A monumental achievement by Christophe Brabant – a member of the Quantitative Biodiversity Lab – co-supervised by Dr. Laura Pollock and Dr. Lars Iverson. The first chapter of his PhD is now published in Science and is featured on the cover.

In this study, the authors mapped 45 threats across more than 21,000 freshwater species worldwide, revealing widespread but geographically distinct impacts. The authors found that agricultural land use, dams, and agricultural pollution are the most pervasive threats, but their importance varies across regions and species groups. Freshwater species experience higher estimated threat intensity than terrestrial species, with distinct spatial patterns, highlighting the importance of specifically considering and addressing threats to freshwater systems. Higher threat intensity is also associated with higher extinction risk in some regions and more pronounced population declines.

Learn more about the work here