Status of freshwater invertebrate biodiversity in Ireland's rivers – time to take stock

Abstract:In recent years a growing number of publications have highlighted alarming biodiversity losses in freshwaters. Given the continuing pollution pressure on water quality in Ireland, it is now timely to take stock of the information base on freshwater invertebrate biodiversity in rivers. This paper interrogates available macroinvertebrate datasets and published results to determine the state of knowledge of freshwater invertebrate biodiversity in Ireland's rivers, what is known in terms of their threat status and what is the impact of pollution on riverine invertebrate biodiversity. Second, it investigates the potential use of surrogates to monitor biodiversity of macroinvertebrates in Irish rivers and concludes with a discussion of emerging threats to macroinvertebrate biodiversity, key knowledge gaps, and addressing monitoring of invertebrate biodiversity.