Construction of small hydropower plants (<10 megawatts) is booming worldwide, exacerbating ongoing habitat fragmentation and degradation, and further fueling biodiversity loss. A systematic approach for selecting hydropower sites within river networks may help to minimize the detrimental effects of small hydropower on biodiversity. In addition, a better understanding of reach- and basin- scale impacts is key for designing planning tools. We synthesize the available information about (1) reach-scale and (2) basin-scale impacts of small hydro-power plants on biodiversity and ecosystem function, and (3) interactions with other anthropogenic stressors. 
We then discuss state-of-the-art, spatially explicit planning tools and suggest how improved knowledge of the ecological and evolutionary impacts of hydropower can be incorporated into project development. Such tools can be used to balance the benefits of hydropower production with the maintenance of ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. Adequate planning tools that consider basin-scale effects and interactions with other stressors, such as climate change, can maximize long-term conservation.

/pdf/basin-scale-effects-of-small-hydropower-on-biodiversity-2gou14c7m0.pdf

Basin-scale effects of small hydropower on biodiversity dynamics

Currently, dam construction is a main and growing global anthropogenic disturbance on rivers. Dams have major effects on the physics, chemistry, and biology of the original river, including alterin...

/pdf/effects-of-dams-on-riverine-biogeochemical-cycling-and-1fkre6zn5d.pdf

Effects of dams on riverine biogeochemical cycling and ecology.

SUMMARY 1. The flow regime is a primary determinant of the structure and function of aquatic and riparian ecosystems for streams and rivers. Hydrologic alteration has impaired riverine ecosystems on a global scale, and the pace and intensity of human development greatly exceeds the ability of scientists to assess the effects on a river-by-river basis. Current scientific understanding of hydrologic controls on riverine ecosystems and experience gained from individual river studies support development of environmental flow standards at the regional scale. 2. This paper presents a consensus view from a group of international scientists on a new framework for assessing environmental flow needs for many streams and rivers simultaneously to foster development and implementation of environmental flow standards at the regional scale. This framework, the ecological limits of hydrologic alteration (ELOHA), is a synthesis of a number of existing hydrologic techniques and environmental flow methods that are currently being used to various degrees and that can support comprehensive regional flow management. The flexible approach allows

The Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA): A Framework for Developing Regional Environmental Flow Standards

Macrophytes play important functional roles in river ecosystems, providing habitat and food, as well as influencing flow, water chemistry, and sediment dynamics. They also represent an important component of river biodiversity. Artificial river barriers have the potential to disrupt macrophyte dispersal, and compromise their distribution and persistence, but little information is available compared to barrier impacts on fish and macroinvertebrates. Here, we review the mechanisms supporting dispersal of river macrophytes in rivers and evaluate the nature of barrier impacts on macrophytes. Hydrochory (dispersal of propagules by water) is the principal mechanism of downstream dispersal, while zoochory (dispersal of propagules by animals) is likely to be the most important vector of upstream dispersal and inter‐catchment transport. Most studies have focused on the impact of large structures such as dams, and the findings indicate the impact is highly context dependent. Slow‐flowing habitats upstream of dams can act as traps to drifting propagules and thereby interrupt hydrochory. However, the consequences of interrupted hydrochory for downstream populations are unclear. River regulation can result in lower macrophyte diversity, although the lentic habitats associated with reservoirs can also favour an increase in the abundance and richness of macrophyte communities. Instream barriers are unlikely to affect zoochory by birds directly, but barriers are well known to restrict fish movements, so there is considerable potential for barriers to disrupt zoochory by fish, although no empirical study has specifically examined this possibility. There is a paucity of studies examining the impacts of low‐head barriers on macrophyte dispersal. Given the influence of macrophytes on river processes, we call for further research into barrier impacts on macrophyte population dynamics in order to gain a better understanding of the consequences of river fragmentation for fluvial communities and ecosystem functioning.

/pdf/impacts-of-artificial-barriers-on-the-connectivity-and-bkmhch7igs.pdf

Impacts of artificial barriers on the connectivity and dispersal of vascular macrophytes in rivers: A critical review

Challenges and opportunities for fish conservation in dam-impacted waters

Dams alter the geomorphology, water quality, temperature regime, and flow regime of lotic systems influencing the resources and habitat of fish, benthic invertebrates, and lower trophic levels. Since the inception of the river continuum concept and the serial discontinuity concept (SDC), biotic and abiotic impacts below impoundments have been the focus of many lotic studies. However, recovery gradients below dams are rarely examined in sufficient detail and no current synthesis of longitudinal impacts in regulated rivers exists. This understanding is needed to build ecological relationships in regulated rivers to inform environmental flows science and management. In this review, we provide evidence for SDC predictions on physical, chemical, and biological recovery in regulated rivers. Additionally, we determine how these changes are reflected in the benthic community. Our review suggests that two recovery gradients exist in regulated rivers: (1) a longer, thermal gradient taking up to hundreds of kilometr...

Longitudinal trends in regulated rivers: a review and synthesis within the context of the serial discontinuity concept

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Longitudinal trends in regulated rivers: a review and synthesis within the context of the serial discontinuity concept