2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference

March 13 - 15, 2022

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5/24/2021 | 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM | CONSERVATION TARGETS FOR MAINTAINING LONGITUDINAL RIVER CONNECTIVITY FROM THE ANDES TO THE AMAZON | Virtual Platform

CONSERVATION TARGETS FOR MAINTAINING LONGITUDINAL RIVER CONNECTIVITY FROM THE ANDES TO THE AMAZON

The Western portion of the Amazon Basin amidst the Andes Mountains is where the journey begins for most Amazonian streamflow and for the fishes that perform the longest freshwater migrations — both water and fishes move thousands of kilometers downstream to the estuary. However, the critical connections between the Western, Andean drainages and the Amazonian lowlands are under growing threat due to increasing infrastructure development. Here, we use geospatial analysis to assess the current and projected-future state of longitudinal river connectedness across Western Amazon riverscapes. Our analysis considered road crossings over first to fourth order streams and existing and planned hydropower dams, which together summed thousands of potential barriers spread throughout the different basins. The Caquetá, Putumayo, Javari, Juruá and Purus are the only basins that currently remain free of existing hydropower dams. The Madeira River is heavily fragmented by infrastructure development, which includes two major dams in the lower mainstem that isolate critical spawning habitats for the goliath catfish Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii. Our results highlight the threat of river fragmentation in the Western Amazon and identify conservation priorities for maintaining the connectivity between the Andes to the Amazon lowlands.

Conservation
Tropical
Ecohydrology

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Presenters/Authors

Thiago Couto (), Florida International University, tbelisar@fiu.edu;