Speaker
Description
Freshwater ecosystems have been heavily impacted by land-use changes, but syntheses on the impacts on freshwater ecosystems are still limited. First, we compiled a global database encompassing 242 studies and 4,653 sites with species abundance data (from multiple taxon groups and geographic locations) across sites with different land-use categories. This database is now the largest database to incorporate the abundance data of freshwater biota across different land-use categories. Then, we analyzed this database to investigate the effects of land-use change on freshwater biodiversity by comparing less impacted sites with more impacted sites across different spatial scales (e.g., α, β, γ), employing multiple biodiversity metrics (e.g., richness, evenness, abundance). Our analysis showed the freshwater ecosystems in urbanization had the strongest declines in species richness, rarefied richness and evenness, while not in abundance. This study will facilitate a better understanding of how land use alters freshwater assemblages on a global scale.
| Status Group | Doctoral Researcher |
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