Sebastian Heilpern

All Publications

• Global importance of Amazonian freshwaters FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT Jenkins, C. N., Athayde, S., Beveridge, C. F., Correa, S. B., Espinoza, J., Heilpern, S. A., Herrera-R, G. A., Victoria-Lacy, L., Olivas, P., Oliveira, A., Piland, N. C., Utsunomiya, R., Anderson, E. P. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1002/fee.2868

  View details for Web of Science ID 001551169400001

• A baseline for assessing the ecological integrity of Western Amazon rivers COMMUNICATIONS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT Anderson, E. P., Encalada, A. C., Couto, T. B. A., Beveridge, C. F., Herrera-R, G. A., Heilpern, S. A., Almeida, R. M., Canas-Alva, C., Correa, S. B., de Souza, L. S., Duponchelle, F., Garcia-Davila, C., Goulding, M., Lopez-Casas, S., Maldonado-Ocampo, J. A., Miranda-Chumacero, G., Montoya, M., Piland, N. C., Victoria-Lacy, L., Varese, M., Jenkins, C. N. 2025; 6 (1)

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s43247-025-02530-8

  View details for Web of Science ID 001543682200006

• Interdependencies between Indigenous peoples, local communities, and freshwater systems in a changing Amazon CONSERVATION BIOLOGY Athayde, S., Utsunomiya, R., Victoria-Lacy, L., Beveridge, C., Jenkins, C. N., Laufer, J., Heilpern, S., Olivas, P., Anderson, E. P. 2025; 39 (3): e70034

  Abstract

  Globally, Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs) are fighting for the recognition of their knowledge and decision-making authority in freshwater conservation. In the Amazon, decision-making around freshwater management and conservation has often overlooked Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) and the connections between sociocultural and freshwater systems. We explored interdependencies between IPs and LCs and freshwaters in the Amazonian region through a narrative review of the academic peer-reviewed literature. The review process involved 2 phases: an initial scoping phase, which included the analysis of a large number of articles to identify main topics and develop research questions, and the review of a subset of 187 articles published from 2018 to 2022. We found that 178 studies were carried out in the Brazilian, Peruvian, and/or Bolivian Amazon, and 26 studies were conducted in other countries. A total of 60 studies focused on riverine communities and among them, 16 Indigenous groups were mentioned in 51 articles. Most studies (n = 148) emphasized the connections between water quality, fisheries, food security, health, and livelihoods. There was a paucity of studies conducted by IPs and LCs that had Indigenous or local community members among the authors. Recent studies highlighted the active role of IPs and LCs in leading community-based management efforts. We found innovative freshwater conservation and management experiences led by IPs and LCs, that effectively conserved freshwater biodiversity while promoting sustainable livelihoods. Our findings support inclusive and equitable freshwater conservation policies and practices in the Amazon and beyond, by showing the crucial role of IPs and LCs in managing and protecting freshwater resources.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/cobi.70034

  View details for Web of Science ID 001502343800007

  View details for PubMedID 40444928

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12124181

• Leveraging biodiversity to maximize nutrition and resilience of global fisheries NATURE SUSTAINABILITY Heilpern, S. A., Simon, F. W., Sethi, S. A., Fiorella, K. J., Flecker, A. S., Gomes, C., McIntyre, P. B. 2025; 8 (7)

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41893-025-01577-x

  View details for Web of Science ID 001497682300001

• Climate-Driven Deoxygenation of Lakes Alters the Nutrient-Toxin Profile of a Food Fish ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Jane, S. F., Heilpern, S. A., Brenna, J., Detmer, T. M., Driscoll, C. T., Eagles-Smith, C. A., Giri, S., Glahn, R. P., Jirka, K. J., Kim, J., Montesdeoca, M. R., Olson, C. I., Park, H., Randall, E. A., McIntyre, P. B. 2025; 59 (19): 9486-9496

