Dam-Induced Hydrologic Alterations in the Rivers Feeding the Pantanal

Tropical river basins have experienced dramatically increased hydropower development over the last 20 years. These alterations have the potential to cause changes in hydrologic and ecologic systems. One heavily impacted system is the Upper Paraguay River Basin, which feeds the Pantanal wetland. The Pantanal is a Ramsar Heritage site and is one of the world's largest freshwater wetlands. Over the past 20 years, the number of hydropower facilities in the Upper Paraguay River Basin has more than doubled. This paper uses the Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) method to assess the impact of 24 of these dams on the hydrologic regime over 20 years (10 years before and 10 years after dam installation) and proposes a method to disentangle the effects of dams from other drivers of hydrologic change using undammed “control” rivers. While most of these dams are small, run-of-the-river systems, each dam significantly altered at least one of the 33 hydrologic indicators assessed. Across all studied dams, 88 of the 256 calculated indicators changed significantly, causing changes of 5–40%, compared to undammed reaches. These changes were most common in indicators that quantify the frequency and duration of high and low pulses, along with those for the rate and frequency of hydrologic changes. Importantly, the flow regime in several undammed reaches also showed significant alterations, likely due to climate and land-use changes, supporting the need for measurements in representative control systems when attributing causes to observed change. Basin-wide hydrologic changes (in both dammed and undammed rivers) have the potential to fundamentally alter the hydrology, sediment patterns, and ecosystem of the Pantanal wetland. The proposed refinement of the IHA methods reveals crucial differences between dam-induced alteration and those assigned to other drivers of change; these need to be better understood for more efficient management of current hydropower plants or the implementation of future dams.

[1]  S. Hamilton,et al.  Predicted impacts of proposed hydroelectric facilities on fish migration routes upstream from the Pantanal wetland (Brazil) , 2020, River Research and Applications.

[2]  Fernando Henrique Barbosa da Silva,et al.  Small-sized fish as possible seed dispersers: disclosing novel fish and plant species interactions in the Pantanal wetland , 2020, Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment.

[3]  M. Habel,et al.  Evaluating effects of dam operation on flow regimes and riverbed adaptation to those changes. , 2019, The Science of the total environment.

[4]  I. Bergier,et al.  Vegetation, rainfall, and pulsing hydrology in the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland , 2019, Environmental Research Letters.

[5]  V. Steinke,et al.  Physical, ecological and human dimensions of environmental change in Brazil's Pantanal wetland: Synthesis and research agenda. , 2019, The Science of the total environment.

[6]  W. Pizer,et al.  U.S. federal government subsidies for clean energy: Design choices and implications , 2019, Energy Economics.

[7]  D. Kaplan,et al.  Quantifying the impacts of dams on riverine hydrology under non-stationary conditions using incomplete data and Gaussian copula models. , 2019, The Science of the total environment.

[8]  Stephanie A. Bohlman,et al.  Mapping research on hydropower and sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: advances, gaps in knowledge and future directions , 2019, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability.

[9]  T. G. Gebremicael,et al.  Attributing the hydrological impact of different land use types and their long-term dynamics through combining parsimonious hydrological modelling, alteration analysis and PLSR analysis. , 2019, The Science of the total environment.

[10]  Y. Súarez,et al.  Reproductive ecology of Otocinclus vittatus (Regan, 1904) in the Pantanal floodplain, upper Paraguay River basin. , 2019, Brazilian journal of biology = Revista brasleira de biologia.

[11]  L. S. M. Sugai,et al.  Sustainability Agenda for the Pantanal Wetland: Perspectives on a Collaborative Interface for Science, Policy, and Decision-Making , 2019, Tropical Conservation Science.

[12]  Y. Súarez,et al.  Life history characteristics and recruitment of fish under the effect of different hydrological regimes in a tropical floodplain , 2018, Environmental Biology of Fishes.

[13]  I. Bergier,et al.  Amazon rainforest modulation of water security in the Pantanal wetland. , 2018, The Science of the total environment.

[14]  Julian D. Olden,et al.  Global proliferation of small hydropower plants – science and policy , 2018 .

[15]  J. Álvarez‐Martínez,et al.  Long-term dynamics of a floodplain shallow lake in the Pantanal wetland: Is it all about climate? , 2017, The Science of the total environment.

[16]  M. Arias,et al.  Designing river flows to improve food security futures in the Lower Mekong Basin , 2017, Science.

[17]  Eduardo Vieira dos Santos,et al.  Expansão do agrohidronegócio do pivô central no cerrado goiano e a ineficiência do poder público na gestão dos recursos hídricos , 2017 .

[18]  D. Kaplan,et al.  The changing hydrology of a dammed Amazon , 2017, Science Advances.

[19]  B. Forsberg,et al.  The potential impact of new Andean dams on Amazon fluvial ecosystems , 2017, PloS one.

