Don’t let damage to wetlands cancel out the benefits of hydropower

Reservoirs change pCO2 and water quality of downstream rivers: Evidence from three reservoirs in the Seine Basin

The global increase in the construction of reservoirs has drawn attention given its documented hydrological and biogeochemical impacts on downstream rivers; however, the impact of reservoirs on downstream pCO2 (partial pressure of carbon dioxide) is still poorly understood. To evaluate these impacts, the interactions between reservoirs and their corresponding upstream and downstream rivers were analyzed for three reservoirs in the Seine Basin based on monthly measurement during two hydrological years. The seasonal variations of water quality in the reservoirs were mainly driven by the entering water and the biogeochemical processes occurring in the reservoirs. Our results unravel the crucial role of reservoir in downstream water quality, which significantly increased DOC (dissolved organic carbon) and BDOC (biodegradable DOC) concentrations, while lowered DSi (dissolved silica) concentrations during emptying period (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the impacts of reservoirs on the annual fluxes of DOC, BDOC, and DSi were quantified and suggested that the three reservoirs respectively increased 20% and 23% of annual fluxes of DOC and BDOC, while decreased 33% of annual DSi fluxes in their downstream rivers. Additionally, the reservoirs significantly decreased downstream riverine pCO2 (p < 0.01), and enhanced the gas transfer coefficient of CO2 in downstream rivers by 1.3 times during the emptying period, which highlights the necessity to consider the potential impact of reservoirs on riverine CO2 emissions. Overall, our results highlight the importance of combining biogeochemical and hydrological characteristics to understand the impacts of reservoirs on downstream rivers, and emphasize the need of similar studies under the current context of increasing reservoir constructions.

Role of organic matter and microbial communities in mercury retention and methylation in sediments near run-of-river hydroelectric dams

Run-of-river power plants (RoRs) are expected to triple in number over the next decades in Canada. These structures are not anticipated to considerably promote the mobilization and transport of mercury (Hg) and its subsequent microbial transformation to methylmercury (MeHg), a neurotoxin able to biomagnify in food webs up to humans. To test whether construction of RoRs had an effect on Hg transport and transformation, we studied Hg and MeHg concentrations, organic matter contents and methylating microbial community abundance and composition in the sediments of a section of the St. Maurice River (Quebec, Canada). This river section has been affected by the construction of two RoR dams and its watershed has been disturbed by a forest fire, logging, and the construction of wetlands. Higher total Hg (THg) and MeHg concentrations were observed in the surface sediments of the flooded sites upstream of the RoRs. These peaks in THg and MeHg were correlated with organic matter proportions in the sediments (r² = 0.87 and 0.82, respectively). In contrast, the proportion of MeHg, a proxy for methylation potential, was best explained by the carbon to nitrogen ratio suggesting the importance of terrigenous organic matter as labile substrate for Hg methylation in this system. Metagenomic analysis of Hg-methylating communities based on the hgcA functional gene marker indicated an abundance of methanogens, sulfate reducers and fermenters, suggesting that these metabolic guilds may be primary Hg methylators in these surface sediments. We propose that RoR pondages act as traps for sediments, organic matter and Hg, and that this retention can be amplified by other disturbances of the watershed such as forest fire and logging. RoR flooded sites can be conducive to Hg methylation in sediments and may act as gateways for bioaccumulation and biomagnification of MeHg along food webs, particularly in disturbed watersheds.

Controlling biodiversity impacts of future global hydropower reservoirs by strategic site selection

Further reservoir-based hydropower development can contribute to the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs) on affordable and clean energy, and climate action. However, hydropower reservoir operation can lead to biodiversity impacts, thus interfering with the SDGs on clean water and life on land. We combine a high-resolution, location-specific, technical assessment with newly developed life cycle impact assessment models, to assess potential biodiversity impacts of possible future hydropower reservoirs, resulting from land occupation, water consumption and methane emissions. We show that careful selection of hydropower reservoirs has a large potential to limit biodiversity impacts, as for example, 0.3% of the global hydropower potential accounts for 25% of the terrestrial biodiversity impact. Local variations, e.g. species richness, are the dominant explanatory factors of the variance in the quantified biodiversity impact and not the mere amount of water consumed, or land occupied per kWh. The biodiversity impacts are mainly caused by land occupation and water consumption, with methane emissions being much less important. Further, we indicate a trade-off risk between terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity impacts, as due to the weak correlation between terrestrial and aquatic impacts, reservoirs with small aquatic biodiversity impacts tend to have larger terrestrial impacts and vice versa.