  Abstract

  Climate change is rapidly altering fisheries supporting aquatic ecosystems. The implications for food security depend not only on harvest biomass but also concentrations of nutrients and toxins in fish. Using brook trout from Adirondack lakes (New York, USA), we tested whether ongoing lake deoxygenation trends will affect fish muscle omega-3 fatty acids, selenium, and mercury concentrations. Across space (16 lakes: 1 year) and time (6 years: 1 lake), anoxia decreased selenium and was associated with elevated fish mercury, with no effect on omega-3 content. Because selenium may mitigate some end points of mercury toxicity, highly variable Se:Hg molar ratios (0.70-35.79) in neighboring lakes may have health risk implications. For fish consumers, ongoing lake deoxygenation under climate change could potentially reduce selenium intake while enhancing mercury exposure. Simultaneous alteration of beneficial compounds and toxins by environmental change complicates the development of fish consumption advisories to safeguard public health in a warming world.

  View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.est.5c01032

  View details for Web of Science ID 001483249600001

  View details for PubMedID 40331827

• Dietary species richness for healthy people and ecosystems: Dietary diversity NATURE FOOD Heilpern, S. A. 2025; 6 (6): 531-532

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s43016-025-01161-8

  View details for Web of Science ID 001470990900001

  View details for PubMedID 40251296

  View details for PubMedCentralID 10310721

• Towards sustainable aquaculture in the Amazon NATURE SUSTAINABILITY Pacheco, F. S., Heilpern, S. A., Dileo, C., Almeida, R. M., Sethi, S. A., Miranda, M., Ray, N., Barros, N. O., Cavali, J., Costa, C., Doria, C. R., Fan, J., Fiorella, K. J., Forsberg, B. R., Gomes, M., Greenstreet, L., Holgerson, M., Mcgrath, D., Mcintyre, P. B., Moraes-Valenti, P., Oliveira, I., Ometto, J. B., Roland, F., Trindade, A., Ummus, M. E., Valenti, W. C., Xu, X., Gomes, C. P., Flecker, A. S. 2025; 8 (3): 234-244

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41893-024-01500-w

  View details for Web of Science ID 001404858000001

• Accessible, low-mercury, and nutritious fishes provide win-wins for conservation and public health ONE EARTH Heilpern, S. A., Flecker, A. S., Lopez-Casas, S., Mcintyre, P. B., Moya, L., Sethi, S., Fiorella, K. J. 2025; 8 (1)

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.oneear.2024.12.010

  View details for Web of Science ID 001402292600001

• Constraint-aware Pareto Optimization for Tree-Structured Networks: Addressing Decarbonization Targets with Hydropower Expansion Grimson, M., Qu, Z., Mao, Y., Ferber, A. M., Pacheco, F., Heilpern, S., Angarita, H., Flecker, A., Gomes, C. P. edited by Shah, J., Kolter, Z., Walsh, T. ASSOC ADVANCEMENT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. 2025: 28015-28023

  View details for Web of Science ID 001477481300027

• Expanding Connected Components from Alternative Terminals: Global Optimization for Freshwater Fishes Under the UN's 30x30 Conservation Goal Mao, Y., Qu, Z., Miqueleiz, I., Ferber, A., Wolf, S., Grimson, M., Heilpern, S., Pacheco, F. S., Flecker, A. S., McIntyre, P. B., Gomes, C. P. edited by Kwok, J. ASSOC COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS-ACL. 2025: 9808-9817

  View details for Web of Science ID 001634925300446

• Translating science into actions to conserve Amazonian freshwaters CONSERVATION SCIENCE AND PRACTICE Couto, T. B. A., Jenkins, C. N., Beveridge, C. F., Heilpern, S. A., Herrera-R, G. A., Piland, N. C., Leal, C., Zuanon, J., Doria, C. R. C., Montoya, M., Varese, M., Correa, S. B., Goulding, M., Anderson, E. P. 2024; 6 (11)

  View details for DOI 10.1111/csp2.13241

  View details for Web of Science ID 001328627200001

• Commercially traded fish portfolios mask household utilization of biodiversity in wild food systems PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Fiorella, K. J., Bageant, E. R., Thilsted, S. H., Heilpern, S. A. 2024; 121 (30): e2403691121

