"Catastrophic decline" in freshwater biodiversity

Mismanagement and growing needs for water are causing freshwater ecosystems to collapse, making freshwater species the most threatened on Earth with extinction rates 4 to 6 times higher than their terrestrial and marine cousins, say scientists at the DIVERSITAS 2nd Open Science Conference, in Cape Town, South Africa.

Klement Tockner, of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, explains that while freshwater ecosystems cover only 0.8 percent of the Earth's surface, they contain roughly 10 percent of all animals, including an astonishing 35 percent of all vertebrates.

"There is clear and growing scientific evidence that we are on the verge of a major freshwater biodiversity crisis," warns Tockner. "However, few are aware of the catastrophic decline in freshwater biodiversity at both local and global scale. Threats to freshwater biodiversity have now grown to a global scale."

The human implications of this trend are "immense," he adds, because freshwater species in rivers, lakes, ground waters, and wetlands provide a diverse array of vital natural services - more than any other ecosystem type. The problem puts billions of people at risk as biodiversity loss affects water purification, disease regulation, subsistence agriculture and fishing.

Freshwater ecosystems and their species also absorb about 7 percent of the carbon humans add annually to the atmosphere. "Although small in area, these freshwater aquatic systems can affect regional carbon balances," Tockner says. "Freshwater ecosystems will be the first victims of both climate change and rising demands on water supplies. And the pace of extinctions is quickening - especially in hot spot areas around the Mediterranean, in Central America, China and throughout Southeast Asia."

To highlight the ecological and economic importance of freshwater ecosystems, Tockner and colleague Charles Vörösmarty, of the City University of New York, will present their research at the conference and encourage fellow scientists to help formulate clear government policy recommendations and future research priorities.

http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20090911213748data_trunc_sys.shtml

Water scarcity will create global security concerns

Water scarcity as a result of climate change will create far-reaching global security concerns, says Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, chair of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Pachauri spoke this morning at the 2009 Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN.

"At one level the world's water is like the world's wealth. Globally, there is more than enough to go round. The problem is that some countries get a lot more than others," he says. "With 31 percent of global freshwater resources, Latin America has 12 times more water per person than South Asia. Some places, such as Brazil and Canada, get far more water than they can use; others, such as countries in the Middle East, get much less than they need."

And the effects of a warmer world will likely include changes in water availability.

"Up to 1.2 billion people in Asia, 250 million Africans and 81 million Latin Americans will be exposed to increased water stress by 2020," Pachauri says. Water shortages have an enormous impact of human health, including malnutrition, pathogen or chemical loading, infectious disease from water contamination, and uncontrolled water reuse.

"Due to the very large number of people that may be affected, food and water scarcity may be the most important health consequences of climate change," Pachauri says.

When communities fight over water resources, there's a great danger for a disruption of peace and security. "That water scarcity plays a role in creating the preconditions of desperation and discontent is undeniable," he says. Competition for water from the river Jordan was a major cause of the 1967 war. India has been in dispute with Pakistan over the Indus and with Bangladesh over the Ganges.

"Over 260 river basins are shared by two or more countries," he says. "As the resource is becoming scarce, tensions among different users may intensify, both at the national and international level. In the absence of strong institutions and agreements, changes within a basin can lead to trans-boundary tensions."

"We live on a small planet where communication and influences go from one corner of the Earth to another," he says. "If there's a major disruption to peace in one part of the globe, no other part is insulated from it. We need to look at what happens to the rest of the world with some degree of alarm; these influences have very dangerous implications for the rest of the world."

Societies so far have been able to adapt to changes in weather and climate - via crop diversification, irrigation, disaster risk management, and insurance - but climate change might go beyond what our traditional coping mechanisms can handle, Pachauri suggests.

Even societies with "high adaptive capacity" are vulnerable to climate change, variability and extremes, he says, citing examples of the 2003 heat wave that took the lives of many elderly in European cities and 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

"A technological society has two choices," Pachauri says. "It can wait until catastrophic failures expose systemic deficiencies, distortion and self-deceptions, or the culture can provide social checks and balances to correct for systemic distortion prior to catastrophic failures."

