Unintended consequences and trade‐offs of fish passage

McLaughlin, Robert L.; Smyth, Eric R. B.; Castro‐Santos, Theodore; Jones, Michael L.; Koops, Marten A.; Pratt, Thomas C.; Vélez‐Espino, Luis A.

doi:10.1111/faf.12003

Cited by 190 publications

(174 citation statements)

References 135 publications

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“…Our model does not account for tributary habitat conditions, the spatial distribution of beneficiary species, or the likelihood of species invasions, all of which mediate the ecological benefits of barrier removals (28,29). Unfortunately, these important management considerations have not been systematically mapped across the entire GLB, so they cannot be incorporated into current optimization models.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing ecosystem restoration efficiency through spatial and temporal coordination

Neeson

Ferris

Diebel

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

134

151

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In many large ecosystems, conservation projects are selected by a diverse set of actors operating independently at spatial scales ranging from local to international. Although small-scale decision making can leverage local expert knowledge, it also may be an inefficient means of achieving large-scale objectives if piecemeal efforts are poorly coordinated. Here, we assess the value of coordinating efforts in both space and time to maximize the restoration of aquatic ecosystem connectivity. Habitat fragmentation is a leading driver of declining biodiversity and ecosystem services in rivers worldwide, and we simultaneously evaluate optimal barrier removal strategies for 661 tributary rivers of the Laurentian Great Lakes, which are fragmented by at least 6,692 dams and 232,068 road crossings. We find that coordinating barrier removals across the entire basin is nine times more efficient at reconnecting fish to headwater breeding grounds than optimizing independently for each watershed. Similarly, a one-time pulse of restoration investment is up to 10 times more efficient than annual allocations totaling the same amount. Despite widespread emphasis on dams as key barriers in river networks, improving road culvert passability is also essential for efficiently restoring connectivity to the Great Lakes. Our results highlight the dramatic economic and ecological advantages of coordinating efforts in both space and time during restoration of large ecosystems.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing ecosystem restoration efficiency through spatial and temporal coordination

Neeson

Ferris

Diebel

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

134

151

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“…When considering river reconnection schemes, we suggest that increasing emphasis needs to be placed upon ensuring whole fish community access (Gough et al 2012;Cooke and Hinch 2013), unless there is a need to preclude invasive species (McLaughlin et al 2013). Often, fish passage studies assess a modified facility only for stronger…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the effectiveness of restoring longitudinal connectivity for stream fish communities: towards a more holistic approach

Tummers

Hudson

Lucas

2016

Science of The Total Environment

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. (2016) 'Evaluating the eectiveness of restoring longitudinal connectivity for stream sh communities : towards a more holistic approach.', Science of the total environment., 569-570 . pp. 850-860. Further information on publisher's website: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractA more holistic approach towards testing longitudinal connectivity restoration is needed in order to establish that intended ecological functions are achieved. We illustrate the use of a multi-method scheme to evaluate the effectiveness of 'nature-like' connectivity restoration for stream fish communities in the River Deerness, NE England. Electric-fishing, capture-mark-recapture, PIT telemetry and radio-telemetry were used to measure fish community composition, dispersal, fishway efficiency and upstream migration respectively. For measuring passage and dispersal, our rationale was to evaluate a wide size range of strong swimmers (exemplified by brown trout Salmo trutta) and weak swimmers (exemplified by bullhead Cottus perifretum) in situ in the stream ecosystem. Radiotracking of adult trout during the spawning migration showed that passage efficiency at each of five connectivity-restored sites was 81.3-100%. Unaltered (experimental control) structures on the migration route had a bottle-neck effect on upstream migration, especially during low flows.However, even during low flows, displaced PIT tagged juvenile trout (total n = 153) exhibited a passage efficiency of 70.1-93.1% at two nature-like passes. In mark-recapture experiments juvenile brown trout and bullhead tagged (total n = 5303) succeeded in dispersing upstream more often at most structures following obstacle modification, but not at the two control sites, based on a Laplace kernel modelling approach of observed dispersal distance and barrier traverses. Short-term post-restoration data (2-3 years) showed that the fish assemblage remained similar at five of six connectivity-restored sites and two control sites, but at one connectivity-restored headwater site previously inhabited by trout only, three native non-salmonid species colonised. We conclude that stream habitat reconnection should support free movement of a wide range of species and life stages, wherever retention of such obstacles is not needed to manage non-native invasive species. Evaluation of the effectiveness of fish community restoration in degraded streams benefits from a similarly holistic approach.

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“…Fish passages have been a major measure to mitigate the effects of blocking fish habitat and fragmenting fish populations (Williams et al 2012;Cooke and Hinch 2013;McLaughlin et al 2013). The efficiency of fish passages depends on the swimming ability of the target species (Gowans et al 2003;Roscoe and Hinch 2010;Noonan et al 2012).…”

Section: Fish Passagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential effects of dam cascade on fish: lessons from the Yangtze River

Cheng

Castello

et al. 2015

Rev Fish Biol Fisheries

129

100

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Construction of hydroelectric dams affect river ecosystems, fish diversity, and fisheries yields. However, there are no studies assessing the combined effects on fish caused by several adjacent dams and their reservoirs, as in a 'dam cascade'. This study predicts the potential effects that a cascade of ten dams currently under construction in the upper Yangtze River in China will have on local fishes, and uses such predictions to assess the effectiveness of possible fish conservation measures. We found that the dam cascade will have serious combined effects on fishes mainly due to impoundment, habitat fragmentation and blocking, flow regime modification, and hypolimnetic discharges. The impoundments will cause loss of critical habitats for 46 endemic species. The dams will fragment the populations of 134 species and will block migration routes for 35 potamodromous fishes.Corieus guichenoti will have a high risk of extinction due to the combined effects of impoundment and blocking. Modification of the flow regime will adversely affect the recruitment of 26 species that produce drifting eggs. The start of annual spawning for 13 fishes will be postponed by more than 1 month, and fish spawning and growth opportunities will be reduced due to low water temperatures associated with hypolimnetic discharges. Combined dam effects will further reduce the likelihood of successful recruitment of some endangered species, such as Acipenser dabryanus and Psephurus gladius. Three countermeasures hold promise to mitigate the nearterm effects of the dam cascade, including preservation and rehabilitation of critical habitat, restoration of a semi-natural flow regime, and stock enhancement that respects genetic integrity. These conclusions can guide the development of protection plans for fishes in the upper Yangtze River. The approach undertaken in this study-by which the known and likely effects of present and future dams were simultaneously Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11160-015-9395-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 123Rev Fish Biol Fisheries (2015) 25:569-585 DOI 10.1007 considered in light of the biology of the specieshighlights the usefulness of ichthyology for fish conservation.

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Unintended consequences and trade‐offs of fish passage

Cited by 190 publications

References 135 publications

Enhancing ecosystem restoration efficiency through spatial and temporal coordination

Enhancing ecosystem restoration efficiency through spatial and temporal coordination

Evaluating the effectiveness of restoring longitudinal connectivity for stream fish communities: towards a more holistic approach

Potential effects of dam cascade on fish: lessons from the Yangtze River

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