Maizuru Fisheries Research Station, Field Science Education and Research Center, Kyoto University, Maizuru, Kyoto, Japan.
PLoS One. 2020 May 6;15(5):e0232065. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232065. eCollection 2020.
Thermal discharge from a nuclear power plant (NPP) provides an opportunity to foresee changes in faunal communities that may be induced by ocean warming. I assessed these changes by identifying characteristics of the fish community near the thermal discharge from a NPP and by recording temporal changes that occurred after the suspension of the NPP. Underwater visual censuses were conducted near Takahama NPP in the Sea of Japan, and fish assemblages were compared to those in two other sites: a site with discharge from a coal-fired power plant and a control site. During the surveyed period (8 years) when the NPP was in operation, the sea water temperature at the site near the NPP was warmer, had a significantly higher fish abundance, and a higher species richness, including tropical fishes, than the other two sites. However, once the NPP was suspended, tropical fishes dramatically decreased near the NPP. This abrupt change in fish assemblage may be due to the lowest lethal temperatures of tropical fishes being only slightly higher than the winter temperature in this area. Relatively poor ecosystem structure in the local warming area may also have contributed to low resilience of tropical fish species to this temperature change.
核电站的热排放为预测海洋变暖可能引起的动物群落变化提供了机会。我通过确定核电站热排放附近鱼类群落的特征，并记录核电站停止运行后的时间变化，来评估这些变化。在日本海的高滨核电站附近进行了水下视觉普查，并将鱼类群落与另外两个地点的鱼类群落进行了比较：一个是有燃煤电厂排放的地点，另一个是对照地点。在核电站运行的调查期间（8 年），核电站附近的海水温度较高，鱼类丰度显著较高，物种丰富度也较高，包括热带鱼类，而其他两个地点则没有。然而，一旦核电站停止运行，核电站附近的热带鱼类数量就会急剧减少。鱼类群落的这种突然变化可能是由于热带鱼类的最低致死温度仅略高于该地区的冬季温度。当地变暖地区相对较差的生态系统结构也可能导致热带鱼类对这种温度变化的恢复力较低。
