Article: Multi-angle views on effect of river regulation on breeding habitat of Little Tern Journal: International Journal of Environment and Pollution (IJEP) 2015 Vol.58 No.3 pp.172 - 186 Abstract: It is already well known that river regulation influences biota via disrupting the natural flow regime in addition to causing physical barrier for the movement of aquatic life and material. However, studies often looked into various effects in an isolated manner and paid little attention to animal adaptive behaviour. In this work, the influence of river regulation by dam operation on the breeding habitat of the Little Tern was studied from a coast-river continuum perspective. It was found that there was a decade-long time lag between flow regulation and the degradation of coastal habitat in the case investigated. As the coastal habitat degradation became manifested, a habitat use shift occurred from coast to river. On the other hand, the riverine habitat was affected by river regulation both positively and negatively. The positive aspect is the reduction in flooding risk of breeding colony, and the negative effect is the vegetation development on the habitat, which is out of favour by the bird. As a net result, the bird did not abandon the riverine habitat although its physical characteristics may be considered as suboptimal. The findings suggest that species adaptive behaviours should be taken into consideration in assessing environmental impacts caused by human activities such as dam development. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Multi-angle views on effect of river regulation on breeding habitat of Little Tern

Authors: Guangwei Huang

Addresses: Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Sophia University, 7-1, Kioicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8554, Japan

Abstract: It is already well known that river regulation influences biota via disrupting the natural flow regime in addition to causing physical barrier for the movement of aquatic life and material. However, studies often looked into various effects in an isolated manner and paid little attention to animal adaptive behaviour. In this work, the influence of river regulation by dam operation on the breeding habitat of the Little Tern was studied from a coast-river continuum perspective. It was found that there was a decade-long time lag between flow regulation and the degradation of coastal habitat in the case investigated. As the coastal habitat degradation became manifested, a habitat use shift occurred from coast to river. On the other hand, the riverine habitat was affected by river regulation both positively and negatively. The positive aspect is the reduction in flooding risk of breeding colony, and the negative effect is the vegetation development on the habitat, which is out of favour by the bird. As a net result, the bird did not abandon the riverine habitat although its physical characteristics may be considered as suboptimal. The findings suggest that species adaptive behaviours should be taken into consideration in assessing environmental impacts caused by human activities such as dam development.

Keywords: Little Terns; habitat shift; dams; costal erosion; vegetation development; adaptation; river regulation; breeding habitats; biota; flow regulation; habitat degradation; coastal habitats; flooding risk; breeding colonies; bird species; adaptive behaviour; environmental impact; human activities; dam development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2015.077176

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2015 Vol.58 No.3, pp.172 - 186

Accepted: 16 Aug 2015
Published online: 22 Jun 2016 *

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Title: Multi-angle views on effect of river regulation on breeding habitat of Little Tern

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