Prepare river ecosystems for an uncertain future

Tonkin, Jonathan D.; Poff, N. LeRoy; Bond, Nick; Horne, Avril; Merritt, David M.; Reynolds, Lindsay V.; Olden, Julian D.; Ruhí, Albert; Lytle, David A.

doi:10.1038/d41586-019-01877-1

Cited by 165 publications

(153 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(13 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

151

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In summary, various temporal frequencies are thus fundamental aspects of a flow regime designed for the benefit of an entire ecosystem—a characteristic of the historical natural flow regime that is essential for the vitality of rivers (Fig. 1) (Poff et al, 1997; Naiman et al, 2008; Tonkin et al, 2019). Administering such ecosystem-level designer flows may be challenging if single sensitive (threatened, endangered, or red listed) species provide the impetus (legal mandate) for implementation of designer flows.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Flooding also plays a critical role in maintaining functional river geomorphology by creating and maintaining critical off-channel habitats, and mobilizing sediment, woody debris and essential nutrients (Yarnell et al, 2015). Whether maintaining such variability is possible with environmental flows remains to be seen given the rapidly shifting state of river flows worldwide (Poff, 2018; Poff and Olden, 2017; Tonkin et al, 2019).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alteration of river flows comes at a major cost for the biota that inhabit freshwater and riparian (hereafter “river”) ecosystems (Tonkin et al, 2018; Bunn and Arthington, 2002), threatening the countless ecosystem services they provide (Auerbach et al, 2014). Maintaining functional river ecosystems under uncertain hydroclimatic futures presents a major management challenge for both existing and planned dam projects (Tonkin et al, 2019; Palmer and Ruhi, 2019; Horne et al, 2019), requiring the consideration of flow prescriptions that target the health of downstream ecosystems (Acreman et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Designing flow regimes to support entire river ecosystems

Tonkin

Olden

Merritt

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

10Overcoming the physical limits of dam operations under nonstationarity will require cre-11 ative approaches to ow management and modeling approaches that forecast the e ects of 12 management actions on multiple ecosystem components simultaneously. Using a novel mul-13 tispecies modeling approach, we investigated the cross-ecosystem e ects of environmental 14 ow regimes designed for speci c ecosystem outcomes. We reveal tradeo s associated with 15 ow regimes targeting riparian vegetation, shes, and invertebrates. The di erent frequen-16 cies associated with each ow regime in some cases caused non-target ecosystem components 17 to become locally extirpated within 50 years. By incorporating multiple ow frequencies, the 18 natural ow regime enabled a balanced but sub-optimal response of the three ecosystem com-19 ponents (mean 72% of designer ow). Although returning to a natural ow regime may not be 20 possible in highly managed rivers, novel ow regimes must incorporate diverse frequencies 21 inherent to such a regime and accomodate the sometimes con icting requirements of di erent 22 taxa at di erent times. 23

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Designing flow regimes to support entire river ecosystems

Tonkin

Olden

Merritt

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Likewise, SDMs ignore any transient demographic and dispersal dynamics, including dispersal constraints, movement ability and habitat configuration (Tonkin et al 2019). Although more precise projections could be obtained by incorporating species' traits related to habitats requirements and movement process (Broennimann andGuisan 2008, Carboni et al 2018), these data are only available for a few well-studied species, precluding their incorporation in systematic study like ours (O'Donnell et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current and projected future risks of freshwater fish invasions in China

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biological invasions are a primary threat to global biodiversity, supporting mounting calls for the development of early‐warning systems to manage existing and emerging invaders. Here, we evaluated the geographical pattern of invasion risks of currently established and potentially emerging nonnative freshwater fishes in China by jointly considering the threats of introduction and establishment under climate change. Introduction threats were estimated according to proxies of human activities and propagule pressure for two primary pathways (aquaculture or ornamental). Establishment threats for 51 current and 64 potential invaders (based on whether having established or not self‐sustaining populations) were assessed using an ensemble of species distribution models under current (1960–1990) and future [2041–2060 (2050s) and 2061–2080 (2070s)] climate scenarios. Geographical patterns of invasion risk were then assessed by overlaying the threats of introduction and establishment for each species group both in present‐day and in the future. We found that eastern China displayed the highest threat of introduction. By contrast, southeastern and northwestern regions were identified as the most suitable for the establishment of both current and potential invaders. Under a changing climate, 83 out of 115 species displayed an increase in habitat suitability, resulting in an overall increase of 4.8% by 2050s and 7.1% by 2070s in the extent of suitable habitat for nonnative freshwater fishes. Taken together, invasion risk was found to be highest in southeastern China and lowest in the Tibet Plateau. Our research highlights the importance of assessing invasion risk by integrating the threats associated with the introduction and establishment stages. In particular, our findings revealed convergent patterns of invasion risk between current and potential nonnative freshwater fishes under climate change. Geographic patterns in hotspots of existing and emerging invasions provide critical insights to guide the allocation of resources to monitor and control existing and emerging invasions in China.

show abstract

“…It is difficult to believe that 38% of all of oligotrophic events assessed were compromising biodiversity maintenance. Furthermore trophic status may be too simplistic as other anthropogenic pressures such as damming, over exploitation, and climate change are all contributing to habitat loss and aquatic biodiversity corrosion (Vorosmarty et al 2010, Tonkin et al 2019). Indeed given the global aquatic biodiversity crisis (IPBES 2018), there is an urgent need to manage aquatic ecosystems integratively and adaptively (Chan 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An integrative assessment of aquatic ecosystem services based on guideline thresholds

St-Gelais

Lapierre

Siron³

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ecologists typically associate water quality with trophic status where oligotrophic ecosystems have excellent water quality and presumably provide more aquatic ecosystem services. However water quality is perceived differently among worldviews. Aquatic ecosystem service provisioning to the public health and agriculture sectors is determined using specific guidelines. But are these guidelines related to trophic status? Here, we developed an integrative ecosystem service framework using guideline thresholds for drinking, swimming, irrigation, suitability for livestock and aquatic wildlife in canadian rivers of varying trophic status. Drinkability was the most sensitive ecosystem service, met in 37% of cases, whereas livestock was the least, provided in 99%. Trophic status is a fair proxy for ecosystem services limited by fecal contamination as nutrients are related to human and animal populations, but not to those limited by metals. Using quantitative thresholds to assess the safe provisioning of multiple ecosystem services provides clear guidance for supporting resource management. In a nutshell• Water quality is a commonly used term in management, but the metrics that determine whether a river can safely provide various aquatic ecosystem services differ among worldviews. • We propose an integrative approach based on guideline thresholds to evaluate the frequency with which rivers are drinkable, swimmable, suitable for irrigation, livestock, and aquatic wildlife and compared this suitability with trophic status. • Trophic status is a fair proxy for ecosystem services limited by fecal contamination, but not for those limited by metals. • Using and developing more guideline thresholds provides a concrete way to assess ecosystem service provisioning that could help serve management.

show abstract

Prepare river ecosystems for an uncertain future

Cited by 165 publications

References 10 publications

Designing flow regimes to support entire river ecosystems

Designing flow regimes to support entire river ecosystems

Current and projected future risks of freshwater fish invasions in China

An integrative assessment of aquatic ecosystem services based on guideline thresholds

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About