State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
PLoS One. 2013 Jul 24;8(7):e70537. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070537. Print 2013.
Most rivers worldwide are highly regulated by anthropogenic activities through flow regulation and water pollution. Environmental flow regulation is used to reduce the effects of anthropogenic activities on aquatic ecosystems. Formulating flow alteration-ecological response relationships is a key factor in environmental flow assessment. Traditional environmental flow models are characterized by natural relationships between flow regimes and ecosystem factors. However, food webs are often altered from natural states, which disturb environmental flow assessment in such ecosystems. In ecosystems deteriorated by heavy anthropogenic activities, the effects of environmental flow regulation on species are difficult to assess with current modeling approaches. Environmental flow management compels the development of tools that link flow regimes and food webs in an ecosystem. Food web approaches are more suitable for the task because they are more adaptive for disordered multiple species in a food web deteriorated by anthropogenic activities. This paper presents a global method of environmental flow assessment in deteriorated aquatic ecosystems. Linkages between flow regimes and food web dynamics are modeled by incorporating multiple species into an ecosystem to explore ecosystem-based environmental flow management. The approach allows scientists and water resources managers to analyze environmental flows in deteriorated ecosystems in an ecosystem-based way.
世界上大多数河流都受到人类活动的高度调节，包括流量调节和水污染。环境水流调节用于减少人类活动对水生态系统的影响。制定水流变化与生态响应关系是环境水流评估的关键因素。传统的环境水流模型的特点是水流状态与生态系统因素之间存在自然关系。然而，食物网通常会从自然状态发生改变，这会干扰此类生态系统中的环境水流评估。在受到人类活动严重影响的恶化生态系统中，当前的建模方法很难评估环境水流调节对物种的影响。环境水流管理促使人们开发将水流状态和生态系统中的食物网联系起来的工具。由于食物网方法更适应于受到人类活动影响而变得紊乱的多种生物，因此更适合这项任务。本文提出了一种在恶化水生态系统中进行环境水流评估的全球方法。通过将多个物种纳入生态系统，模拟水流状态与食物网动态之间的联系，以探索基于生态系统的环境水流管理。该方法使科学家和水资源管理者能够以基于生态系统的方式分析恶化生态系统中的环境流。