  Abstract

  The global biodiversity that underpins wild food systems-including fisheries-is rapidly declining. Yet, we often have only a limited understanding of how households use and benefit from biodiversity in the ecosystems surrounding them. Explicating these relationships is critical to forestall and mitigate the effects of biodiversity declines on food and nutrition security. Here, we quantify how biodiversity filters from ecosystems to household harvest, consumption, and sale, and how ecological traits and household characteristics shape these relationships. We used a unique, integrated ecological (40 sites, quarterly data collection) and household survey (n = 414, every 2 mo data collection) dataset collected over 3 y in rice field fisheries surrounding Cambodia's Tonlé Sap, one of Earth's most productive and diverse freshwater systems. While ecosystem biodiversity was positively associated with household catch, consumption, and sold biodiversity, households consumed an average of 43% of the species present in the ecosystem and sold only 9%. Larger, less nutritious, and more common species were disproportionally represented in portfolios of commercially traded species, while consumed species mirrored catches. The relationship between ecosystem and consumed biodiversity was remarkably consistent across variation in household fishing effort, demographics, and distance to nearest markets. Poorer households also consumed more species, underscoring how wild food systems may most benefit the vulnerable. Our findings amplify concerns about the impacts of biodiversity loss on our global food systems and highlight that utilization of biodiversity for consumption may far exceed what is commercially traded.

  View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.2403691121

  View details for Web of Science ID 001422052600009

  View details for PubMedID 39018198

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11287268

• The Andes-Amazon-Atlantic pathway: A foundational hydroclimate system for social-ecological system sustainability PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Beveridge, C. F., Espinoza, J., Athayde, S., Correa, S., Couto, T. B. A., Heilpern, S. A., Jenkins, C. N., Piland, N. C., Utsunomiya, R., Wongchuig, S., Anderson, E. P. 2024; 121 (22): e2306229121

  Abstract

  The Amazon River Basin's extraordinary social-ecological system is sustained by various water phases, fluxes, and stores that are interconnected across the tropical Andes mountains, Amazon lowlands, and Atlantic Ocean. This "Andes-Amazon-Atlantic" (AAA) pathway is a complex hydroclimatic system linked by the regional water cycle through atmospheric circulation and continental hydrology. Here, we aim to articulate the AAA hydroclimate pathway as a foundational system for research, management, conservation, and governance of aquatic systems of the Amazon Basin. We identify and describe the AAA pathway as an interdependent, multidirectional, and multiscale hydroclimate system. We then present an assessment of recent (1981 to 2020) changes in the AAA pathway, primarily reflecting an acceleration in the rates of hydrologic fluxes (i.e., water cycle intensification). We discuss how the changing AAA pathway orchestrates and impacts social-ecological systems. We conclude with four recommendations for the sustainability of the AAA pathway in ongoing research, management, conservation, and governance.

  View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.2306229121

  View details for Web of Science ID 001237711100004

  View details for PubMedID 38722826

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11145265

• Strategies for Compressing the Pareto Frontier: Application to Strategic Planning of Hydropower in the Amazon Basin Qu, Z., Grimson, M., Mao, Y., Heilpern, S., Miqueleiz, I., Pacheco, F., Flecker, A., Gomes, C. P. edited by Dilkina, B. SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG. 2024: 141-157

  View details for DOI 10.1007/978-3-031-60599-4_9

  View details for Web of Science ID 001283965200009

• Complex, diverse and changing agribusiness and livelihood systems in the Amazon ACTA AMAZONICA Costa, F., Assad, E. D., Bebbington, D., Brondizio, E. S., Fearnside, P. M., Garrett, R., Hecht, S., Heilpern, S., Mcgrath, D., Oliveira, G., Pereira, H., Schmink, M. 2024; 54

