Dataset about the impact of multiple threats in freshwater ecosystems

Human-induced activities impact freshwater environments driven mainly by climate change, biological invasion, land use change, pollution, and overexploitation. These threats operate across multiple ecological levels, but their relative importance and underlying mechanisms on how they compromise freshwaters remain unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine how multiple threats affect freshwater ecosystems across ecological levels by integrating several responses. Our results underscore that those threats operate primarily by intensifying rates and processes while decreasing diversity through convergent and non-compensatory mechanisms. Each threat affected freshwater ecosystems in a particular way through a mix of positive and negative effects across multiple ecological levels. Community-level responses were negatively affected by multiple threats, with the highest impact from biological invasion and land use change. We emphasize the critical need for conservation strategies that address biodiversity loss through the integration of multiple threats, incorporating their synergistic mechanisms into global initiatives aimed at safeguarding freshwater ecosystems.