexico owing to degradation of wetland habitats, accurate taxonomic assessment among populations is required in order to understand threats to the survival of this taxon. A holistic approach (morphometrics, phylogenetics, and reproductive anatomy) was used to investigate the taxonomic affinities of S. caperata in the south‐west United States by comparing these populations with topotypes. Morphometric analyses revealed similar levels of variation among populations, with large overlaps in shell morphologies. Both phylogenetic analysis and reproductive anatomy revealed the presence of two Stagnicola species in these populations: all populations except the Big Costilla Peak (BCP) population were referable to the nomen S. caperata, while BCP was Stagnicola cf. elodes. A total‐evidence approach that combines genetic and morphological data facilitates assessment of taxonomic affinities. The results provide conservation agencies with information necessary to detect species boundaries and then develop effective conservation and recovery plans for imperilled species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current synopsis reviews the types of aquatic habitats, that are located in the city of Plovdiv and analyses their importance for the biodiversity. Studies of the biodiversity in urban landscapes are of particular importance because they are still scarce. Several plant and animal groups are studied in the city of Plovdiv - mosses, mollusks, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Their distribution among habitats is presented, as well as specific threats and conservation problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rivers and floodplains are among the most threatened ecosystems. Hydroelectric power plants and embankments have reduced the hydrological connectivity between rivers and their floodplain channels, leading to loss of freshwater habitats and biological communities. To prevent and reverse such loss, numerous restoration programmes have aimed at rejuvenating the lateral hydrological connectivity between rivers and floodplain channels. Despite considerable global attention, we know remarkably little about the ecological benefits of floodplain restoration programmes., We analysed the functional diversity of different macroinvertebrate groups (natives and aliens) along a gradient of lateral hydrological connectivity on the Rhône river in France. We used 36 sampling sites to describe the functional diversity (Rao's quadratic entropy) before and after the enhancement of the lateral hydrological connectivity by restoration. The effects of restoration on functional diversity were tested for each macroinvertebrate group and at multiple spatial levels (alpha and beta)., Before restoration, alpha functional diversity of the entire macroinvertebrate community peaked in sites with a high lateral connectivity. The contribution of the native groups to functional diversity was higher than that of the alien group. The latter was not constrained by high values of lateral hydrological connectivity and reached a maximum in highly connected sites., After restoration, within-site functional diversity (alpha FD) declined linearly following the enhancement of lateral hydrological connectivity. The restoration operations increased the contribution of the aliens to functional diversity and reduced the contribution of a group of native taxa. In addition, among-sites functional diversity (beta FD) was successfully enlarged by restoration., Synthesis and applications. The lateral hydrological connectivity (LHC) represents a key parameter for explaining the functional diversity (FD) of macroinvertebrates in a floodplain ecosystem. Our results demonstrate that restoration-induced changes to functional diversity can be predicted. Controversially, restoration-induced enhancement of lateral hydrological connectivity increased the functional diversity of the alien macroinvertebrates. However, these species contributed only to a small part of the total macroinvertebrate functional diversity. We recommend that restoration programmes diversify the levels of lateral hydrological connectivity among the channels to ensure an optimal functional diversity at the floodplain scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The freshwater habitats of the Eastern Congo are among the least investigated areas on the African continent. This severely restricts our understanding of the composition and distribution of the gastropod and bivalve communities in this region. This lack of knowledge, in combination with very limited recent collections, hampers the phylogenetic assessment of several molluscan taxa on the Pan-African scale and conservation efforts targeting this most prominent taxon of the macrozoobenthos. We here report on species obtained in the Eastern Congo in 2010. In total, 20 gastropod and bivalve taxa were collected from 24 freshwater habitats of the Nile and the Congo drainage system. By compiling faunal and taxonomic data we also aim to provide information of relevance to conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]