  View details for Web of Science ID 001394305700001

• Amazonia in motion: Changing politics, development strategies, peoples, landscapes and livelihoods ACTA AMAZONICA Hecht, S., Schmink, M., Abers, R., Assad, E., Bebbington, D., Brondizio, E., Costa, F., Calisto, A., Fearnside, P., Garrett, R., Heilpern, S., Mcgrath, D., Oliveira, G. T., Pereira, H., Pinedo-Vazquez, M. 2024; 54

  View details for DOI 10.1590/1809-4392202203060

  View details for Web of Science ID 001509557500001

• A synthesis of the diversity of freshwater fish migrations in the Amazon basin FISH AND FISHERIES Herrera-R, G. A., Heilpern, S. A., Couto, T. B. A., Victoria-Lacy, L., Duponchelle, F., Correa, S. B., Farah-Perez, A., Lopez-Casas, S., Canas-Alva, C. M., Doria, C. R. C., Anderson, E. P. 2024; 25 (1): 114-133

  View details for DOI 10.1111/faf.12795

  View details for Web of Science ID 001107853800001

• Nutritional challenges of substituting farmed animals for wild fish in human diets ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS Heilpern, S. A., Almeida, R. M., Fiorella, K. J., Flecker, A. S., Williams, D., Mcintyre, P. B. 2023; 18 (11)

  View details for DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ad02ab

  View details for Web of Science ID 001099390500001

• Species trait diversity sustains multiple dietary nutrients supplied by freshwater fisheries ECOLOGY LETTERS Heilpern, S. A., Herrera-R, G. A., Fiorella, K. J., Moya, L., Flecker, A. S., Mcintyre, P. B. 2023; 26 (11): 1887-1897

  Abstract

  Species, through their traits, influence how ecosystems simultaneously sustain multiple functions. However, it is unclear how trait diversity sustains the multiple contributions biodiversity makes to people. Freshwater fisheries nourish hundreds of millions of people globally, but overharvesting and river fragmentation are increasingly affecting catches. We analyse how loss of nutritional trait diversity in consumed fish portfolios affects the simultaneous provisioning of six essential dietary nutrients using household data from the Amazon and Tonlé Sap, two of Earth's most productive and diverse freshwater fisheries. We find that fish portfolios with high trait diversity meet higher thresholds of required daily intakes for a greater variety of nutrients with less fish biomass. This beneficial biodiversity effect is driven by low redundancy in species nutrient content profiles. Our findings imply that sustaining the dietary contributions fish make to people given declining biodiversity could require more biomass and ultimately exacerbate fishing pressure in already-stressed ecosystems.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/ele.14299

  View details for Web of Science ID 001062263400001

  View details for PubMedID 37671723

• Biodiversity underpins fisheries resilience to exploitation in the Amazon river basin PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Heilpern, S. A., Sethi, S. A., Barthem, R. B., Batista, V., Doria, C. R. C., Duponchelle, F., Vasquez, A., Goulding, M., Isaac, V., Naeem, S., Flecker, A. S. 2022; 289 (1976): 20220726

  Abstract

  Inland fisheries feed greater than 150 million people globally, yet their status is rarely assessed due to their socio-ecological complexity and pervasive lack of data. Here, we leverage an unprecedented landings time series from the Amazon, Earth's largest river basin, together with theoretical food web models to examine (i) taxonomic and trait-based signatures of exploitation in inland fish landings and (ii) implications of changing biodiversity for fisheries resilience. In both landings time series and theory, we find that multi-species exploitation of diverse inland fisheries results in a hump-shaped landings evenness curve. Along this trajectory, abundant and large species are sequentially replaced with faster growing and smaller species. Further theoretical analysis indicates that harvests can be maintained for a period of time but that continued biodiversity depletion reduces the pool of compensating species and consequently diminishes fisheries resilience. Critically, higher fisheries biodiversity can delay fishery collapse. Although existing landings data provide an incomplete snapshot of long-term dynamics, our results suggest that multi-species exploitation is affecting freshwater biodiversity and eroding fisheries resilience in the Amazon. More broadly, we conclude that trends in landings evenness could characterize multi-species fisheries development and aid in assessing their sustainability.

