Global patterns of mining impacts on lotic macroinvertebrates and implications for freshwater conservation

Mining is a major global driver of freshwater degradation, yet its effects on lotic macroinvertebrate communities have not been quantitatively synthesized at a global scale.

We conducted a systematic review and meta‐analysis of peer‐reviewed studies retrieved from Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines to assess global patterns, geographic biases and biodiversity responses to mining disturbance.

A total of 88 studies were included in the systematic review, of which 39 provided quantitative data for meta‐analysis, comprising 296 comparisons of macroinvertebrate richness, abundance and diversity between mined and reference sites.

Mining significantly reduced macroinvertebrate community structure overall, with the strongest negative effects observed for richness and for sensitive Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) taxa, confirming their value as indicators of ecological degradation.

Although impacts were consistent across climatic regions, important geographic and methodological biases were detected, including the underrepresentation of tropical systems and limited integration of landscape‐scale abiotic drivers.

These findings provide the first global quantitative synthesis of mining impacts on lotic macroinvertebrates and highlight the need for broader geographic coverage, improved environmental standardization and the use of richness‐ and EPT‐based metrics to strengthen freshwater biomonitoring and conservation planning.