Basic principles and ecological consequences of altered flow regimes for aquatic biodiversity

dc.contributor.authorBunn, S. E.en
dc.contributor.authorArthington, A. H.en
dc.contributor.departmentSustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) Knowledgebaseen
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-19T19:11:36Zen
dc.date.available2016-04-19T19:11:36Zen
dc.date.issued2002en
dc.descriptionMetadata only recorden
dc.description.abstractThe flow regime is regarded by many aquatic ecologists to be the key driver of river and floodplain wetland ecosystems. We have focused this literature review around four key principles to highlight the important mechanisms that link hydrology and aquatic biodiversity and to illustrate the consequent impacts of altered flow regimes: Firstly, flow is a major determinant of physical habitat in streams, which in turn is a major determinant of biotic composition; Secondly, aquatic species have evolved life history strategies primarily in direct response to the natural flow regimes; Thirdly, maintenance of natural patterns of longitudinal and lateral connectivity is essential to the viability of populations of many riverine species; Finally, the invasion and success of exotic and introduced species in rivers is facilitated by the alteration of flow regimes. The impacts of flow change are manifest across broad taxonomic groups including riverine plants, invertebrates, and fish. Despite growing recognition of these relationships, ecologists still struggle to predict and quantify biotic responses to altered flow regimes. One obvious difficulty is the ability to distinguish the direct effects of modified flow regimes from impacts associated with land-use change that often accompanies water resource development. Currently, evidence about how rivers function in relation to flow regime and the flows that aquatic organisms need exists largely as a series of untested hypotheses. To overcome these problems, aquatic science needs to move quickly into a manipulative or experimental phase, preferably with the aims of restoration and measuring ecosystem response.en
dc.format.mimetypetext/plainen
dc.identifier1564en
dc.identifier.citationEnvironmental Management 30(4): 492-507en
dc.identifier.issn0364-152Xen
dc.identifier.issn1432-1009en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/66650en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherNew York, NY: Springer-Verlag New York, LLCen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.holderCopyright 2002 by Springer-Verlag New York Inc.en
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectEcosystem managementen
dc.subjectEcosystemen
dc.subjectWildlife managementen
dc.subjectAquatic ecosystemsen
dc.subjectBiodiversityen
dc.subjectFisheriesen
dc.subjectNatural resource managementen
dc.subjectAquatic resourcesen
dc.subjectAquacultureen
dc.subjectEcological principlesen
dc.subjectHydrologyen
dc.subjectAquatic biodiversityen
dc.subjectFlow regimeen
dc.subjectLife historiesen
dc.subjectLongitudinal connectivityen
dc.subjectLateral connectivityen
dc.subjectIntroduced speciesen
dc.subjectEcosystemen
dc.titleBasic principles and ecological consequences of altered flow regimes for aquatic biodiversityen
dc.typeAbstracten
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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