A poorly known case of watershed transposition between the São Francisco and upper Paraná river basins

Abstract

During construction of the Furnas hydroelectric power dam in the upper rio Paraná basin in the early 1960s, the rio Piumhi drainage outflow was diverted into the headwaters of the São Francisco river basin. The rio Piumhi was a right bank tributary of the rio Grande, which unites with the rio Paranaíba to form the rio Paraná. The transposition allowed the entire fish fauna of the rio Piumhi and associated swamps, lakes, and tributaries to intermingle with the fish fauna of the São Francisco basin via the ribeirão Sujo, a right bank tributary of the São Francisco. The transposition of the watershed may have had a major impact on the current composition of the fish fauna of the upper rio São Francisco watershed.Durante a construção do reservatório hidroelétrico de Furnas na bacia do alto rio Paraná no início da década de 1960, o fluxo de águas do rio Piumhi foi desviado para as cabeceiras da bacia do rio São Francisco. O rio Piumhi era um tributário da margem direita do rio Grande, o qual se une com rio Paranaíba para formar o rio Paraná. A transposição permitiu que toda a fauna de peixes do rio Piumhi e banhados, lagos e tributários associados se mesclasse com a fauna de peixes da bacia do rio São Francisco através do ribeirão Sujo, um tributário da margem direita do São Francisco. A transposição da bacia pode ter ocasionado grande impacto na atual composição da fauna de peixes da bacia do alto rio São Francisco.

Cytogenetics of Imparfinis schubarti (Siluriformes: Heptapteridae) from the Piumhi drainage, a diverted river in Minas Gerais State, Brazil

“…During construction of the Furnas hydroelectric dam in the Rio Grande, a secondary dike was built in the lower course of the River Piumhi in order to raise the water volume of the Furnas Dam and to avoid the flooding of the town of Capitólio. This secondary damming required the deviation of the Piumhi from the Rio Grande drainage into the São Francisco basin (MOREIRA-FILHO & BUCKUP 2005) (Fig. 1).…”

“…However, the transposition of the River Piumhi in the early 1960s introduced several species from the upper Paraná into the São Francisco river basin (Fig. 1) (MOREIRA-FILHO & BUCKUP 2005). The presence of I. schubarti in the region of the transposition channel of the Piumhi River, now belonging to the São Francisco River Basin, emphasizes the importance of cytoge- …”

Knodus moenkhausii (Characiformes: Characidae): one fish species, three hydrographic basins - a natural or anthropogenic phenomenon?

“…It is likely that flooding behind dams has connected isolated streams or rivers from different hydrographic basins, such as in the aforementioned case of the Itaipu Dam. A similar well-recorded case occurred when the Piumhi River (with its 22 tributaries) which belonged to the Upper Paraná River basin was entirely transferred to São Francisco River basin after construction of the Furnas hydroelectric power dam [54]. This transposition introduced at list nine species from Upper Paraná River basin to São Francisco River basin [55,56,57,58,59].…”

“…The GMYC analyses conducted with both mitochondrial genes (COI and CytB) showed that all samples of K. moenkhausii form a single genetic unit. There was no genetic divergence construction of canals [54,60], however, there are no studies about its impact on the fauna of the river basins.…”

Introdução de Espécies em Ecossistemas Aquáticos: Causas, Prevenção e Medidas de Controle

“…A construção de reservatórios e canais de transposição de rios prejudica a biodiversidade local, uma vez que expõem as espécies nativas a novas condições, tanto pelas alterações hidrológicas, como por alterações nas interações bióticas ao possibilitar que espécies de bacias hidrográficas distintas passem a interagir, assim como espécies de trechos isolados de uma mesma bacia (MOREIRA-FILHO;BUCKUP, 2005). Um exemplo evidente de introdução de espécies como consequência de uma barragem é o caso do reservatório de Itaipu, incluso na bacia do alto Rio Paraná, localizado na fronteira entre Brasil e Paraguai.…”