Dear Colleagues,

Life on Earth depends on water, and water is the foundation for the origin of life. Seventy percent of our planet’s surface is covered with water; over 95% of Earth’s water is in the ocean. Freshwater is intrinsically limited in availability and is a globally important, indispensable resource for the persistence of all life forms. The ecological importance of oceans is immense, which includes, but is not limited to, carbon sequestration, climate moderation, nutrient cycling, and provision of habitats millions of life forms. Although coastal biodiversity is well-explored, deep-ocean biodiversity is heavily understudied. The values of aquatic resources to the society and environment have been well-recognized; aquatic ecosystems have received an increasing attention in terms of research, management, education and awareness across the globe. However, aquatic habitats and aquatic biota around the world have been critically imperiled, mostly due to anthropogenic forces, such as overexploitation, environmental pollution, urbanization, and industrialization. The demand on freshwater and for other aquatic resources for human consumption is dramatically increasing along with the growing global human population. The challenges to stem the losses in global freshwater, brackish, and marine biodiversity remain extensive and the resolution of this crisis is an imminent need in the face of global environmental change.

Persistence of aquatic biodiversity in the face of environmental changes (climate change, pollution, unsustainable land-uses, such as intensive agriculture and urbanization, overexploitation, biological invasions, diseases and parasitic infections and a myriad of other factors) is a critical issue confronted by many governments, resource managers, researchers, and conservation authorizes worldwide. Rapid degradation of freshwater habitats accentuates the gravity of global water crisis. In addition, the richness of aquatic biological diversity may be largely unknown to science in less-explored biomes, particularly in the tropical realm. Therefore, it is crucial to explore the global freshwater diversity in-depth to broaden our understanding of the biosphere. It is the prime responsibility of researchers and conservation biologists to device action plans to effectively and efficiently manage and conserve global aquatic biodiversity; to develop the science-based knowledge on freshwater biodiversity; and promote wise use of aquatic resources to achieve sustainable development for the mankind.

Suitable topics:

The scholarly articles that focus on different aspects of global aquatic biodiversity will be considered for this special issue. Following are some suitable topics we are looking for. Other ideas, if deemed suitable, will be considered by the editorial committee. 

• Conservation and management of global aquatic ecosystems (freshwater, marine, coastal, brackish, and intertidal), habitats and species
• Imperiled (locally, regionally, nationally, or globally) aquatic freshwater habitats and species
• National and transboundary action plans targeting and/or emphasis on conservation of marine, coastal and freshwater biodiversity
• Threats to aquatic biodiversity: pollution, overuse, invasions, diseases, etc.
• Ecology, evolution, behavior, natural and life histories of aquatic and semiaquatic species
• Experimental aquatic ecology
• Cutting-edge technology on aquatic biodiversity: GIS, remote sensing, radiotelemetry and animal tracking
• Distribution studies and diversity inventories from less-explored habitats and regions, including species descriptions: tropics, polar ecology, winter ecology
• Sustainable management of fisheries and other aquatic biota
• Theoretical studies in ecology and conservation of aquatic systems
• Restoration of aquatic habitats: theory and practice
• Environmental law and policies with an aquatic perspective
• Perspectives and efforts on public awareness and formal education on aquatic biodiversity
• Global climate change and aquatic resources
• Functions and processes of aquatic ecosystems and land-water connections
• Impacts of aquatic biodiversity on human well-being
• Formal Education on aquatic biodiversity conservation and aquatic resources (ms on pedagogy)
• Public outreach on aquatic biodiversity conservation and aquatic resources

If you work in the field of aquatic ecology and resource management, and your specific topic of research is not listed, please feel free to contact the Guest Editor regarding your potential manuscript.

Dr. Thilina Surasinghe
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.