The Impacts of Dam-Related Flow Regulation on the Physical and Ecological Characteristics of Rivers

水坝造成重大的水文地貌改变，深刻地改变和退化了河流生态系统。 水生生物群落普遍认为，河岸环境中的特定节点或区域以重要方式反映和记录干扰，并成为生态完整性的重要生物指标。 这些水生热点通常发生在水文流动路径与一些基本的生态和地球化学成分汇合的地方，如支流交汇处。 许多以前的研究记录了水文，地貌，或水坝的生态影响，但很少有这三个响应同时进行评估，在流域的角度来看，多个水坝存在。 很少有全面的评估存在的水文地貌影响的水坝，既检查整个流域，并包括一系列的水坝类型和操作策略。 本研究项目的主要目标是提升大坝的分析远离主要单一的案例研究的观点，并具体联系大坝的生态影响，这些水文变化所造成的地貌反应。 水坝分割流域，地球化学，生态和地貌过程的正常空间套件受到极大的干扰沿着主干和与主干的支流交界处。 该项目将评估沉积物的来源和停留时间在事件到十年的时间尺度在多个大坝干扰系统。 该项目还将确定在流域尺度上对水生生态系统的干扰的长度、规模和程度。 该项目的另一个主要目标是评估不同的水坝类型和管理方式如何产生不同的沉积物通量以及由此产生的水生生态。 将使用短寿命放射性核素（如210-Pb和7-Be）记录嵌入河床的沉积物的停留时间。 该项目直接侧重于水坝对沉积物储存和河床沉积物停留时间的影响及其对底栖生物群落结构的独特或综合控制。 这项研究将在康涅狄格河上游流域的支流和干流部分进行，该流域有广泛的筑坝历史，存在大量的基础数据。这项研究有几个重要的科学和社会组成部分。 在科学上，使用沉降物放射性核素具有深远的影响。 有没有已知的嵌入性的定量表达，这些结果可以建立这种技术作为科学标准，不仅与大坝，而且一般渔业管理的研究。 这项研究也有望对社会产生重大效益，因为其结果对联邦能源管理委员会（FERC）重新颁发许可证和遵守国家环境政策法（NEPA）非常重要。 研究结果也将有助于建立适应性管理策略的必要基础条件。

Dams generate significant hydrogeomorphic alterations that have profoundly altered and degraded river ecosystems. General agreement exists within the aquatic community that particular nodes or zones within the riparian environment reflect and record disturbance in important ways and become critical bio-indicators of ecological integrity. These aquatic hotspots commonly occur where hydrologic flow paths converge with some fundamental ecological and geochemical component, such as at tributary junctions. Numerous previous studies have chronicled the hydrologic, geomorphic, or ecological impacts of dams, but rarely have these three responses been simultaneously evaluated in a watershed perspective where multiple dams exist. Few comprehensive evaluations exist of the hydrogeomorphic effects of dams that both examine whole watersheds and that encompass an array of dam types and operation strategies. The main goals of this research project are to elevate the analysis of dams away from a primarily singular case study view and to specifically link the ecological impacts of dams to the geomorphic response resulting from these hydrologic changes. Dams fragment watersheds, and the normal spatial suite of geochemical, ecological, and geomorphic processes are greatly disturbed along mainstems and at tributary junctions with the mainstem. This project will evaluate sediment sources and residence times at the event-to-decadal timescale in systems disturbed by multiple dams. The project also will determine the length-scale and magnitude of this disturbance on aquatic ecosystems at the watershed scale. Another main objective of the project is to evaluate how different dam types and management styles generate different sediment fluxes and resulting aquatic ecology. The residence time of this sediment embedded in the channel bed will be documented using short-lived radionuclides, such as 210-Pb and 7-Be. The project focuses directly on the effects of dams on both sediment storage and the residence time of bed sediment and their distinct or combined control on benthic community structure. This research will be conducted on tributaries and mainstem sections of the Upper Connecticut River watershed, a basin with a history of extensive damming and where extensive base data exist. This research has several important scientific and social components. Scientifically, the use of fallout radionuclides has far-reaching implications. There is no known quantitative expression of embeddedness, and these results could establish this technique as the scientific standard not only for studies related to dams but also for fisheries management in general. This research also is expected to have significant benefits for society, as its results will be important for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) relicensing and for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance. The research results also will help establish the necessary base conditions for adaptive management strategies.