[20]  B. Flyvbjerg,et al.  Damming the rivers of the Amazon basin , 2017, Nature.

[21]  L. Mateus,et al.  Reproductive biology of the migratory freshwater fish Salminus brasiliensis (Cuvier, 1816) in the Cuiabá River basin, Brazil , 2017 .

[22]  J. Penha,et al.  Interchange between flooding and drying, and spatial connectivity control the fish metacommunity structure in lakes of the Pantanal wetland , 2017, Hydrobiologia.

[23]  K. Stefanidis,et al.  Assessment of the natural flow regime in a Mediterranean river impacted from irrigated agriculture. , 2016, The Science of the total environment.

[24]  Y. Súarez,et al.  Flood pulse are the main determinant of feeding dynamics and composition of Odontostilbe pequira (Characiformes: Characidae) in southern Pantanal, Brazil , 2016 .

[25]  Maria João Martins,et al.  Riverscapes downstream of hydropower dams: Effects of altered flows and historical land-use change , 2016 .

[26]  E. Moretto,et al.  A social-ecological database to advance research on infrastructure development impacts in the Brazilian Amazon , 2016, Scientific Data.

[27]  Jinliang Huang,et al.  Hydrologic Alteration Associated with Dam Construction in a Medium-Sized Coastal Watershed of Southeast China , 2016 .

[28]  Fang-Fang Li,et al.  Incorporating ecological adaptation in a multi-objective optimization for the Three Gorges Reservoir , 2016 .

[29]  S. Hamilton,et al.  Changes in river water quality caused by a diversion hydropower dam bordering the Pantanal floodplain , 2016, Hydrobiologia.

[30]  J. Lundberg,et al.  Balancing hydropower and biodiversity in the Amazon, Congo, and Mekong , 2016, Science.

[31]  S. Hamilton,et al.  Effects of a diversion hydropower facility on the hydrological regime of the Correntes River, a tributary to the Pantanal floodplain, Brazil , 2015 .

[32]  W. J. Andrews,et al.  Climate, water use, and land surface transformation in an irrigation intensive watershed—Streamflow responses from 1950 through 2010 , 2015 .

[33]  D. E. Rheinheimer,et al.  Combined Effects of Reservoir Operations and Climate Warming on the Flow Regime of Hydropower Bypass Reaches of California's Sierra Nevada , 2015 .

[34]  Ranyere Silva Nóbrega,et al.  Impactos do desmatamento e de mudanças climáticas nos recursos hídricos na Amazônia ocidental utilizando o modelo SLURP , 2014 .

[35]  J. Salas,et al.  Revisiting the Concepts of Return Period and Risk for Nonstationary Hydrologic Extreme Events , 2014 .

[36]  J. C. Stevaux,et al.  Connectivity processes and riparian vegetation of the upper Paraná River, Brazil , 2013 .

[37]  Joseph A. Magner,et al.  Hydrology and the Management of Watersheds: Brooks/Hydrology and the Management of Watersheds , 2012 .

[38]  E. S. Filho.  As barragens na bacia do rio Paraguai e a possível influência sobre a descarga fluvial e o transporte de sedimentos - doi: 10.4025/bolgeogr.v31i1.13638 , 2012 .

[39]  Dawen Yang,et al.  Changes in the eco-flow metrics of the Upper Yangtze River from 1961 to 2008 , 2012 .

[40]  José Tadeu Garcia Tommaselli,et al.  VARIABILIDADE HIDROLÓGICA NAS BACIAS DOS RIOS AGUAPEÍ E PEIXE, REGIÃO OESTE PAULISTA , 2012 .

[41]  K. Costigan,et al.  Damming the prairie: Human alteration of Great Plains river regimes , 2012 .

[42]  W. Collischonn,et al.  Coupled Hydrologic-Hydraulic Modeling of the Upper Paraguay River Basin , 2012 .

[43]  I. Fernandes,et al.  Persistence and stability of cichlid assemblages in neotropical floodplain lagoons , 2012, Environmental Biology of Fishes.

[44]  M. Marini,et al.  Using birds to set conservation priorities for Pantanal wetland forests, Brazil , 2011, Bird Conservation International.

[45]  M. Burford,et al.  River regulation alters drivers of primary productivity along a tropical river-estuary system , 2011 .

[46]  P. C. Rocha.  INDICADORES DE ALTERAÇÃO HIDROLÓGICA NO ALTO RIO PARANÁ: INTERVENÇÕES HUMANAS E IMPLICAÇÕES NA DINÂMICA DO AMBIENTE FLUVIAL Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration in the High Parana River Catchment: Human Interventions and Implications for Dynamic of the Fluvial Environment , 2010 .

[47]  L. Mateus,et al.  Reproductive biology of pacu Piaractus mesopotamicus (Holmberg, 1887) (Teleostei: Characidae) in the Cuiabá River Basin, Mato Grosso, Brazil , 2009 .

