Flowing Waters and Threatened Aquatic Life

Dear Colleagues,

Construction of dams modifies the hydrologic regime of streams, while the new environment causes the fall of native species and promotes the dissemination of tolerant exotic species. This is a consequence of a progressive increase of nutrients in the reservoir, deterioration of aquatic habitats, and also the limitation to the free circulation of species, inducing fragmentation. Bioindicators, namely, fish, benthic macroinvertebrates, and phytobenthos, are used individually to quantify water quality degradation, but in regulated rivers, hypolimnetic discharges and toxic sediment accumulation require an approach at different spatial and biological scales to include cumulative impacts. Integrating different assemblages, complemented with bioaccumulation studies, biomarker evaluation (biological responses at sub-organismal levels) or indicators of stream functioning may be a direction. On the other hand, mitigation should consider the entire catchment at various levels, from land use, habitat (aquatic and riparian habitats), and water quality improvement, also including strategies to limit the expansion of invasive species. Other tools can be considered, such as dam re-operation, to introduce the appropriate hydraulic conditions below the dam or to decrease water level fluctuations.

This Special Issue is intended to serve as an integrative view from monitoring to river restoration, from habitat to catchment scale, in ecosystems impacted by damming.

Prof. Dr. Rui Cortes
Prof. Dr. Sandra Mariza Monteiro
Prof. Dr. Luís Filipe Sanches Fernandes
Guest Editors

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