"Global emissions of greenhouse gases will have to decline by 2015. If we can achieve that, we may be able to avoid the worst effects of climate change," he says. "The costs of this are not high. A major mitigation would only postpone growth domestic product growth by one year at most over the medium term. That's not a high price to pay for the world."

"There is no more crucial issue to human society than the future of water on this planet," he says. "We must work diligently to see that the worst effects don't come to pass. We have very little time. Unless we act with a sense of urgency, there will certainly be conflict and a disruption of peace."

http://www.physorg.com/news174063666.html

Traces of pharmaceuticals found in central Indiana waterways

(PhysOrg.com) -- Pharmaceuticals have been found in freshwater ecosystems in rural areas of central Indiana, says a new study from Ball State University.

Analysis of water collected in the last year from 10 streams in the upper White River watershed found trace amounts of acetaminophen, caffeine, dimethylxanthine, a byproduct of caffeine, and cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine.

"Like it or not, we may be unintentionally exposed to drugs from our drinking water if pharmaceuticals are in our freshwater sources," said Melody Bernot, a Ball State biology professor. "In some spots, we found traces of the mood-altering drug lithium. There are more than 300 pharmaceuticals that are being passed by human excretion into our sewer systems, and our current wastewater filtering systems are not eliminating them before the drugs enter our streams and rivers."

The presence of these compounds in freshwater ecosystems and drinking water supplies raises potential health issues, but little is known about the how these compounds could impact humans through chronic exposure, Bernot said.

"At this point, I can't say if it dangerous or not to consume trace amounts," she said. "The federal government only recently began funding this research."

Bernot plans to apply for funding to continue and expand her research, not only examining the impact on humans but also aquatic animals.

She said pharmaceutical compounds are designed to have a physiological effect on humans or animals, and it is likely that they may also alter function of aquatic organisms. Few studies have examined the influence of pharmaceutical compounds on freshwater organisms.

The report pointed out that sewage contamination is the main pathway for human pharmaceuticals to enter streams. This can be a result of many factors, including age and design of the sewer system. Less urbanized areas tend to use more septic tanks, as opposed to more advanced sewer systems, that can leak untreated sewage into streams.

"This study suggests these sources are contributing pharmaceuticals to streams," Bernot said. "Urbanized areas tend to have updated sewage systems that carry waste to treatment facilities making contamination in streams not receiving wastewater treatment more apparent, especially during conditions when combined sewer overflows are not contributing to water flow."

"We also have many animal feeding operations in central Indiana. Whatever drugs veterinarians put into the animals are eventually excreted into the fields and potentially exported to freshwater."

Bernot initiated the study to better understand the distribution of pharmaceuticals and their potential effect on stream processes. Prescription and nonprescription pharmaceutical concentrations were measured in headwater streams not directly receiving wastewater treatment water in the upper White River watershed.

The area has the one of the most urbanized watersheds in Indiana, encompassing three metropolitan areas including Indianapolis, Anderson and Muncie. The watershed includes 16 counties and supplies 85 percent of the surface water needed for human use in Indianapolis and central Indiana.

http://www.physorg.com/news175280924.html

Massive mismanagement leads to catastrophic decline in freshwater biodiversity

The world will miss its agreed target to stem biodiversity loss by next year, according to experts convening in Cape Town for a landmark conference devoted to biodiversity science.

The goal was agreed at the 6th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in April 2003. Some 123 world ministers committed to "achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the local, national and regional levels, as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth."

"We will certainly miss the target for reducing the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 and therefore also miss the 2015 environmental targets within the U.N. Millennium Development Goals to improve health and livelihoods for the world's poorest and most vulnerable people," says Georgina Mace of Imperial College, London, and Vice-Chair of the international DIVERSITAS program, which is convening its 2nd Open Science Conference Oct. 13-16 with 600 experts from around the world.

"It is hard to image a more important priority than protecting the ecosystem services underpinned by biodiversity," says Prof. Mace. "Biodiversity is fundamental to humans having food, fuel, clean water and a habitable climate."

"Yet changes to ecosystems and losses of biodiversity have continued to accelerate. Since 1992, even the most conservative estimates agree that an area of tropical rainforest greater than the size of California has been converted mostly for food and fuel. Species extinction rates are at least 100 times those in pre-human times and are expected to continue to increase."

