Tuesday July 16, 2024
CapRadio —
In California, nearly 4,000 native plant and animal species depend on the state’s freshwater ecosystems.
Trout, salmon and smelt run the rivers and carry nutrients to and from the oceans. Nutrients feed the invertebrates that fuel the food chain that’s hunted by wading birds and mammals. Amphibians reproduce in fresh water where snakes lay in wait nearby. Beavers build their dams, which create habitat and food sources for fish, which people eat.
And freshwater flora — plants, trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses — have coevolved alongside the animal communities, and their interwoven relationships help define the very nature and function of freshwater ecosystems.
But California’s freshwater ecosystems are in peril. Nearly half of the state’s freshwater species are vulnerable to extinction, while only 6% are protected under endangered regulations, according to a new report, Climate-Smart Tools to Protect Freshwater Ecosystems, published in May by the Public Policy Institute of California.