Sousa, RonaldoZając, TadeuszHalabowski, DariuszAksenova, Olga V.Bespalaya, Yulia V.Carvalho, FranciscoCastro, PauloDouda, KarelDa Silva, Janine P.Ferreira-Rodríguez, NoéGeist, JuergenGumpinger, ClemensLabecka, Anna M.Lajtner, JasnaLewin, IgaLopes-Lima, ManuelMeira, AlexandraNakamura, KeikoGarrido Nogueira, JoanaOndina Navarret, María PazOżgo, MałgorzataReis, JoaquimRiccardi, NicolettaShumka, SpaseSon, Mikhail O.Teixeira, AmílcarThielen, FrankieUrbańska, MariaVarandas, SimoneWengström, NiklasZając, KatarzynaZieritz, AlexandraAldridge, David C.2024-01-232024-01-232022Sousa, R., Zajac, T., Halabowski, D., Aksenova, O.V., Bespalaya, Y.V., Carvalho, F., Castro, P., Douda, K., da Silva, J.P., Ferreira-Rodríguez, N., Geist, J., Gumpinger, C., Labecka, A.M., Lajtner, J., Lewin, I., Lopes-Lima, M., Meira, A., Nakamura, K., Nogueira, J.G., Aldridge, D.C.(2023). A roadmap for the conservation of freshwater mussels in Europe. Conservation Biology, 37, e13994http://hdl.handle.net/10347/31946Europe has a long history of human pressure on freshwater ecosystems. As pressure continues to grow and new threats emerge, there is an urgent need for conservation of freshwater biodiversity and its ecosystem services. However, whilst some taxonomic groups, mainly vertebrates, have received a disproportionate amount of attention and funds, other groups remain largely off the public and scientific radar. Freshwater mussels (Bivalvia, Unionida) are an alarming example of this conservation bias and here we point out six conceptual areas that need immediate and long-term attention: knowledge, threats, socioeconomics, conservation, governance and education. The proposed roadmap aims to advance research, policy and education by identifying the most pressing priorities for the short- and long-term conservation of freshwater mussels across Europe.eng© 2022 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/EducationEcosystem servicesFreshwater ecosystemsGovernanceUnionidajournal articlehttps://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13994open access