Abstract
Run-of-river (ROR) hydroelectric power (HEP) schemes are often presumed to be less ecologically damaging than large-scale storage HEP schemes. However, there is currently limited scientific evidence on their ecological impact. The aim of this article is to investigate the effects of ROR HEP schemes on communities of invertebrates in temperate streams and rivers, using a multi-site Before-After, Control-Impact (BACI) study design. The study makes use of routine environmental surveillance data collected as part of long-term national and international monitoring programmes at 22 systematically-selected ROR HEP schemes and 22 systematically-selected paired control sites. Five widely-used family-level invertebrate metrics (richness, evenness, LIFE, E-PSI, WHPT) were analysed using a linear mixed effects model. The analyses showed that there was a statistically significant effect (p<0.05) of ROR HEP construction and operation on the evenness of the invertebrate community. However, no statistically significant effects were detected on the four other metrics of community composition. The implications of these findings are discussed in this article and recommendations are made for best-practice study design for future invertebrate community impact studies.
Highlights
Renewable sources of energy are predicted to contribute almost one third of total electricity generation globally by 2035, with 50% of this from hydroelectric power (HEP) [1]
This study investigated the effects of ROR HEP schemes on communities of invertebrates in temperate streams and rivers, using a multi-site BACI study design that makes use of routine environmental surveillance data collected according to standardised methods as part of national and international monitoring programmes
The 22 ROR HEP schemes included in this study were systematically-selected, as were their paired control sites, which were located within a 20 km radius of their respective ROR HEP schemes, but on independent streams/rivers that had the influence of management legacies
Summary
Renewable sources of energy are predicted to contribute almost one third of total electricity generation globally by 2035, with 50% of this from hydroelectric power (HEP) [1]. At present the greatest proportion of global HEP comes from large-scale storage-type schemes whereby rivers are dammed to create reservoirs [2]. The ecological effects of such large-scale storage schemes have been well-documented in the scientific literature [3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. The effects of run-of-river hydroelectric power schemes on invertebrate communities monitoring data used in this study, though it was not collected for the purposes of this study. The funder provided support in the form of salaries for authors [JCG], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ’author contributions’ section
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