Revisiting the serial discontinuity concept Export

@article{citeulike:3662023, abstract = {We revisit the serial discontinuity concept (SDC), which predicts river ecosystem responses to stream regulation in the context of recovery with distance downstream from the dam (discontinuity distance). Many studies have described pervasive interruptions of natural biophysical gradients of dams by comparing conditions in tailwaters to reference or pre-impoundment conditions. But only a few studies provide data or interpretations that explicitly test the SDC within entire stream corridors or along specifically defined reaches where recovery was expected in view of the predictions of the SDC. We present discontinuity distance measures for nine rivers around the world where the predictions of the SDC were substantiated. In two cases, recovery trajectories were overwhelmed by other human sources of disturbance. In one case, the SDC did not hold up, but only biotic measures were made. We conclude that, in general, the SDC is a sound construct that in most cases can be used to predict, or at least clearly articulate, the consequences of new regulation. The next step is to develop better empirical models of the SDC and to validate them experimentally through re-regulation of entire river corridors. Copyright {\copyright} 2001 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd.}, address = {Flathead Lake Biological Station, The University of Montana, 311 Bio Station Lane, Polson, MT 59860-9659, USA; Department of Limnology, EAWAG/ETH, CH-8600 Duebendorf, Switzerland}, author = {Stanford, Jack A. and Ward, J. V.}, citeulike-article-id = {3662023}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rrr.659}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/85513751/ABSTRACT}, doi = {10.1002/rrr.659}, journal = {Regulated Rivers: Research \& Management}, keywords = {ecology, limnology, river}, number = {4-5}, pages = {303--310}, posted-at = {2009-11-05 19:01:58}, priority = {2}, title = {Revisiting the serial discontinuity concept}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rrr.659}, volume = {17}, year = {2001} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3662023 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3662023 N2 - We revisit the serial discontinuity concept (SDC), which predicts river ecosystem responses to stream regulation in the context of recovery with distance downstream from the dam (discontinuity distance). Many studies have described pervasive interruptions of natural biophysical gradients of dams by comparing conditions in tailwaters to reference or pre-impoundment conditions. But only a few studies provide data or interpretations that explicitly test the SDC within entire stream corridors or along specifically defined reaches where recovery was expected in view of the predictions of the SDC. We present discontinuity distance measures for nine rivers around the world where the predictions of the SDC were substantiated. In two cases, recovery trajectories were overwhelmed by other human sources of disturbance. In one case, the SDC did not hold up, but only biotic measures were made. We conclude that, in general, the SDC is a sound construct that in most cases can be used to predict, or at least clearly articulate, the consequences of new regulation. The next step is to develop better empirical models of the SDC and to validate them experimentally through re-regulation of entire river corridors. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. IS - 4-5 JF - Regulated Rivers: Research & Management AD - Flathead Lake Biological Station, The University of Montana, 311 Bio Station Lane, Polson, MT 59860-9659, USA; Department of Limnology, EAWAG/ETH, CH-8600 Duebendorf, Switzerland EP - 310 TI - Revisiting the serial discontinuity concept VL - 17 SP - 303 KW - ecology KW - limnology KW - river AU - Stanford, Jack AU - Ward, JV PY - 2001/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rrr.659 ER -