|
|
Article: EFFECTS OF RIVER REGULATION ON RIVER-MARGIN VEGETATION: A COMPARISON OF EIGHT BOREAL RIVERS.(Statistical Data Included)
- Article from:
- Ecological Applications
- Article date:
- February 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Ecological Society of America. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Abstract. Regulation and fragmentation by dams belong to the most widespread deliberate impacts of humans on the world's rivers, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. We evaluated the effects of hydroelectric development by comparing the flora of vascular plants in 200-m-long reaches of river margin distributed along eight entire rivers in northern Sweden. Four of these rivers were free-flowing, and four were strongly regulated for hydroelectric purposes. First, we compared species diversity per site between entire freeflowing and regulated rivers. To reduce the effects of natural, between-river variation, we compared adjacent rivers. One regulated river had lower plant ...