  View details for DOI 10.1098/rspb.2022.0726

  View details for Web of Science ID 000807984900003

  View details for PubMedID 35673861

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC9174703

• Strategic planning of hydropower development: balancing benefits and socioenvironmental costs CURRENT OPINION IN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY Almeida, R. M., Schmitt, R. J. P., Castelletti, A., Flecker, A. S., Harou, J. J., Heilpern, S. A., Kittner, N., Kondolf, G., Opperman, J. J., Shi, Q., Gomes, C. P., McIntyre, P. B. 2022; 56

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cosust.2022.101175

  View details for Web of Science ID 000798814600001

• Reducing adverse impacts of Amazon hydropower expansion. Science (New York, N.Y.) Flecker, A. S., Shi, Q., Almeida, R. M., Angarita, H., Gomes-Selman, J. M., García-Villacorta, R., Sethi, S. A., Thomas, S. A., Poff, N. L., Forsberg, B. R., Heilpern, S. A., Hamilton, S. K., Abad, J. D., Anderson, E. P., Barros, N., Bernal, I. C., Bernstein, R., Cañas, C. M., Dangles, O., Encalada, A. C., Fleischmann, A. S., Goulding, M., Higgins, J., Jézéquel, C., Larson, E. I., McIntyre, P. B., Melack, J. M., Montoya, M., Oberdorff, T., Paiva, R., Perez, G., Rappazzo, B. H., Steinschneider, S., Torres, S., Varese, M., Walter, M. T., Wu, X., Xue, Y., Zapata-Ríos, X. E., Gomes, C. P. 2022; 375 (6582): 753-760

  Abstract

  Proposed hydropower dams at more than 350 sites throughout the Amazon require strategic evaluation of trade-offs between the numerous ecosystem services provided by Earth's largest and most biodiverse river basin. These services are spatially variable, hence collective impacts of newly built dams depend strongly on their configuration. We use multiobjective optimization to identify portfolios of sites that simultaneously minimize impacts on river flow, river connectivity, sediment transport, fish diversity, and greenhouse gas emissions while achieving energy production goals. We find that uncoordinated, dam-by-dam hydropower expansion has resulted in forgone ecosystem service benefits. Minimizing further damage from hydropower development requires considering diverse environmental impacts across the entire basin, as well as cooperation among Amazonian nations. Our findings offer a transferable model for the evaluation of hydropower expansion in transboundary basins.

  View details for DOI 10.1126/science.abj4017

  View details for PubMedID 35175810

• Contemporary aquaculture: implications for human nutrition CURRENT OPINION IN BIOTECHNOLOGY Fiorella, K. J., Okronipa, H., Baker, K., Heilpern, S. 2021; 70: 83-90

  Abstract

  Aquaculture is increasing the global supply of foods, and holds tremendous potential to address malnutrition and diet-related diseases. The species selected and feeds used affects the nutrients available from aquaculture. Progress in the development of novel and sustainable aquaculture feeds to reduce reliance on wild fisheries, feed fortification to increase nutrient content, and expansion of the diversity of aquatic species produced are key areas for continued research and development. Ultimately, the degree to which aquaculture will contribute to nutrition depends largely on who can access the fish produced, which will be shaped by production technology as well as trade and price dynamics. Finally, the contribution of aquaculture expansion to improving nutrition will be bounded by aquaculture's environmental sustainability.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.copbio.2020.11.014

  View details for Web of Science ID 000680829300015

  View details for PubMedID 33445136

• Declining diversity of wild-caught species puts dietary nutrient supplies at risk SCIENCE ADVANCES Heilpern, S. A., DeFries, R., Fiorella, K., Flecker, A., Sethi, S. A., Uriarte, M., Naeem, S. 2021; 7 (22)