However, she adds, "the situation is not hopeless. There are many steps available that would help but we cannot dawdle. Meaningful action should have started years ago. The next best time is now."

The DIVERSITAS conference, to be opened by UN Under-Secretary-General Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, will call for new more science-based targets.

"A great deal of awareness-raising is still much needed with respect to the planetary threat posed by the loss of so many species. The focus of biodiversity science today, though, is evolving from describing problems to policy relevant problem solving," says Stanford University Prof. Hal Mooney, DIVERSITAS Chair.

"Experts are rising to the immense challenge, developing interdisciplinary, science-based solutions to the crisis while building new mechanisms to accelerate progress. Biodiversity scientists are becoming more engaged in policy debates."

Five roundtables between top science and policy specialists are scheduled on key issues such as efforts to create a science-based global biodiversity observing system (GEO-BON) to improve both coverage and consistency in observations at ground level and via remote sensing.

Says DIVERSITAS vice-chair Prof. Robert Scholes, who heads both GEO-BON and the local organization of the Cape Town conference: "GEO-BON will help give us a comprehensive baseline against which scientists can track biodiversity trends and evaluate the status of everything from genes to ecosystem services. The lack of such information became acutely apparent during preparation of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and in formulating the CBD's 2010 targets."

Others, meanwhile, are creating an international mechanism to unify the voice of the biodiversity science community to better inform policy making, its function akin to that of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In Nairobi Oct. 5-9, environment ministers from countries the world over will consider the creation of such a body, called IPBES (the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services), which would require UN General Assembly approval.Interdisciplinary work underway to address key issue areas also include:

How to demonstrate and quantify the economic costs and impacts on human welfare globally and locally due to biodiversity loss and ecosystems degradation (being conducted under the TEEB Initiative);

How to understand, manage and conserve ecosystem services including, for example, the creation of economic incentives to prevent habitat destruction;

How to share the benefits from the use of genetic resources fairly and equitably; and

How to improve research institutions and the international stewardship of biodiversity.

Silent crisis: freshwater species "the most threatened on Earth"

Massive mismanagement and growing human needs for water are causing freshwater ecosystems to collapse, making freshwater species the most threatened on Earth with extinction rates 4 to 6 times higher than their terrestrial and marine cousins, according to conference experts.

Klement Tockner of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, says that while freshwater ecosystems cover only 0.8% of the earth's surface, they contain roughly 10% of all animals, including more than 35% of all vertebrates.

"There is clear and growing scientific evidence that we are on the verge of a major freshwater biodiversity crisis," says Prof. Tockner. "However, few are aware of the catastrophic decline in freshwater biodiversity at both local and global scale. Threats to freshwater biodiversity have now grown to a global scale."

The human implications of this trend are "immense," he adds, because freshwater species in rivers, lakes, ground waters, and wetlands provide a diverse array of vital natural services - more than any other ecosystem type.

The problem puts billions of people at risk as biodiversity loss affects water purification, disease regulation, subsistence agriculture and fishing. Some experts predict that by 2025 not a single Chinese river will reach the sea except during floods with tremendous effects for coastal fisheries in China.

Prof. Tockner says freshwater ecosystems and their species also absorb and bury about 7% of the carbon humans add annually to the atmosphere.

"Although small in area, these freshwater aquatic systems can affect regional carbon balances," he says.

"Freshwater ecosystems will be the first victims of both climate change and rising demands on water supplies. And the pace of extinctions is quickening - especially in hot spot areas around the Mediterranean, in Central America, China and throughout Southeast Asia."

"Despite their pivotal ecological and economic importance, freshwater ecosystems have not been of primary concern in policy making," adds Prof. Tockner. "Only recently did the European Union take the initiative to improve this situation through the EC Biodiversity Strategy. And in the U.S., recent Supreme Court decisions have made wetlands and small streams more vulnerable to loss."

Prof. Tockner, with colleague Charles V-r-smarty of the City University of New York, will present research at one of 25 conference symposia and invite fellow scientists to help formulate clear government policy recommendations and future research priorities.

