Climate and anthropogenic activities control the concentrations of copper, zinc, cadmium and chromium in global inland waters

Climate and anthropogenic activities control the concentrations of copper, zinc, cadmium and chromium in global inland waters

Pollution by heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr) in global inland waters poses significant threats to freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem function, yet the global patterns and drivers of heavy metals remain poorly explored. Here, assessing using 11,573 data points collected from 514 peer-reviewed publications, key advances include: (1) quantification of median concentrations in global inland waters (Cu: 8.38, Zn: 30.00, Cd: 0.53, and Cr: 7.00 μg L−1…