Fragmentation of riparian floras in rivers with multiple dams

• Rivers are increasingly fragmented by dams, resulting in disruption of natural dispersal pathways and subsequent changes of riverine communities. We assessed the effect of dams as barriers to plant dispersal along rivers by comparing the flora of vascular plants between pairs of run-of-river impoundments in northern Sweden. Adjacent impoundments in similar environmental settings develop different riparian floras because species with poor floating capacity become unevenly distributed among impoundments. Such discontinuities were not found along a free-flowing river, suggesting effective dispersal of riparian plants in the absence of dams. Given that dams regulate most of the world's rivers, floristic disruptions of riparian corridors may be a global phenomenon. The extensive fragmentation of other ecosystems may have caused similar obstructions to organism dispersal, with subsequent changes in species composition.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

corridor functions

dams as barriers to plant dispersal

dams vs.

ecological riparian continuity

fragmentation

hydrochory

plant

species composition and dispersal

regulated rivers

riparian

vegetation

seed dispersal

Sweden

vegetative dispersal

plant-communities

hydrochory

dispersal

conservation

invasibility

biodiversity

vegetation

corridors

dynamics

patterns

Terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecology

Terrestrisk, limnisk och marin ekologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)