Other conference presentations will cover issues ranging from biology to economics and international law, with emphasis on the positive benefits of conservation.

Showcased topics include:

Assessments of the ecological and economic risks of the rising global trade in wildlife, many of which carry potentially harmful diseases. The USA alone imported almost 1.5 billion live animals between 2000 and 2006, experts say, with inadequate regard to the risks involved;

The release next year of a report by the UN Convention on Biodiversity called the Global Biodiversity Outlook, to include a major focus on catastrophic biodiversity "tipping points," which complicate predictions. Such thresholds, if breached, will make global change impacts difficult to control, and slow and expensive to reverse.

Biodiversity and carbon: How biodiversity loss impacts rates of natural carbon sequestration and carbon cycling on land and in the ocean. Efforts are underway to understand how levels of biodiversity correspond to atmospheric carbon levels throughout Earth's history in order to better predict the impact of biodiversity on today's rising carbon dioxide concentrations. Other scientists will warn that bioenergy and artificial carbon sequestration projects should be preceded by greater understanding of the environmental pressures these will create.

With respect to biodiversity and human health, scientist Peter Daszak of the US-based Wildlife Trust, says the emergence of new human diseases from wildlife such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, Ebola, and H5N1 avian influenza is a significant threat not just to public health and conservation but also the global economy.

Such deadly diseases impede wildlife conservation as pressure builds to eradicate reservoir populations and cause disruption to agriculture and trade, tourism and other key economies.

"The single outbreak of SARS cost US $30-50 billion and a truly pandemic H5N1 avian flu outbreak would cost an estimated US$300-800 billion," says Dr. Daszak.

He argues that disease emergence and spread can be predicted based on human environmental and demographic changes that underlie the emergence of these diseases.

"Such studies may ultimately allow us to identify the likely region of origin of the next zoonosis and provide strategies to prevent disease emergence and spread."

The conference will conclude with a major plenary, chaired by leading expert Lijbert Brussaard, of Wageningen University, The Netherlands, on ways to reconcile the competing Millennium Development Goals of protecting biodiversity, reducing world hunger and alleviating poverty.

"Ecosystem services are difficult to value, which has led to policy neglect and the irreversible loss of species vital to a well-functioning environment," says Anne Larigauderie, Executive Director of DIVERSITAS.

"It's important for experts to simply exchange the results of their latest research, but the goal of this conference is to collect insights of practical use to policy makers, and to demonstrate the social benefits of investment in species conservation," she says.

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20091013/Massive-mismanagement-leads-to-catastrophic-decline-in-freshwater-biodiversity.aspx#

Freshwater species suffer most as extinctions rise

* Freshwater habitats collapsing - experts

* World to miss 2010 goal of slowing species losses

* New panel urged to assess extinctions

OSLO, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Creatures and plants living in rivers and lakes are the most threatened on Earth because their ecosystems are collapsing, scientists said on Sunday.

They urged the creation of a new partnership between governments and scientists to help stem extinctions caused by humans via pollution, a spread of cities and expanding farms to feed a rising population, climate change and invasive species.

Governments globally had aimed to slow the losses of all species by 2010.

"Massive mismanagement and growing human needs for water are causing freshwater ecosystems to collapse, making freshwater species the most threatened on Earth," according to Diversitas, an international grouping of biodiversity experts.

Extinction rates for species living in freshwater were "four to six times higher than their terrestrial and marine cousins". Fish, frogs, crocodiles or turtles are among freshwater species.

"The 2010 target isn't going to be met," Hal Mooney, a professor at Stanford University, who is chair of Diversitas, told Reuters. Diversitas will hold talks among more than 600 experts in Cape Town, South Africa, from Oct. 13-16 to discuss ways to protect life on the planet.

World leaders agreed at a 2002 Earth Summit in Johannesburg to achieve by 2010 a "significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biological diversity".

"Changes to ecosystems and losses of biodiversity have continued to accelerate ... Species extinction rates are at least 100 times those in pre-human times and are expected to continue to increase," Georgina Mace of Imperial College in London, vice-chair of Diversitas, said in a statement.

Dams, irrigation and climate change that is set to disrupt rainfall are all putting stresses on freshwater habitats. Canals allow plants, fish and other species and diseases to reach new regions.

