The potential impact of new Andean dams on Amazon fluvial ecosystems
Increased energy demand has led to plans for building many new dams in the western Amazon, mostly in the Andean region. Historical data and mechanistic scenarios are used to examine potential impacts above and below six of the largest dams planned for the region, including reductions in downstream s...
| Autor principal: | Forsberg, Bruce Rider |
|---|---|
| Outros Autores: | Melack, John M., Dunne, Thomas, Barthem, Ronaldo Borges, Goulding, Michael, Paiva, Rodrigo C.D., Sorribas, Mino Viana, Silva, Urbano L., Weisser, Sabine |
| Grau: | Artigo |
| Idioma: | English |
| Publicado em: |
PLoS ONE
2020
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| Assuntos: | |
| Acesso em linha: |
https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/14671 |
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oai:repositorio:1-14671 |
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oai:repositorio:1-14671 The potential impact of new Andean dams on Amazon fluvial ecosystems Forsberg, Bruce Rider Melack, John M. Dunne, Thomas Barthem, Ronaldo Borges Goulding, Michael Paiva, Rodrigo C.D. Sorribas, Mino Viana Silva, Urbano L. Weisser, Sabine Carbon Dioxide Mercury Nitrogen Phosphorus Amazonas Carbon Footprint Contamination Dam (barrier) Environmental Impact Fish Floodplain Geomorphology Health Hazard Human Nonhuman Phenology Plant Growth River Basin Sediment Survival Vegetation Ecosystem South America Ecosystem South America Increased energy demand has led to plans for building many new dams in the western Amazon, mostly in the Andean region. Historical data and mechanistic scenarios are used to examine potential impacts above and below six of the largest dams planned for the region, including reductions in downstream sediment and nutrient supplies, changes in downstream flood pulse, changes in upstream and downstream fish yields, reservoir siltation, greenhouse gas emissions and mercury contamination. Together, these six dams are predicted to reduce the supply of sediments, phosphorus and nitrogen from the Andean region by 69, 67 and 57% and to the entire Amazon basin by 64, 51 and 23%, respectively. These large reductions in sediment and nutrient supplies will have major impacts on channel geomorphology, floodplain fertility and aquatic productivity. These effects will be greatest near the dams and extend to the lowland floodplains. Attenuation of the downstream flood pulse is expected to alter the survival, phenology and growth of floodplain vegetation and reduce fish yields below the dams. Reservoir filling times due to siltation are predicted to vary from 106–6240 years, affecting the storage performance of some dams. Total CO2 equivalent carbon emission from 4 Andean dams was expected to average 10 Tg y-1 during the first 30 years of operation, resulting in a MegaWatt weighted Carbon Emission Factor of 0.139 tons C MWhr-1. Mercury contamination in fish and local human populations is expected to increase both above and below the dams creating significant health risks. Reservoir fish yields will compensate some downstream losses, but increased mercury contamination could offset these benefits. © 2017 Forsberg et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 2020-04-24T17:00:07Z 2020-04-24T17:00:07Z 2017 Artigo https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/14671 10.1371/journal.pone.0182254 en Volume 12, Número 8 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Brazil http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/br/ application/pdf PLoS ONE |
| institution |
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia - Repositório Institucional |
| collection |
INPA-RI |
| language |
English |
| topic |
Carbon Dioxide Mercury Nitrogen Phosphorus Amazonas Carbon Footprint Contamination Dam (barrier) Environmental Impact Fish Floodplain Geomorphology Health Hazard Human Nonhuman Phenology Plant Growth River Basin Sediment Survival Vegetation Ecosystem South America Ecosystem South America |
| spellingShingle |
Carbon Dioxide Mercury Nitrogen Phosphorus Amazonas Carbon Footprint Contamination Dam (barrier) Environmental Impact Fish Floodplain Geomorphology Health Hazard Human Nonhuman Phenology Plant Growth River Basin Sediment Survival Vegetation Ecosystem South America Ecosystem South America Forsberg, Bruce Rider The potential impact of new Andean dams on Amazon fluvial ecosystems |
| topic_facet |
Carbon Dioxide Mercury Nitrogen Phosphorus Amazonas Carbon Footprint Contamination Dam (barrier) Environmental Impact Fish Floodplain Geomorphology Health Hazard Human Nonhuman Phenology Plant Growth River Basin Sediment Survival Vegetation Ecosystem South America Ecosystem South America |
| description |
Increased energy demand has led to plans for building many new dams in the western Amazon, mostly in the Andean region. Historical data and mechanistic scenarios are used to examine potential impacts above and below six of the largest dams planned for the region, including reductions in downstream sediment and nutrient supplies, changes in downstream flood pulse, changes in upstream and downstream fish yields, reservoir siltation, greenhouse gas emissions and mercury contamination. Together, these six dams are predicted to reduce the supply of sediments, phosphorus and nitrogen from the Andean region by 69, 67 and 57% and to the entire Amazon basin by 64, 51 and 23%, respectively. These large reductions in sediment and nutrient supplies will have major impacts on channel geomorphology, floodplain fertility and aquatic productivity. These effects will be greatest near the dams and extend to the lowland floodplains. Attenuation of the downstream flood pulse is expected to alter the survival, phenology and growth of floodplain vegetation and reduce fish yields below the dams. Reservoir filling times due to siltation are predicted to vary from 106–6240 years, affecting the storage performance of some dams. Total CO2 equivalent carbon emission from 4 Andean dams was expected to average 10 Tg y-1 during the first 30 years of operation, resulting in a MegaWatt weighted Carbon Emission Factor of 0.139 tons C MWhr-1. Mercury contamination in fish and local human populations is expected to increase both above and below the dams creating significant health risks. Reservoir fish yields will compensate some downstream losses, but increased mercury contamination could offset these benefits. © 2017 Forsberg et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| format |
Artigo |
| author |
Forsberg, Bruce Rider |
| author2 |
Melack, John M. Dunne, Thomas Barthem, Ronaldo Borges Goulding, Michael Paiva, Rodrigo C.D. Sorribas, Mino Viana Silva, Urbano L. Weisser, Sabine |
| author2Str |
Melack, John M. Dunne, Thomas Barthem, Ronaldo Borges Goulding, Michael Paiva, Rodrigo C.D. Sorribas, Mino Viana Silva, Urbano L. Weisser, Sabine |
| title |
The potential impact of new Andean dams on Amazon fluvial ecosystems |
| title_short |
The potential impact of new Andean dams on Amazon fluvial ecosystems |
| title_full |
The potential impact of new Andean dams on Amazon fluvial ecosystems |
| title_fullStr |
The potential impact of new Andean dams on Amazon fluvial ecosystems |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The potential impact of new Andean dams on Amazon fluvial ecosystems |
| title_sort |
potential impact of new andean dams on amazon fluvial ecosystems |
| publisher |
PLoS ONE |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| url |
https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/14671 |
| _version_ |
1787141616897622016 |
| score |
11.653393 |