Rivers suffer from multiple stressors acting simultaneously on their biota, but the consequences are poorly quantified at the global scale. We evaluated the biological condition of rivers globally, including the largest proportion of countries from the Global South published to date. We gathered macroinvertebrate‐ and fish‐based assessments from 72,275 and 37,676 sites, respectively, from 64 study regions across six continents...

Aim After environmental disasters, species with large population losses may need urgent protection to prevent extinction and support recovery. Following the 2019–2020 Australian megafires, we estimated population losses and recovery in fire‐affected fauna, to inform conservation status assessments and management. Location Temperate and subtropical Australia. Time period 2019–2030 and beyond. Major taxa Australian terrestrial a...

Adaptive differences across species’ ranges can have important implications for population persistence and conservation management decisions. Despite advances in genomic technologies, detecting adaptive variation in natural populations remains challenging. Key challenges in gene–environment association studies involve distinguishing the effects of drift from those of selection and identifying subtle signatures of polygenic ada...

Barriers to migration are a major threat to freshwater fish populations. A novel measurement of swimming speed performance and an analytical model were used to calculate the probability that endangered Macquarie perch, Macquaria australasica Cuvier, can swim through instream structures. Over the range of river discharges (2.7–166 ML day −1 ) and temperatures (10–22 °C) examined, M. australasica could successfully pass through...

Radio‐tracking was used in monitoring the reintroduction of on‐grown 2 year‐old trout cod Maccullochella macquariensis (Percichthyidae) (a nationally endangered freshwater fish) in both a large and small upland river. Thirty‐six radio‐tagged M. macquariensis were stocked into a site in each of the Murrumbidgee and Cotter Rivers (Australian Capital Territory). Restricted dispersal occurred in both rivers, with both samples of M...