The impact of stress factors on riparian and drawdown zones degradation around dams and reservoirs

Arif, Muhammad; Zheng, Jie; Tahir, Muhammad; Hu, Xin; Li, Changxiao

doi:10.1002/ldr.4310

Cited by 10 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…The TGDR is the largest reservoir in China, located between Jiangjin in Chongqing and Yichang in Hubei, with an area of 349 km 2 . The TGDR implements a hydrological dispatching model of winter storage and summer discharge, creating a hydro-fluctuation zone with a water level difference of up to 30 m during 1 year (Sang et al, 2019 ; Arif et al, 2022b ). The site is part of the subtropical southeast monsoon region's mountainous climate, with an average annual accumulated temperature of 18.2°C, long sunshine hours, sufficient rainfall, 1,327.5 h of sunshine, 29% sunshine rate, rainfall mostly concentrated between June and August, with an annual rainfall of 1,200 mm and relative humidity of 80 %.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive Plants and Species Richness Impact Litter Decomposition in Riparian Zones

Arif²,

Ding³

et al. 2022

Front. Plant Sci.

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Natural ecosystems generally include litter decomposition as part of the natural cycle since the material properties and the environment greatly influence the decomposition rate. The invasion of exotic plants alters the species diversity and growth characteristics of plant communities, but its impact on litter decomposition is unknown in the riparian zone. This study examines how invasive plants affect the early stages of litter decomposition and how species richness impacts them. This experiment involved a random litter mixture of exotic (Alternanthera philoxeroides and Bidens pilosa) and native species in the riparian zone of the Three Gorges Dam Reservoir in China. There were 43 species mixture types, with various species richness ranging from 1 to 6. Litterbags were placed in the hydro-fluctuation zone and terrestrial zone, where they decomposed over the course of 55 days. Invasive plants decompose rapidly compared to native plants (35.71% of the remaining mass of the invasive plant). The invasive plant A. philoxeroides has the potential to accelerate native plant decomposition (0.29 of non-added synergetic effect), but Bidens pilosa cannot. Nonetheless, species richness had little effect on the decomposition rate. These effects are dependent upon differences in chemical functional characteristics among the species. The initial traits of the plants, specifically C, N, and C/N, were significantly and linearly correlated with the loss of mixed litter mass and mixing effect strength (P < 0.01). In addition, submergence decomposition conditions reduce the disturbance of invasive plants and predict decomposition rates based on litter characteristics. Invasive plants can therefore impact the material cycle of an ecosystem. There is a need to examine decomposition time, which may also involve considering other factors.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive Plants and Species Richness Impact Litter Decomposition in Riparian Zones

Arif²,

Ding³

et al. 2022

Front. Plant Sci.

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“…Human activities resulting from urbanization and industrialization have deteriorated the riparian zones of many countries [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. It is a fact that riparian zones naturally improve water quality since they ensure the safety of both the river and the environment [ 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rural areas are significantly affected by agricultural activities, while urban areas are significantly impacted by concrete structures [ 22 ]. When researchers compared the correlations between near-field events and far-field events, they found that the correlations between near-field events were stronger, which suggests that the stressor was more concentrated in the near-field events [ 2 , 23 ]. For this reason, it is extremely relevant to investigate how riparian zones respond to different stressors in different river basins.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Stressors on Riparian Health Indicators in the Upper and Lower Indus River Basins in Pakistan

Hira

Arif

Zarif³

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Riparian zones along rivers and streams provide ecosystem services that may change over time as disturbances increase and deteriorate these buffer zones globally. The effect of stressors on ecosystem services along the rivers in underdeveloped countries is unclear, which impacts the environment directly in the form of riparian health indicators (RHIs). This study fills this gap and measures the impact of stressors on RHIs (parameters of habitat, plant cover, regeneration, exotics, and erosion) in the Indus River basin (IRB) in Pakistan. Data on 11 stressors and 27 RHIs were collected using a field-based approach in 269 transects in the upper and lower Indus basins (UIB and LIB) in 2020 and analyzed using multivariate statistical methods. The Kruskal–Wallis tests (p < 0.05) indicated that RHIs varied significantly under the influence of stressors in the UIB and LIB. However, their highest mean values were found in the UIB. Principal component analysis revealed the key RHIs and stressors, which explained 62.50% and 77.10% of the variance, respectively. The Pearson correlation showed that stressors had greater impacts on RHIs in LIB (with r ranging from −0.42 to 0.56). Our results also showed that stressors affected RHI indices with r ranging from −0.39 to 0.50 (on habitat), −0.36 to 0.46 (on plant cover), −0.34 to 0.35 (on regeneration), −0.34 to 0.56 (on erosion), and −0.42 to 0.23 (on exotics). Furthermore, it was confirmed by the agglomerative hierarchical cluster that indices and sub-indices of RHIs and stressors differ across the UIB and LIB. These findings may serve as guidance for managers of large rivers and ecosystem service providers to minimize the environmental impact of stressors in terms of RHIs.

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“…In some ecosystems, the effects of environmental factors on mass loss impact overrode litter quality itself (Yu et al, 2020). Among them, moisture is one of the important factors affecting material circulation and energy in a riparian ecosystem (Yue et al, 2016;Arif et al, 2022c). It can Frontiers in Environmental Science frontiersin.org indirectly affect the aeration of plant residues, thus affecting their mineralization and decomposition processes (Sun et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of hydrological regime on Taxodium ascendens plant decomposition and nutrient dynamics in the Three Gorges Reservoir riparian zone

Chen

Hong

Arif

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Riparian plants are an integral part of the river ecosystem and have significant impacts on the water quality of the reservoir area. The special hydrological process of the riparian zone makes it possible to become a “source” or “sink” of organic matter and nutrients. This study quantifies the flooding period on the decomposition as well as nutrient dynamics of leaves from artificially regenerated Taxodium ascendens in the riparian zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) in China. Five decomposition treatment groups were exposed to 10, 30, 60, 90, and 180 days of decomposition: conventional water (T1), mild drought stress (T2), saturated water content (T3), light flooding stress (T4), and severe flooding stress (T5). In T4 and T5, the decomposition rate of T. ascendens leaves was significantly higher than that of T1, T2, and T3. All the leaf C, N, P, and K concentrations at the end of the test were lower than their respective starting values. The concentrations of N and P in the overlying water decrease to various degrees due to decomposition. At the end of the study, the TN content was 1.34 times (T4) and 1.16 times (T5) higher than that of the control group, and the TP content was 3.97 times (T4) and 3.21 times (T5) higher than that of the control group. Leaf decomposition increases the content of N and P in the overlying water under flood conditions, which adversely affects the water environment. This study establishes a theoretical framework for understanding how hydrological processes affect leaf decomposition and nutrient release in riparian areas, providing a scientific basis for riparian zone management in TGR.

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The impact of stress factors on riparian and drawdown zones degradation around dams and reservoirs

Cited by 10 publications

References 68 publications

Invasive Plants and Species Richness Impact Litter Decomposition in Riparian Zones

Invasive Plants and Species Richness Impact Litter Decomposition in Riparian Zones

Impacts of Stressors on Riparian Health Indicators in the Upper and Lower Indus River Basins in Pakistan

Effects of hydrological regime on Taxodium ascendens plant decomposition and nutrient dynamics in the Three Gorges Reservoir riparian zone

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