2024, Lopes-Lima, M., Geist, J., Egg, S., Beran, L., Bikashvili, A., Van Bocxlaer, B., Bogan, A.E., Bolotov, I.N., Chelpanovskaya, O.A., Douda, K., Fernandes, V., Gomes-dos-Santos, A., Gonçalves, D.V., Gürlek, M.E., Johnson, N.A., Karaouzas, I., Kebapçı, Ü., Kondakov, A.V., Kuehn, R., Lajtner, J., Mumladze, L., Nagel, K.-O., Neubert, E., Österling, M., Pfeiffer, J., Prié, V., Riccardi, N., Sell, J., Schneider, LD., Shumka, S., Sîrbu, I., Skujienė, G., Smith, CH., Sousa, R., Stöckl, K., Taskinen, J., Teixeira, A., Todorov, M., Trichkova, T., Urbańska, Maria, Välilä, S., Varandas, S., Veríssimo, J., Vikhrev, I.V., Woschitz, G., Zając, K., Zając, T., Zanatta, D., Zieritz, A., Zogaris, S., Froufe, E.

2023, Sousa, Ronaldo, Zając, Tadeusz, Halabowski, Dariusz, Aksenova, Olga V., Bespalaya, Yulia V., Carvalho, Francisco, Castro, Paulo, Douda, Karel, da Silva, Janine P., Ferreira‐Rodríguez, Noé, Geist, Juergen, Gumpinger, Clemens, Labecka, Anna M., Lajtner, Jasna, Lewin, Iga, Lopes‐Lima, Manuel, Meira, Alexandra, Nakamura, Keiko, Nogueira, Joana Garrido, Ondina, Paz, Ożgo, Małgorzata, Reis, Joaquim, Riccardi, Nicoletta, Shumka, Spase, Son, Mikhail O., Teixeira, Amílcar, Thielen, Frankie, Urbańska, Maria, Varandas, Simone, Wengström, Niklas, Zając, Katarzyna, Zieritz, Alexandra, Aldridge, David C.

AbstractEurope has a long history of human pressure on freshwater ecosystems. As pressure continues to grow and new threats emerge, there is an urgent need for conservation of freshwater biodiversity and its ecosystem services. However, whilst some taxonomic groups, mainly vertebrates, have received a disproportionate amount of attention and funds, other groups remain largely off the public and scientific radar. Freshwater mussels (Bivalvia, Unionida) are an alarming example of this conservation bias and here we point out six conceptual areas that need immediate and long‐term attention: knowledge, threats, socioeconomics, conservation, governance and education. The proposed roadmap aims to advance research, policy and education by identifying the most pressing priorities for the short‐ and long‐term conservation of freshwater mussels across Europe.

2025, Deng, Binglin, Riccardi, Nicoletta, Urbańska, Maria, Marjomäki, Timo J., Andrzejewski, Wojciech, Taskinen, Jouni

AbstractThe Enemy Release Hypothesis (ERH) proposes that the success of bioinvasions is attributable to lower enemy pressure on invasive species compared to native ones, giving a competitive advantage for invaders. In line with the hypothesis, we previously observed in northern European bodies of fresh water that invasive bivalves were subject to lower parasite pressure than sympatric native mussels. Here, we investigated ERH in three southern European lakes, where the native mussels are rapidly declining and being replaced by non-native bivalves. In total, 679 bivalves (n of individuals per species per lake varying from 12 to 187) were collected during 2016–2018. Ten parasite taxa were found. The mean lake-specific number of parasite taxa in the native mussels (Anodonta exulcerata, A. cygnea, A. anatina and Unio elongatulus) was 2.6 times that in the invasive bivalves (Dreissena polymorpha, Corbicula fluminea and Sinanodonta woodiana). Similarly, the mean lake-specific sum of prevalences of infection by different parasite taxa in the native mussels was 3.4 times that in the invasive bivalves. Notable was the complete lack of parasites in C. fluminea. Thus, the results supported the Enemy Release Hypothesis and were in accordance with previous results from northern Europe, suggesting, on average, a lower parasite pressure in invasive bivalves than in sympatric native mussels. As parasites are usually harmful, this may contribute to the observed successful invasion of non-native freshwater bivalves in Europe.