FRANCE TO RUSSIA

"You can travel from France to Russia without going to the sea any more," Klement Tockner of the Leibnitz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, told Reuters. "Mixing is much faster and more severe than in marine and terrestrial habitats."

By 2025, some experts predict that not a single Chinese river will reach the sea except during floods, with tremendous effects for coastal fisheries in China, Diversitas said.

Tockner said freshwater ecosystems covered 0.8 percent of the Earth's surface but accounted for about 10 percent of all animals.

The United Nations has also turned sceptical about achieving the 2010 goal after long saying that it was too early to judge.

Ahmed Dhjoghlaf, head of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said in February that: "On 1 January 2010, we will not be able to say that we significantly reduced the rate of biodiversity loss."

In Cape Town, experts will try to work out better goals for slowing extinctions, by 2020 and beyond.

Anne Larigauderie, executive director of Diversitas, urged creation of a new panel for monitoring extinctions modelled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose findings are approved both by scientists and governments.

"There should be a new IPCC for biodiversity and ecosystem services," she told Reuters.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LB153609.htm

Sensitivity of Freshwater Habitats

Oil spills occurring in freshwater bodies are less publicized than spills into the ocean even though freshwater oil spills are more frequent and often more destructive to the environment. Freshwater bodies are highly sensitive to oil spills and are important to human health and the environment. They are often used for drinking water and frequently serve as nesting grounds and food sources for various freshwater organisms. All types of freshwater organisms are susceptible to the deadly effects of spilled oil, including mammals, aquatic bifds, fish, insects, microorganisms, and vegetation. In addition, the effects of spilled oil on freshwater microorganisms, invertebrates, and algae tend to move up the food chain and affect other species.

Freshwater is divided into two types: standing water (lakes, marshes, and swamps) and flowing water (rivers and streams). The effects of an oil spill on freshwater habitats varies according to the rate of water flow and the habitat's specific characteristics.

Standing water such as marshes or swamps with little water movement are likely to incur more severe impacts than flowing water because spilled oil tends to "pool" in the water and can remain there for long periods of time. In calm water conditions, the affected habitat may take years to restore. The variety of life in and around lakes has different sensitivities to oil spills.

The bottoms of standing water bodies, which are often muddy, serve as homes to many worms, insects, and shellfish. Lake bottoms also serve has a breeding ground and food source for these organisms and higher animals. Oil in sediments may be very harmful because sediment traps the oil and affects the organisms that live in or feed off the sediments.

In the open water, oil can be toxic to the frogs, reptiles, fish, waterfowl, and other animals that make the water their home. "Oiling" of plants and grasses that are rooted or float in the water also can occur, harming both the plants and the animals that depend on them for food and shelter. Fisheries located in freshwater also are subject to the toxic effects of oil.

On the surface of the water, water bugs that skim the water surface and floating plants such as water lilies are threatened by oil slicks that spread across the surface.

In the shoreline habitats of lakes and other bodies of standing water, cattails and other weeds and grasses provide many important functions for life in and around the water. They serve as food sources, nesting grounds for many types of animals, and shelter for small animals. Oil spills can coat these areas, affecting the plants and the organisms that depend on them.

Marsh environments are among the most sensitive freshwater habitat to oil spills due to the minimal water flow. Oil spills have a widespread impact on a host of interconnected species. For example, lush marsh vegetation is used as nurseries for shellfish and fish, as a food source for many organisms, and a home for fish, birds, and mammals.

Oil spills impact flowing water less severely than standing water because the currents provide a natural cleaning mechanism. Although the effects of oil spills on river habitats may be less severe or last for a shorter amount of time than standing waters, the sensitivity of river and stream habitats is similar to that of standing water, with a few special features:

Oil spilled into most rivers often collects along the banks, where the oil clings to plants and grasses. The animals that ingest these contaminated plants may also be affected.

Rocks found in and around flowing water serve as homes for mosses, which are an important basic element in a freshwater habitat's food chain. Spilled oil can cover these rocks, killing the mosses and disrupting the local ecology.

http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/learning/freshwat.htm

Water Biome: Fresh water

A biome is a large area with similar climate and plants. It is generally agreed that there are seven main biomes.

