New lake in a changing world: the construction and filling of a small hydropower reservoir in the tropics (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Climate change has affected rainfall patterns in tropical regions, where simultaneous demands for water and energy, habitat loss, declining biodiversity, and spread of invasive species have reflected a rapidly changing world underway. In Brazil, hydropower generation accounts for 64% of the electric...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 26; no. 35; pp. 36007 - 36022
Main Authors:	Branco, Christina Wyss Castelo, Leal, João José Fonseca, Huszar, Vera Lúcia de Moraes, Farias, Daniel da Silva, Saint’Pierre, Tatiana Dillenbug, Sousa-Filho, Izidro Ferreira, de Palermo, Elisabete Fernandes de Albuquerque, Guarino, Alcides Wagner Serpa, Gomes, Adalto Rodrigues, Kozlowsky-Suzuki, Betina
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-12-2019 Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Abundance Ammonium Animals Aquatic communities Aquatic Pollution Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution Biodiversity Brazil Calcium chloride Calcium nitrate Climate Change Construction planning Corbicula Cyanobacteria Dam construction Drainage basins Earth and Environmental Science Ecological conditions Ecosystem Ecotoxicology Electrical conductivity Electrical resistivity Environment Environmental Chemistry Environmental Health Environmental science Habitat loss Hydroelectric plants Hydroelectric power Hydroelectric power generation Introduced species Invasive species Lakes Macroinvertebrates Magnesium Metal concentrations Metals Mollusks Phosphorus Plankton Power Plants Rainfall Research Article River basins Rivers Shellfish Silica Silicon dioxide Solid suspensions Suspended solids Tropical environment Tropical environments Turbidity Waste Water Technology Water Management Water Pollution Control Water Quality Watershed management Brazil Tropical reservoir Metals Cyanobacteria Macroinvertebrates Dam construction Phytoplankton Zooplankton Corbicula fluminea
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Summary:	Climate change has affected rainfall patterns in tropical regions, where simultaneous demands for water and energy, habitat loss, declining biodiversity, and spread of invasive species have reflected a rapidly changing world underway. In Brazil, hydropower generation accounts for 64% of the electricity matrix, which presently includes 1007 small hydropower plants (SHPs) having many others under construction or planned. This paper aimed to evaluate changes in water quality, plankton communities, and benthic macroinvertebrates during dam construction, filling, and the first year of operation of a SHP. Suspended solids, turbidity, and silica were variables that highlighted the impact of this construction on the river. Fast changes in water quality (increases in calcium, chlorides, and nitrate) and on aquatic communities (i.e. euglenophyceans and testate amoebae increased in numbers) were detected during the filling phase. Following SHP construction, the concentrations of metals and total phosphorus tended to decrease. Two striking findings observed in the aquatic communities from the riverine conditions to the new lake were the increase in picocyanobacteria abundance, expanding population stocks throughout the river basin, and the constant presence of the invasive mollusc Corbicula fluminea in the macroinvertebrate assemblage, revealing once again its resistance to environmental variability. The lake soon became a natural trap for ions from the drainage basin, as revealed by the increase in electrical conductivity, ammonium, potassium, and magnesium concentrations and the abundance of cyanobacteria, highlighting the need for watershed management to improve ecological conditions in the lake.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0944-1344 1614-7499
DOI:	10.1007/s11356-019-06665-y