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Creatures that live in North America’s streams, lakes and rivers are in just
as much danger of extinction as the denizens of tropical rainforests, says
Anthony Ricciardi of Laval University in Quebec. He has devised a computer model
that predicts the extinctions likely to be caused by pollution, dam
construction, dredging and the introduction of exotic species (Conservation
Biology, vol 13, p 1220). The model predicts that fish, crayfish, water
snails and amphibians are all threatened. But the biggest losers will be
freshwater mussels—6.4 per cent of species may be lost per decade.