Land use influences on freshwater biodiversity

Abstract

Land-use change is a major driver of biodiversity loss, but most generalizations about its effects come from terrestrial ecosystems. In freshwater systems, impacts are often indirect, driven by changes in the surrounding landscape that alter flow, chemistry, and connectivity. Using species-level abundance data from 163 studies across 6 biological groups, we examined how urban, agricultural, and forestry land uses affect freshwater biodiversity at local and regional scales. All three land-use types reduced species richness and altered relative abundance structure compared to natural vegetation, with urban systems showing the strongest and most consistent declines. Only urbanization was associated with biotic homogenization, particularly among abundant species. Biodiversity responses to land-use change also varied with latitude and taxonomic group: tropical assemblages tended to differentiate across sites, while homogenization was more common at higher latitudes. Macroinvertebrates and fish showed the strongest overall declines. These findings challenge assumptions of generality across ecosystems and highlight the need to explicitly incorporate freshwater biodiversity into global change research and policy.