School of Port and Transportation Engineering, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, 316000, Zhejiang, China.
State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China.
Sci Rep. 2019 May 2;9(1):6828. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-42971-8.
Spillway water falling from hydroelectric power plant dams in the upper Yangtze River creates a high pressure in plunge pools below the dams allowing gasses to be dissolved at high rates. The resulting supersaturation persists many miles downstream the dam which may elicit mortality in river fishes associated with gas bubble disease (GBD). We have in a two-year study (2014-15) evaluated the effect of water depth on development of GBD in an endemic and endangered fish species, the Chinese sucker Myxocyprinus asiaticus, 24 km downstream of Xiangjaiba dam. Mortality and incidence of GBD were recorded and it was seen that water depth and survival time/GBD development was positively correlated. The physiological mechanisms explaining increased resistance to GBD with increased water depths (and thereby higher hydrostatic pressure) are discussed. The results may be applied in future management of fish resources in order to protect endangered endemic fishes in rivers affected by dam constructions.
从长江上游水电站大坝上倾泻而下的溢流水，在大坝下方的消力池中形成高压，使气体以很高的速率溶解。这种过饱和状态会在大坝下游数英里处持续存在，可能导致与气泡病（GBD）相关的鱼类死亡。在一项为期两年的研究（2014-15 年）中，我们评估了水深对一种地方性濒危鱼类——亚洲胡鲶（Myxocyprinus asiaticus）气泡病发展的影响，该研究地点位于向家坝大坝下游 24 公里处。记录了死亡率和 GBD 的发病率，并发现水深与存活时间/GBD 发展呈正相关。我们讨论了用增加水深（从而增加静水压力）来解释对 GBD 抵抗力增加的生理机制。这些结果可应用于未来的鱼类资源管理，以保护受大坝建设影响的河流中的濒危地方性鱼类。
