Hydropower dams will decrease fish species richness 20-30% in Lower Mekong

Hydropower dams and global warming are major concerns for environmental conservation in Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. Dr. Kano simulated the separate and joint impacts of dams and global warming on freshwater fishes in the region. As a result, impacts of the dams are conspicuous in Lower Mekong Basin, while the impacts are synergistically accelerated by the global warming. This research achievement has been published on August 17, 2016, in the online edition of PLOS ONE.

"Both hydropower dams and global warming pose threats to freshwater fish diversity. However, the impacts of dams, especially those on river mainstreams, are likely to be greater, more predictable and more immediately pressing for fishes than the consequences of global warming," says Kano.

For more information about this research, see “Impacts of dams and global warming on fish biodiversity in the Indo-Burma hotspot”,PLOS ONE, Kano et al.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160151

Fig. 1.
(A) Dams in Indo-Burma region with newly planned dams shown by red circles.
(B) Impact of newly planned dams where local species richness decrease to 40% at a minimum in lower Mekong Basin.

Fig. 2.
A trade-off between electric generating capacity and species richness in Lower Mekong Basin. Species richness rapidly decreases by further dam construction, while dam removable will recover the richness.