2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

5/22/2018 | 2:00 PM - 2:15 PM | HYDROPEAKING DAMS FACILITATE ECOLOGICAL DOMINANCE | 310 A

HYDROPEAKING DAMS FACILITATE ECOLOGICAL DOMINANCE

Humans have been damming rivers for >5,000 years, but we still lack a mechanistic understanding of how dams select for or against particular species. Our objective was to determine whether hydropeaking for power generation encourages ecological dominance (the degree to which some taxa are more numerous than others) across a gradient downstream of dams and whether traits can infer mechanisms. We collected benthic invertebrates downstream (0 to 15 river miles) of seven dams exhibiting a range of average hydropeaking intensities in the Colorado River Basin. We used species abundance distributions to quantify dominance and fourth-corner modeling to determine influential traits. Dominance shifted from a few dominant taxa near the base of dams to a higher diversity of less abundant invertebrates farther from the dam. Preliminary results also suggest traits will be useful in elucidating connections between hydropeaking intensity and dominance, since we found that an increase in average hydropeaking intensity correlated with lower mayfly, stonefly, and caddisfly (but not community) richness and abundance. Our research demonstrates that flow management for hydropower leads to simplified invertebrate assemblages dominated by a small number of taxa, but effects can dissipate with distance downstream.

Invertebrate
Community
Trait

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Presenters/Authors

Erin Abernethy (), Florida International University, efabernethy@gmail.com;