About three quarters of the earth's surface is covered with water. The water biome is divided into fresh water (water with little or no salt in it, in ponds, rivers, streams) and marine, or salt water (ocean).The animals and plants of the freshwater biome are different in each country.

Fresh water Ponds and Lakes

A pond is a shallow hole where water collects. Plants generally grow around the edges of the pond, and often right across the whole pond. The temperature of the water is similar at the surface and at the bottom of the pond. The bottom is generally covered with mud.

A pond is usually too small to have waves. In places where winters are very cold, the whole pond can freeze solid. Some ponds are seasonal.

A lake is bigger than a pond, sometimes thousands of square metres. Plants only grow along the shoreline because the water is too deep away from the edges. Some lakes are so big that there are waves.

In summer, the temperature of the water in a lake is not the same: the top part of the water gets more of the sun's heat and is warm (about 19-25ºC), the middle layer is cooler because it gets less of the sunlight (about 8-19ºC) , and the bottom layer, which does not get any sunlight, is quite cold (about 4-8ºC).

'Winterkill' and 'Summerkill' in Lakes

More creatures live in the warmer layer of water. Even in the coldest places, most lakes are so big and deep that they don't freeze solid in winter, but a layer of ice can form across the surface. The ice blocks out the sunlight, and oxygen levels in the water drop, killing some plants and animals. This is called 'winterkill'.

In all freshwater areas around the world, algae (say al-gee) can be found. Algae are not plants, animals or fungi. There are different kinds of algae, and most are single-celled but some have more than one cell. As they make their food by photosynthesis, algae release oxygen into the water. Photosynthesis uses sunlight as a source of energy to combine carbon dioxide, water and salts to form chlorophyll (say claw-roe-fill). This means algae are most abundant in summer.When there is too much algae, the decaying algae reduce the oxygen levels in the water, and this can kill plants and animals. This is called 'summerkill'.

Rivers and Streams

Rivers and streams are moving strips of water. The water flows in a channel. The bottom of the channel is called the bed and the sides of the channel are called banks. Rivers are large and flow into the ocean. Rivers and streams make up about 3% of the earth's total fresh water.

Rivers and streams drain the earth of excess water. Water falls from the sky as rain, hail, snow or sleet. Once it reaches the ground, some of the water is absorbed by trees and other plants and the rest filters down into the ground.

Most water runs off the surface and eventually joins a creek or stream. Small streams join together to form rivers. Sometimes small rivers join together to become extremely large rivers. When this happens, the small rivers are called tributaries.

A watershed is an area of land where rain water, streams and small rivers all drain into one large area of water such as a large river, lake or the ocean. Because ground water also drains from a watershed, all kinds of pollution can find its way to the ocean from many kilometres away. The biggest rivers have the biggest watersheds. Therefore, biomes with lots of consistent rain have more rivers and streams. Deserts have little rain and few rivers. Desert rain is short but very intense, so dry rivers and lakes suddenly become full for a short period of time.

The mouth of a river is where it meets the ocean. Rivers carry soil along as they move, and this is dropped at the mouth of the river as it enters the ocean, and gradually builds up, making new land which is called a delta. Rivers tend to branch off in many directions through a delta, creating many islands.

Rivers that are permanently frozen are called glaciers. Glaciers and frozen freshwater, or ice, are found in places such as Antarctica, the frozen continent where the South Pole is located.

Some animals that live in a freshwater biome

The animals that live in a freshwater biome are different in every continent.

Crocodiles or alligators are found in hot areas in some countries, such as Africa, Australia and parts of the USA. Crocodiles generally stay in more salty water near river mouths, while alligators are more common in wetlands and rivers.

Frogs and turtles are generally found in rivers, streams, ponds and wetlands, different species (kinds) in each country. Different fish and the larvae of many insects also live in freshwater.

In Africa, hippopotamus live in freshwater habitats. The common or river hippopotamus lives in water holes and rivers in the grasslands, and the pygmy hippopotamus lives in water in the rainforest.

In parts of eastern Australia, platypus are found in rivers and streams.

http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biomewater.htm