A boom in hydropower dam construction is underway, taking place for the most part in developing countries . While this boom is expected to increase the global electricity production from hydropower sources, it could potentially block off 20% of the last free-flowing rivers on Earth and become a serious threat to freshwater biodiversity.
By blocking of these rivers with dams, the environment is affected as migration patterns are disrupted as well as the flow of nutrients and materials that the environments beyond the dam need. By cutting off migration patterns, populations of animals such as fish will begin to decrease as less and less fish are able to reproduce. The lack of certain organisms that have evolved into a food web could drastically affect the health of the system(Populations that served as prey could grow without check and threaten biodiversity, Predators could die out because of lack of food). These threats to the biodiversity of these environments could lead to a collapse of ecosystems in the enviroments.
Are there any ways to avoid the ecological disruption caused by the dams (other than by not building them)?
ReplyDeleteIn some cases, like many dams in the Pacific Northwest (which have caused many of the salmon runs of the area into extinction), scientists are working to solve the problems that prevent fish from going through the dams turbines safely. According to research, the reason salmon and other fish die while sucked into the turbines of the dam is that the pressure inside the turbines causes the fishes' swim bladders(used to keep buoyancy) to rupture. This data has been given to turbine producing companies, who have begun developing new turbine designs to lower the pressures within the turbines.
DeleteWhy won't the fish be able to reproduce?
ReplyDelete