  Abstract

  Although biodiversity loss adversely influences a variety of ecosystem functions, how declining wild food diversity affects nutrient supplies for people is poorly understood. Here, we analyze the impact of declining biodiversity on nutrients supplied by fish using detailed information from the Peruvian Amazon, where inland fisheries provide a critical source of nutrition for many of the region's 800,000 people. We found that the impacts of biodiversity loss on nutrient supplies depended on compensation, trophic dynamics, and functional diversity. When small sedentary species compensated for declines in large migratory species, fatty acid supplies increased, while zinc and iron supplies decreased. In contrast, the probability of failing to maintain supplies or nutrient supply risk increased when species were nutritionally unique. Our results show that trait-based regulations and public health polices need to consider biodiversity's vital role in sustaining nutritional benefits for over 2 billion people dependent on wild foods across the globe.

  View details for DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abf9967

  View details for Web of Science ID 000655906900023

  View details for PubMedID 34049874

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8163071

• Trophic complexity alters the diversity-multifunctionality relationship in experimental grassland mesocosms ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION Anujan, K., Heilpern, S. A., Prager, C. M., Weeks, B. C., Naeem, S. 2021; 11 (11): 6471-6479

  Abstract

  Plant diversity has a positive influence on the number of ecosystem functions maintained simultaneously by a community, or multifunctionality. While the presence of multiple trophic levels beyond plants, or trophic complexity, affects individual functions, the effect of trophic complexity on the diversity-multifunctionality relationship is less well known. To address this issue, we tested whether the independent or simultaneous manipulation of both plant diversity and trophic complexity impacted multifunctionality using a mesocosm experiment from Cedar Creek, Minnesota, USA. Our analyses revealed that neither plant diversity nor trophic complexity had significant effects on single functions, but trophic complexity altered the diversity-multifunctionality relationship in two key ways: It lowered the maximum strength of the diversity-multifunctionality effect, and it shifted the relationship between increasing diversity and multifunctionality from positive to negative at lower function thresholds. Our findings highlight the importance to account for interactions with higher trophic levels, as they can alter the biodiversity effect on multifunctionality.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/ece3.7498

  View details for Web of Science ID 000635346800001

  View details for PubMedID 34141232

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC8207441

• Substitution of inland fisheries with aquaculture and chicken undermines human nutrition in the Peruvian Amazon NATURE FOOD Heilpern, S. A., Fiorella, K., Canas, C., Flecker, A. S., Moya, L., Naeem, S., Sethi, S. A., Uriarte, M., DeFries, R. 2021; 2 (3): 192-197

  Abstract

  With declining capture fisheries production, maintaining nutrient supplies largely hinges on substituting wild fish with economically comparable farmed animals. Although such transitions are increasingly commonplace across global inland and coastal communities, their nutritional consequences are unknown. Here, using human demographic and health information, and fish nutrient composition data from the Peruvian Amazon, we show that substituting wild inland fisheries with chicken and aquaculture has the potential to exacerbate iron deficiencies and limit essential fatty acid supplies in a region already experiencing high prevalence of anaemia and malnutrition. Substituting wild fish with chicken, however, can increase zinc and protein supplies. Chicken and aquaculture production also increase greenhouse gas emissions, agricultural land use and eutrophication. Thus, policies that enable access to wild fisheries and their sustainable management while improving the quality, diversity and environmental impacts of farmed species will be instrumental in ensuring healthy and sustainable food systems.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s43016-021-00242-8

  View details for Web of Science ID 000631554400015

  View details for PubMedID 37117451

• Salinity tolerance of non-native suckermouth armoured catfish (Loricariidae: Pterygoplichthys) in south-eastern Mexico: implications for invasion and dispersal AQUATIC CONSERVATION-MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS Capps, K. A., Nico, L. G., Mendoza-Carranza, M., Arevalo-Frias, W., Ropicki, A. J., Heilpern, S. A., Rodiles-Hernandez, R. 2011; 21 (6): 528-540

  View details for DOI 10.1002/aqc.1210

  View details for Web of Science ID 000295294600004