Effects of dam impoundment on the soil seed bank in a plateau wetland of China

Dam impoundment, which rapidly changes hydrologic regimes and greatly alters aquatic environments, plays a critical role in the seed germination and seedling growth of wetland plants, especially influencing their seed banks. In this study, a soil seed bank experiment was carried out along a water level gradient for the Lake Lashi wetland in the Northwest Yunnan Plateau of China. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect, driver and dynamic mechanism of dam impoundment on the soil seed bank of plateau wetlands using partial least squares (PLS) regression and chaotic dynamic methods. The results showed that the soil seed bank had significant differences in seed density, species composition, and water ecotype of the plant species between the flood zone (perennially flooded area, seasonally flooded area, and flood plain area) and nonflood zone (control area) in the plateau wetland. The seed bank density was obviously lower in the perennially flooded area and higher in the seasonally flooded area and flood plain area, with values that were 39.88%, 153.53%, and 146.47% that of the control area, respectively. After dam impoundment, the number of plant species gradually increased; however, the dominance of the dominant species became less obvious, and the species diversity indices decreased significantly, e.g., by 15.47% for the Simpson diversity index and 72.39% for the Shannon Wiener diversity index. Our study showed that dam impoundment has made the Lake Lashi wetland complex chaotic ecosystem switch between order and disorder through self-organization and that the species composition of the soil seed bank continuously experienced self-adaptation. These results provide a reference for scientific evaluations of the effects of dam impoundment on wetland ecosystems and provide guidance for the protection and management of plateau wetland ecosystems.

Wetland Loss Identification and Evaluation Based on Landscape and Remote Sensing Indices in Xiong’an New Area

Wetlands play a critical role in the environment. With the impacts of climate change and human activities, wetlands have suffered severe droughts and the area declined. For the wetland restoration and management, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of wetland loss. In this study, the Xiong’an New Area was selected as the study area. For this site, we built a new method to identify the patterns of wetland loss integrated the landscape variation and wetland elements loss based on seven land use maps and Landsat series images from the 1980s to 2015. The calculated results revealed the following: (1) From the 1980s to 2015, wetland area decreased by 40.94 km2, with a reduction of 13.84%. The wetland loss was divided into three sub stages: the wet stage from 1980s to 2000, the reduction stage from 2000 to 2019 and the recovering stage from 2009 to 2015. The wetland area was mainly replaced by cropland and built-up land, accounting for 98.22% in the overall loss. The maximum wetland area was 369.43 km2 in the Xiong’an New Area. (2) From 1989 to 2015, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI) and soil moisture monitoring index (SMMI) showed a degradation, a slight improvement and degradation trend, respectively. The significantly degraded areas were 80.40 km2, 20.71 km2 and 80.05 km2 by the detection of the remote sensing indices, respectively. The wetland loss was mainly dominated by different elements in different periods. The water area (NDWI), soil moisture (SMMI) and vegetation (NDVI) caused the wetland loss in the three sub-periods (1980s–2000, 2000–2009 and 2009–2015). (3) According to the analysis in the landscape and elements, the wetland loss was summarized with three patterns. In the pattern 1, as water became scarce, the plants changed from aquatic to terrestrial species in sub-region G, which caused the wetland vegetation loss. In the pattern 2, due to the water area decrease in sub-regions B, C, D and E, the soil moisture decreased and then the aquatic plants grew up, which caused the wetland loss. In the pattern 3, in sub-region A, due to the reduction in water, terrestrial plants covered the region. The three patterns indicated the wetland loss process in the sub region scale. (4) The research integrated the landscape variation and element loss appears potential in the identification of the loss of wetland areas.