Organizers: Michał Grabowski (1), Fedor Čiampor (2), Tomasz Mamos (1), Zoltán Csabai (3)

(1) Department of Invertebrate Zoology & Hydrobiology, University of Lodz, Poland

(2) Department of Biodiversity and Ecology, Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia

(3) Department of Hydrobiology, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

Carpathian region, including both the Carpathian Arch and the Carpathian Basin, is recognised as a biodiversity and endemism hotspot of global importance. However, most of the studies focus on terrestrial organisms, while the aquatic biota and its distribution patterns are relatively poorly recognised. This is surprising, taking into account that the local freshwater resources are of critical importance and their biota is highly threatened. Besides the low level of awareness and low level of support for science, one of the reasons behind the lack of sufficient knowledge of the aquatic biodiversity in this region is insufficient cooperation between countries of the Carpathian region. Such fragmentation results in uneven distribution of specialists and funding as well as limiting the knowledge transfer. Another problem is the putatively high number of taxa difficult to recognise or even cryptic. Thus, this special session will focus on research documenting biodiversity as well as its spatial distribution patterns in ecological and evolutionary context in all kinds of aquatic ecosystems in the Carpathian Region. We invite all researchers, especially those working in poorly known taxa, less explored aquatic or whose research extends beyond one geographic region/country, to share their findings. This will help us all not only to correctly identify knowledge gaps on aquatic biodiversity in the region, but also to effectively fill them in the future through international cooperation.

Organizers: Núria Bonada (1), Zoltán Csabai (2), Thibault Datry (3) 

(1) FEHM-Lab, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

(2) Department of Hydrobiology, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

(3) National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), UR RiverLy, Villeurbanne, Franc

The drying of freshwaters is increasing worldwide, exerting profound alterations on biological communities. Responses to drying appear at all levels of organization, from genes to physiological resilience and species distribution to metacommunity and food web structures. This special session gathers innovative and recent research on freshwater ecosystems, unraveling the profound effects of drying on aquatic macroinvertebrates. We expect several insights from the DRYvER project, but the session is open to anyone. Join us and share your findings, engage in insightful discussions, and contribute to our collective understanding of how aquatic macroinvertebrates navigate the unprecedented challenges posed by global change.