Slow drawdown, fast recovery: Stream macroinvertebrate communities improve quickly after large dam decommissioning

Dam removal is increasingly considered as a river restoration tool for impoundments that harm the environment or have exceeded their lifespan. However, few studies report the ecological consequences of large dam removal. We performed a multiple before-after/control-impact (mBACI) study to investigat...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Atristain Vega, Miren, Solagaistua Zabala, Libe, Larrañaga Arrizabalaga, Aitor, Von Schiller Calle, Daniel Gaspar, Elosegi Irurtia, Arturo
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Recursos:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/68795
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/68795
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:before-after/control-impact
connectivity
dam removal
ecosystem structure
mountain stream
restoration
sediment release
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spelling Slow drawdown, fast recovery: Stream macroinvertebrate communities improve quickly after large dam decommissioningAtristain Vega, MirenSolagaistua Zabala, LibeLarrañaga Arrizabalaga, AitorVon Schiller Calle, Daniel GasparElosegi Irurtia, Arturobefore-after/control-impactconnectivitydam removalecosystem structuremountain streamrestorationsediment releaseDam removal is increasingly considered as a river restoration tool for impoundments that harm the environment or have exceeded their lifespan. However, few studies report the ecological consequences of large dam removal. We performed a multiple before-after/control-impact (mBACI) study to investigate the consequences of the decommissioning of a large dam (42 m high) on instream habitat and invertebrate communities in a temperate, forested catchment of northern Spain. Before decommissioning, lack of fine sediments and high concentrations of manganese and iron occurred below the dam but decreased downstream. Invertebrate taxa richness and diversity were reduced, and pollution-sensitive taxa were missing just below the dam. The drawdown of the reservoir, the first step towards its decommissioning, mobilized stored sediments causing frequent turbidity peaks downstream, which nevertheless, caused no detrimental effects on macroinvertebrate communities. One year after drawdown, the communities downstream from the dam, as well as those in the newly formed stream in the area formerly impounded by the reservoir, became very similar to those in control reaches, showing a successful restoration project. Synthesis and applications. Dam decommissioning helps restore instream habitats and facilitates the recovery of invertebrate communities in a very short time frame if there are nearby sources of potential colonizers. Slow drawdown reduces the transport of the sediments accumulated in the reservoir and their potential downstream impacts, even more if prior to drawdown the reservoir is kept full for years to promote the deposition of sediments in marginal areas that will later be readily colonized by trees.The research received funding from the Fundación BBVA (064-17). Additionally, the authors are grateful for financial support from the Basque Government, specifically for the Consolidated Research Group in Stream Ecology (7-CA-18/10), as well as pre-doctoral fellowships provided by the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU to Miren Atristain. Daniel von Schiller is a Serra Húnter Fellow. The authors extend their special thanks to the municipality of Donostia-San Sebastian and the Artikutza staff for their continuous support throughout the experiment. Open access funding provided by the University of the Basque Country.Wiley202420242024info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10810/68795reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigacióninstname:Universidad del País VascoIngléshttps://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.14656info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/es/© 2024 The Authors. Journal of Applied Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.Atribución-NoComercial 3.0 Españaoai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/687952026-06-18T09:23:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Slow drawdown, fast recovery: Stream macroinvertebrate communities improve quickly after large dam decommissioning
title Slow drawdown, fast recovery: Stream macroinvertebrate communities improve quickly after large dam decommissioning
spellingShingle Slow drawdown, fast recovery: Stream macroinvertebrate communities improve quickly after large dam decommissioning
Atristain Vega, Miren
before-after/control-impact
connectivity
dam removal
ecosystem structure
mountain stream
restoration
sediment release
title_short Slow drawdown, fast recovery: Stream macroinvertebrate communities improve quickly after large dam decommissioning
title_full Slow drawdown, fast recovery: Stream macroinvertebrate communities improve quickly after large dam decommissioning
title_fullStr Slow drawdown, fast recovery: Stream macroinvertebrate communities improve quickly after large dam decommissioning
title_full_unstemmed Slow drawdown, fast recovery: Stream macroinvertebrate communities improve quickly after large dam decommissioning
title_sort Slow drawdown, fast recovery: Stream macroinvertebrate communities improve quickly after large dam decommissioning
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Atristain Vega, Miren
Solagaistua Zabala, Libe
Larrañaga Arrizabalaga, Aitor
Von Schiller Calle, Daniel Gaspar
Elosegi Irurtia, Arturo
author Atristain Vega, Miren
author_facet Atristain Vega, Miren
Solagaistua Zabala, Libe
Larrañaga Arrizabalaga, Aitor
Von Schiller Calle, Daniel Gaspar
Elosegi Irurtia, Arturo
author_role author
author2 Solagaistua Zabala, Libe
Larrañaga Arrizabalaga, Aitor
Von Schiller Calle, Daniel Gaspar
Elosegi Irurtia, Arturo
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv before-after/control-impact
connectivity
dam removal
ecosystem structure
mountain stream
restoration
sediment release
topic before-after/control-impact
connectivity
dam removal
ecosystem structure
mountain stream
restoration
sediment release
description Dam removal is increasingly considered as a river restoration tool for impoundments that harm the environment or have exceeded their lifespan. However, few studies report the ecological consequences of large dam removal. We performed a multiple before-after/control-impact (mBACI) study to investigate the consequences of the decommissioning of a large dam (42 m high) on instream habitat and invertebrate communities in a temperate, forested catchment of northern Spain. Before decommissioning, lack of fine sediments and high concentrations of manganese and iron occurred below the dam but decreased downstream. Invertebrate taxa richness and diversity were reduced, and pollution-sensitive taxa were missing just below the dam. The drawdown of the reservoir, the first step towards its decommissioning, mobilized stored sediments causing frequent turbidity peaks downstream, which nevertheless, caused no detrimental effects on macroinvertebrate communities. One year after drawdown, the communities downstream from the dam, as well as those in the newly formed stream in the area formerly impounded by the reservoir, became very similar to those in control reaches, showing a successful restoration project. Synthesis and applications. Dam decommissioning helps restore instream habitats and facilitates the recovery of invertebrate communities in a very short time frame if there are nearby sources of potential colonizers. Slow drawdown reduces the transport of the sediments accumulated in the reservoir and their potential downstream impacts, even more if prior to drawdown the reservoir is kept full for years to promote the deposition of sediments in marginal areas that will later be readily colonized by trees.
publishDate 2024
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2024
2024
2024
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10810/68795
url http://hdl.handle.net/10810/68795
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.14656
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/es/
Atribución-NoComercial 3.0 España
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/es/
Atribución-NoComercial 3.0 España
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
instname:Universidad del País Vasco
instname_str Universidad del País Vasco
reponame_str Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
collection Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,812455

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