Freshwater Ecology

BIOE 155
FLOW REGIMES AND DAMS
(read Poff et al. 1997).
GENERAL THEORY AND BACKGROUND ABOUT DISTURBANCE
Disturbancean episodic event that removes or kills organisms
e.g., wildfire, hurricanes, waves, floods, etc.
Disturbances can be characterized in terms of:
Magnitude
Frequency
Duration
Thus, disturbances can include small events or large events. We might predict that
there are frequent, small magnitude disturbances and that larger magnitude
disturbances are more rare.
SuccessionChange in the community following disturbance.
Impacts of disturbance on diversity
Ecological theory predicts that over time, competitively dominant species will
outcompete the competitive inferior. If this is true, how can there be so many species?
For example, in lakes, Hutchinson termed this the paradox of the plankton. Research
has shown that one mechanism that may help prevent competitive exclusion is events that
keep the community out of equilibriumlike disturbances.
Intermediate disturbance hypothesis
Diversity is highest at an intermediate level of disturbance because this allows
both early colonization species and competitive dominants to coexist (Connell 1978).

Diversity

Disturbance (frequency/intensity)
There is some support for this possibility in stream ecosystems.

Menge-Sutherland hypothesis
These rocky intertidal ecologists hypothesized that as ecosystems get harsher, the
relative impact of top-down control will decrease. This assumes that top predators are the
least tolerant of environmental conditions (and disturbance). There is some support for
this in freshwater systems from work by Mary Power.

Freshwater Ecology
BIOE 155

FLOODS AND FLOW REGIMES

Flow regimethe pattern of flow, including floods, over time of a given system.
Quantifying flow regime
Stream flow regimes can be characterized similar to other disturbances:
Degree of intermittency
o Perennial streamsstreams that flow year-round.
o Intermittent streamsstreams that periodically go dry
Magnitude
o The discharge at a given point and time.
Frequency
o How often a flow above a given level occurs. For example, a 100-year
flood is a flood that reaches a level that, on average, happens only once
every 100 years.
Duration
o How long a given magnitude flow occurs.
Predictability
o In some systems, high flows are extremely predictable, happening at the
same time each year. Alternatively, some systems have unpredictable
floods.
Flashiness (rate of change)
o How quickly flow changes from one magnitude to another magnitude.
You can understand a lot about a river by examining its flow regime. Rivers with
different flow regimes have different communities, species with different adaptations,
and different nutrient cycling.
Impacts of floods on stream communities
Given that different organisms have different adaptations to floods and different
vulnerabilities, the same flood will likely impact different species differently.
Severe floods often dramatically reduce the abundance of benthic invertebrates and
fishes. However, stream communities generally recover rapidly from floods, but it
depends on the flood and the stream community. Species that are good at colonizing will
generally be the first ones to show up. These species are usually short-lived species that
are good at dispersal.
Refugia from Flood Disturbance
Large substrates
Dead zones where no shear stress
Hyporheic zone
Upstream habitats
Adult terrestrial phases

Freshwater Ecology
BIOE 155

Impacts of floods on connectivity of streams

Longitudinal connectivityconnections between upstream and downstream
habitats.
o Floods have great power and increase longitudinal connectivity. For
example, they move large woody debris and sediments from the
headwaters to lower down in the river.

Lateral connectivityconnections between a stream and its floodplain.

o Through periodically inundating floodplains, floods connect rivers with
the landscape around them. This is important for both aquatic and riparian
habitats.

Therefore, floods blur the boundaries between aquatic and terrestrial habitats.
What is dry land one day may be under 10 feet of water the next day. Through
movements of materials, nutrients, and animals, floods connect rivers to their
floodplain.

Floods are an important selective agent and drive evolution

They have stronger selection strength when they are:
Predictable
Frequent relative to the life-span of the organism
Large in magnitude
(Lytle and Poff 2004)
Adaptations to flooding
Life-history
o E.g.) Cottonwood seed release timed to floods
Behavioral
o E.g.) Giant water bugs fleeing desert streams after rainfall cues.
Morphological
o E.g.) Flattened shape of many benthic invertebrates
Flow regimes and species composition
Not surprisingly, flow regimes will define which species do well in a certain
system. This will influence the community composition for both native and
invasive species.

For example, Fausch et al. 2001, found that flow regime predicted the invasion
success of rainbow trout. Systems that had flow regimes similar to rainbow trouts
native habitat were more likely to be invaded successfully.

Freshwater Ecology
BIOE 155
The flood-pulse concept
Floods in many natural systems are
predictable events. Floods cause the
predictable advance and retreat of
water onto the floodplain.
Organisms and ecosystems have
evolved in response to them.
Because organisms are adapted to
this, floods:
o Increase biological
productivity-- The floodplain
is regularly wetted and dried,
which in term mobilizes and
mineralizes nutrients.
o Maintains diversity

From: Bayley 1995. This shows fisheries yields are

higher from flooding rivers.

ALTERATIONS OF FLOW REGIMES

One of the major global alterations of riverine ecosystems across the world has been
alteration of flow regimes.
Some scary stats:
172 out of 292 large river systems are affected by dams.
There are >45,000 dams over 15 m high
o Holds back ~6500 km3 of water (~15% of global river runoff)
o E.g., Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China
181 m high
>39 km3
There are an unknown number of smaller dams
(from Nilsson et al. 2005)

Freshwater Ecology
BIOE 155
History of flow alterations in the U.S.

From: Poff et al. 1997.

Freshwater Ecology
BIOE 155

Flow Regime Alteration and Consequences (from Poff et al. 1997)

Dams
o Capture sediments moving downstream, coarsening of downstream river
sediment.
Diversions and Dams
o Decreased magnitude and frequency of high flows. This stabilizes and
narrows the river channel, reducing connections with floodplain.
o Across the U.S., flow regimes are now more similar.
Urbanization, tiling, drainage
o Increased magnitude and frequency of high flows. This can lead to bank
erosion and disconnection from floodplain.
Levees and channelization
o Reduces flows into floodplain, which decreases connections with
terrestrial/riparian habitats.
Groundwater pumping
o This leads to lower water tables, leading to channel downcutting.

Restoring flow regimes

There is increasing realization that natural flow regimes are important for preserving and
conserving river ecosystems. There have been increasing efforts to actively manage flows
for conservation. However, there are often difficult conflicts between water users:
Recreational activity in the reservoir
Electricity generation
Fish
Agriculture
Downstream landowners who live on the banks of the river

Flow Regime and Climate Change?