Bodies of water are hotspots of biodiversity. But it is precisely these habitats that are under particularly heavy pressure from human intervention, for example through the construction of river banks, the utilisation of hydropower or the input of nutrients and pollutants. The animal and plant species living in bodies of water are therefore particularly threatened. Around a fifth of them are already extinct or threatened with extinction. The Swiss Post is dedicating its two latest special postage stamps to some of these species, as announced in today’s stamp magazine "Die Lupe". The stamps will be available from 2 May.
One of the two stamps shows the Lake Thun whitefish, a whitefish species that only occurs in the lakes of Thun and Brienz, together with the Chara algae (also known as stonewort) and pond mussels in the lake’s sediment. The second stamp shows three inhabitants of the River Doubs: the white-clawed crayfish, the Zingel asper (also known as the Rhone Streber, the apron and the Roi du Doubs), and the common water moss.
The aquatic research institute Eawag has long been involved in research and conservation of aquatic biodiversity. Ole Seehausen, Head of the Fish Ecology and Evolution Department, and Christoph Vorburger, Head of the Aquatic Ecology Department, therefore provided scientific advice to the Swiss Post on the selection and design of the species depicted.
