Freshwater ecosystems are increasingly threatened by climate change and anthropogenic activities, necessitating innovative and scalable monitoring solutions. Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative tool in aquatic biodiversity research, enabling automated species identification, predictive habitat modeling, and conservation planning. This systematic review follows the PRISMA framework to analyze AI applications in freshwater biodiversity studies. Using a structured literature search across Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, we identified 312 relevant studies published between 2010 and 2024. This review categorizes AI applications into species identification, habitat assessment, ecological risk evaluation, and conservation strategies. A risk of bias assessment was conducted using QUADAS-2 and RoB 2 frameworks, highlighting methodological challenges, such as measurement bias and inconsistencies in the model validation. The citation trends demonstrate exponential growth in AI-driven biodiversity research, with leading contributions from China, the United States, and India. Despite the growing use of AI in this field, this review also reveals several persistent challenges, including limited data availability, regional imbalances, and concerns related to model generalizability and transparency. Our findings underscore AI’s potential in revolutionizing biodiversity monitoring but also emphasize the need for standardized methodologies, improved data integration, and interdisciplinary collaboration to enhance ecological insights and conservation efforts.

Rivers are one of the most commonly transformed aquatic ecosystems. Most papers present significantly negative effects of activities such as dredging or channel regulation on the ecological status of rivers. The purpose of this work was to compare the response of various groups of invertebrates (Mollusca, Hydrachnidia, Odonata, Heteroptera, Coleoptera and Trichoptera) to an intervention involving dredging in conjunction with the removal of riparian vegetation. Habitat diversity increased after the dredging, and more individuals and species were caught than before the dredging. The increase in habitat diversity after the dredging translated into an increase in the species diversity of most investigated groups. Individual groups of invertebrates showed varied responses to the dredging, depending on the role of the terrestrial phase in their life cycle: the greater the role of the terrestrial phase in the life cycle, the more the group was affected by changes in the terrestrial environment following the intervention. In consequence, the intervention had the greatest negative impact on insects, and among these, on adult Odonata. The following conclusions can be drawn: (1) Dredging can benefit a previously anthropogenically transformed river ecosystem by increasing habitat diversity; (2) Odonata are particularly useful for assessing the impact of this type of intervention on invertebrate communities. They can be considered good indicators of habitat disturbances in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

The objectives of our survey were to determine the most important environmental factors within buffer zones that influenced mollusc communities and to evaluate the ecological conservation value of natural aquatic habitats (NAHs) that support mollusc species. Analysis of the spatial structure of buffer zones and catchments was based on a set of landscape metrics. Land cover classes were determined, and buffer zones within a radius of 500 m from a sampling point were marked out. Mollusc samples were collected from each NAHs. Our results showed that the number of patches and mean patch size were most associated with the distribution of mollusc species. Within patches of buffer zones, the length of the catchment boundaries with low-density housing, an increasing area of forest and pH of the water were also significant. Our results proved that landscape metrics provide essential information about catchment anthropogenic transformation. Therefore, landscape metrics and the designated buffer zones should be included in restoration plans for the river, water bodies and adjacent habitats as elements of modern, sustainable water management. NAHs located along a valley of a lowland river provide refuges for molluscs, play an essential role in the dispersal of IAS, create important protective biogeochemical barriers for rivers, constitute necessary sources of moisture and water and support microhabitats for distinct mollusc communities, especially in the context of global warming.

Water mites represent the group with the highest degree of endemism among all macroinvertebrates living in freshwater habitats of Madeira. The water mite fauna of this archipelago has been well known for a long time, but until now they have not been molecularly investigated. So far, 25 species of water mites have been recorded, most of them endemic to Madeira. The library presented here covers 584 COI DNA barcodes grouped into 23 Barcode Index Numbers (BINs), which represent the genetic barcodes of 23 species (more than 80% of the known Madeira water mite fauna). Our study shows that COI barcode clusters generated by the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) matches to morphological identifications of specimens, with one exception in the family Lebertiidae. A large-scale comparison of the new sequences with those available in public databases such as BOLD confirmed the uniqueness of the genetic diversity of water mites inhabiting Madeira. Neumania atlantida Lundblad, 1941, a species previously synonymized with N. uncinata Walter, 1927, is resurrected as a valid species. Additionally, genetic data revealed that Sperchon brevirostris Koenike, 1895, a species common in freshwaters of Europe and Macaronesia, consists of multiple genetic lineages, one of which is restricted to Madeira. Finally, our research revealed three species new to the water mite fauna of Madeira, i.e., Hydrachna skorikowi Piersig, 1900, Arrenurus bicuspidator Berlese, 1885 and Lebertia algeriensis Lundblad, 1942. The latter species, found to be common in the running waters of the island, may be the first species of water mite documented as potentially, if not invasive, then non-indigenous in freshwater ecosystems of Madeira.

Here we redescribe the nine original species of Pintalia Stål, 1862 (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Cixiidae) based on type specimens from Brazil and provide an emended diagnosis for the genus. We provide an amended description of P. constellaris (Walker, 1858) with images of the fresh specimen. Furthermore, we describe twelve new species recently found in Brazilian caves in three proposed species-groups: Pintalia pictipennis-group, which includes P. pictipennis Stål, 1862, P. propria Muir, 1934, P. minuta sp. nov., P. minima sp. nov., P. magnaepiprocti sp. nov., P. serratilis sp. nov. and P. stali sp. nov.; Pintalia constellaris-group, which includes P. constellaris (Walker, 1858), P. ecuadorensis Muir, 1934, P. speciosa sp. nov and P. fennahi sp. nov.; and Pintalia painensis-group, which includes P. painensis sp. nov., P. dorensis sp. nov., P. lundi sp. nov., P. montalvaniensis sp. nov., and P. muiri sp. nov. Adults and nymphs of the new species herein described were observed inside caves feeding on roots from epigean vegetation and are hence tentatively classified as subtroglophiles, eutroglophiles and troglobionts. The new species were collected from caves in Minas Gerais state and Bahia state. A key to the Brazilian species-groups and new species is provided. Information on the distribution, depository, and a list of previously described taxa from Brazil are also provided. The species described herein increases the number of Pintalia species described for Brazil to thirty-two, and ninety-four in the Americas in total.