Sweden’s Drying Rivers: “It Looks Really Bad”

Streams across Sweden have shrunk to mere puddles, forcing an emergency relocation of threatened freshwater mussels stranded by the extremely low water levels. “The whole ecosystem basically has to start over once it dries out,” says Andreas Holmberg, a limnologist—a scientist who studies inland waters. Large parts of the country are currently experiencing critically low water levels. The situation is so severe that river pearl mussels, a species already under threat, are being moved to safer locations as their habitats disappear.