Meta-analysis-derived estimates of stressor–response associations for riverine organism groups
Authors/Creators
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Kaijser, Willem
(Contact person)
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Musiol, Michelle
(Researcher)1
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Schneider, Andrea
(Researcher)
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Prati, Sebastian
(Researcher)1
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Brauer, Verena
(Researcher)1
- Bayer, Rike (Researcher)1
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Birk, Sebastian
(Researcher)1
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Brauns, Mario
(Researcher)2
- Dunne, Louisa (Researcher)
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Enss, Julian
(Researcher)1
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Farias, Luan
(Researcher)1
- Feld, Christian (Researcher)1
- Feldhaus, Lena (Researcher)1
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Gillmann, Svenja Maria
(Researcher)1
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Hupalo, Kamil
(Researcher)1
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osakpolor, stephen
(Researcher)3
- Olberg, Sarah (Researcher)1
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Madge Pimentel, Iris
(Researcher)1
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Schäfer, Ralf B.
(Researcher)1
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Schlautmann, Christian
(Researcher)1
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Schwelm, Jessica
(Researcher)1
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Sures, Bernd
(Researcher)1
- Wagner, Cornelia (Researcher)1
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Wells, Nicole
(Researcher)1
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Wenskus, Franziska
(Researcher)1
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Christian, Schuerings
(Supervisor)1
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Hering, Daniel
(Supervisor)1
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1.
University of Duisburg-Essen
- 2. Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung UFZ
- 3. Institute for Environmental Sciences, RPTU University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany
Description
Freshwater ecosystems, particularly rivers, are experiencing the most rapid biodiversity declines of any biome, driven by multiple interacting stressors operating across local to global scales. Despite growing research on these interactions, the lack of systematic quantification of individual stressor gradients limits our ability to disentangle their cumulative effects. Here, we present a global synthesis of stressor-response relationships across five key riverine organism groups - prokaryotes, algae, macrophytes, invertebrates, and fish. We screened 22,120 papers and extracted 277 studies with 1,334 stressor-response relationships. We used Generalized Linear Mixed Models and Bayesian meta-analyses to quantify the response to the seven most prevalent stressors. Consistently, elevated salinity, oxygen depletion, and fine sediment accumulation were negatively related to biodiversity (taxa richness, evenness) across taxa, while the association with nutrient enrichment and warming varied among groups. Predictive tools, including Hypothetical Outcome Plots and Partial Dependence Plots, revealed the interplay of stressors and predicted biodiversity response to stress increase. Our findings establish a quantitative baseline for a continuous global synthesis, refining predictions of anthropogenic stressor impacts, identifying key research gaps, and informing conservation strategies for freshwater ecosystems.
Code, files and functions related to this publication are hosted at https://github.com/snwikaij/Data
Files
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Additional details
Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- RESIST (Multilevel Response to Stressor Increase and Decrease in Stream Ecosystems 426547801
Software
- Repository URL
- https://github.com/snwikaij/Data
- Programming language
- R
- Development Status
- Active