[48]  Peter Zeilhofer,et al.  Hydrological changes in the northern Pantanal caused by the Manso dam: Impact analysis and suggestions for mitigation , 2009 .

[49]  A. Agostinho,et al.  Influence of the flood regime on the reproduction of fish species with different reproductive strategies in the Cuiabá River, Upper Pantanal, Brazil , 2008 .

[50]  R. Stouffer,et al.  Stationarity Is Dead: Whither Water Management? , 2008, Science.

[51]  M. Petrere,et al.  Review of the Fisheries in the Brazilian Portion of the Paraná/Pantanal Basin , 2007 .

[52]  M. Singer.  The influence of major dams on hydrology through the drainage network of the Sacramento River basin, California , 2007 .

[53]  F. Magilligan,et al.  Changes in hydrologic regime by dams , 2005 .

[54]  M. Marchese,et al.  Benthic invertebrate assemblages and species diversity patterns of the Upper Paraguay River , 2005 .

[55]  W. Junk,et al.  Pantanal: a large South American wetland at a crossroads , 2005 .

[56]  J. Olden,et al.  Redundancy and the choice of hydrologic indices for characterizing streamflow regimes , 2003 .

[57]  David P. Braun,et al.  How much water does a river need , 1997 .

[58]  M. Petrere,et al.  Feeding patterns in a fish community of Baia da Onça, a floodplain lake of the Aquidauana River, Pantanal, Brazil , 1996 .

[59]  David P. Braun,et al.  A Method for Assessing Hydrologic Alteration within Ecosystems , 1996 .

[60]  A. C. D. Silva,et al.  Cumulative changes in water quality caused by six cascading hydroelectric dams on the Jauru River, tributary of the Pantanal floodplain , 2019, RBRH.

[61]  Y. Súarez,et al.  Reproductive biology of Hyphessobrycon eques (Characiformes: Characidae) in Southern Pantanal, Brazil. , 2019, Brazilian journal of biology = Revista brasleira de biologia.

[62]  S. Hamilton,et al.  Mass balances of major solutes, nutrients and particulate matter as water moves through the floodplains of the Pantanal (Paraguay River, Brazil) , 2019, RBRH.

[63]  K. Meitzen.  Stream flow changes across North Carolina (USA) 1955–2012 with implications for environmental flow management , 2016 .

[64]  D. Schindler,et al.  Subsidies of Aquatic Resources in Terrestrial Ecosystems , 2016, Ecosystems.

[65]  M. Marchese,et al.  Invertebrates in Neotropical Floodplains , 2016 .

[66]  F. Pelicice,et al.  Fish assemblages in Neotropical reservoirs: Colonization patterns, impacts and management , 2016 .

[67]  Philip M. Fearnside,et al.  Environmental and Social Impacts of Hydroelectric Dams in Brazilian Amazonia: Implications for the Aluminum Industry , 2016 .

[68]  Renato Billia de Miranda,et al.  Water Erosion in Brazil and in the World: A Brief Review , 2015 .

[69]  Darwin B. Werthessen.  Environmental Considerations of Small-Scale Hydroelectric Power Plants in Himachal Pradesh, India , 2014 .

[70]  K. Tockner,et al.  A global boom in hydropower dam construction , 2014, Aquatic Sciences.

[71]  A. Bialetzki,et al.  Effect of abiotic variables on fish eggs and larvae distribution in headwaters of Cuiabá River, Mato Grosso State, Brazil , 2012 .

[72]  J. Olden,et al.  Incorporating thermal regimes into environmental flows assessments: modifying dam operations to restore freshwater ecosystem integrity , 2010 .

[73]  N. Poff,et al.  Ecological responses to altered flow regimes: a literature review to inform the science and management of environmental flows , 2010 .

[74]  S. Hamilton,et al.  Small-scale spatial variation of inundation dynamics in a floodplain of the Pantanal (Brazil) , 2009, Hydrobiologia.

[75]  W. Junk,et al.  Towards a sustainable management concept for ecosystem services of the Pantanal wetland , 2008 .

[76]  Elineide Eugênio Marques,et al.  Fish ladder of Lajeado Dam: migrations on one-way routes? , 2007 .

[77]  A. Agostinho,et al.  Threats for biodiversity in the floodplain of the Upper Paraná River: effects of hydrological regulation by dams , 2004 .

[78]  H. Oliveira,et al.  Impactos da agropecuária nos planaltos sobre o regime hidrológico do Pantanal. , 2002 .

[79]  Wcd.  Dams and development: A new framework for decision-making , 2000 .

[80]  W. Gburek.  Hydrology and the Management of Watersheds , 1998 .

[81]  W. Junk.  The flood pulse concept in river-floodplain systems , 1989 .

[82]  Pierre Desprairies,et al.  World Energy Outlook , 1977 .