One in Four Freshwater Animal Species Faces Extinction Risk: Study [Video]

A quarter of all freshwater animals, including crustaceans, fish and insects, face a high risk of extinction from threats like pollution, farming and dams, a new study has found.

Rivers, lakes, wetlands and other bodies of freshwater cover a relatively small amount of Earth’s surface — less than one percent — but are home to more than 10 percent of the planet’s known species, including a third of vertebrates and half of fish, reported AFP.

“Freshwater ecosystems are highly biodiverse and important for livelihoods and economic development, but are under substantial stress. To date, comprehensive global assessments of extinction risk have not included any speciose groups primarily living in freshwaters,” the authors of the study wrote. “Here we present the results of a multi-taxon global freshwater fauna assessment for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species covering 23,496 decapod crustaceans, fishes and odonates, finding that one-quarter are threatened with extinction. Prevalent threats include …