Lowland fluvial phosphorus altered by dams

Dams affect ecosystems, but their physical link to the variations in fluvial fluxes and downstream ecological consequences are inadequately understood. After estimating the current effects of the Three Gorges project and other reservoirs upstream on the Yangtze River on the fluvial phosphorus (P) in the middle and lower Yangtze River, we further investigated the long-term effects of dams on the fluvial regimes of P and P-enriched sediment (PES). Simultaneously measured P distributions with sediment size (PDSS) from the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) proved that the areal density of particulate P (PP) bound on graded sediment can be measured using the surface area concentration of the total sediment. A PDSS relationship is obtained and the selective transport and long-term sedimentation of P are simulated using a nonuniform suspended sediment model, which incorporates the PDSS formula. The computations revealed that a reservoir would significantly lower the downstream availability of P in the dry season and promote high pulses of P in summer when the reservoir is flushed as sedimentation accumulates. As a result, the P buffering and replenishing mechanism in the pristine ecosystem from upstream supplies and local re-suspension are permanently eliminated when a regulating reservoir is built upstream. This change is irreversible if reservoir regulation continues. Changes could potentially aggravate the existing P-limitation, decrease the water's ability to adjust nutrient/pollutant fluctuations, accumulate a greater surplus of carbon and nitrogen, and even exacerbate blooms in favorable conditions.