Diversity and Above-Ground Biomass Patterns of Vascular Flora Induced by Flooding in the Drawdown Area of China's Three Gorges Reservoir
Liu H (2014) Diversity and Above-Ground Biomass Patterns of Vascular Flora Induced by Flooding in the Drawdown
Area of China's Three Gorges Reservoir. PLoS ONE 9(6): e100889. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100889
Diversity and A bove-Ground Biomass Patterns of Vascular Flora Induced by Flooding in the Drawdown Area of China's Three Gorges Reservoir
Qiang Wang 0
Xingzhong Yuan 0
J.H.Martin Willison 0
Yuewei Zhang 0
Hong Liu 0
Keping Ma, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
0 1 Key Laboratory of Freshwater Fish Reproduction and Development (Ministry of Education), Key Laboratory of Aquatic Science of Chongqing, School of Life Science, Southwest University , Chongqing , China , 2 State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University , Chongqing , China , 3 College of Resources and Environmental Science, Chongqing University , Chongqing , China , 4 College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University , Chongqing , China , 5 School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University , Halifax, Nova Scotia , Canada
Hydrological alternation can dramatically influence riparian environments and shape riparian vegetation zonation. However, it was difficult to predict the status in the drawdown area of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), because the hydrological regime created by the dam involves both short periods of summer flooding and long-term winter impoundment for half a year. In order to examine the effects of hydrological alternation on plant diversity and biomass in the drawdown area of TGR, twelve sites distributed along the length of the drawdown area of TGR were chosen to explore the lateral pattern of plant diversity and above-ground biomass at the ends of growing seasons in 2009 and 2010. We recorded 175 vascular plant species in 2009 and 127 in 2010, indicating that a significant loss of vascular flora in the drawdown area of TGR resulted from the new hydrological regimes. Cynodon dactylon and Cyperus rotundus had high tolerance to short periods of summer flooding and long-term winter flooding. Almost half of the remnant species were annuals. Species richness, Shannon-Wiener Index and above-ground biomass of vegetation exhibited an increasing pattern along the elevation gradient, being greater at higher elevations subjected to lower submergence stress. Plant diversity, above-ground biomass and species distribution were significantly influenced by the duration of submergence relative to elevation in both summer and previous winter. Several million tonnes of vegetation would be accumulated on the drawdown area of TGR in every summer and some adverse environmental problems may be introduced when it was submerged in winter. We conclude that vascular flora biodiversity in the drawdown area of TGR has dramatically declined after the impoundment to full capacity. The new hydrological condition, characterized by long-term winter flooding and short periods of summer flooding, determined vegetation biodiversity and above-ground biomass patterns along the elevation gradient in the drawdown area.
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Funding: This study was financed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51179214), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2014M552296),
National Science & Technology Major Project (2013ZX07104-004-05), the Natural Science Foundation Project of China SWU (SWU112049) and the Fundamental
Research Funds for the Central Universities (XDJK2013C127). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or
preparation of the manuscript.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
The Three Gorges Dam (TGD) in China, 2309 meters long and
185 meters in height [1], is the largest dam in the world [2]. The
dam was initiated in 1994 and its first impoundment was
conducted in 2003 with a water level rising of 60 m above former
riverbank of the Yangtze River. When the water was raised to the
ultimate planned level of about 175 m above sea level in 2010, the
TGD filled the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), which has a
surface area about of 1080 km2. In order to decrease sediment
deposition and prolong the operational life of the TGR, water
levels behind the TGD were designed to rise highest in winter
(,175 m above sea level) and decline lowest during the summer
rainy season (,145 m above sea level), thereby producing a
drawdown area of about 348.93 km2 between the low-water and
high-water marks [3].
As expected, reservoir impoundment and the associated
waterlevel fluctuation has resulted in the inundation and alteration of
riparian vegetation, and has also introduced other environmental
problems such as bank collapse, water eutrophication and
greenhouse gas emissions. Problems like these have become global
challenges due to increasingly extreme weather events resulting
from climate change [4,5] and the rising number of dams [3]. The
effects of hydrological alterations need to be (...truncated)