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Title: A fish-eye view of riverine hydropower systems. Understanding the biological response to turbine passage

Abstract

One-way connectivity maintained by fish passing through hydropower turbines in fragmented rivers can be important to population dynamics, but can introduce a new and significant source of mortality due to turbine-associated mortality. Sources of mortality during downstream turbine passage can come from several sources including blade strike, shear forces, cavitation, or pressure decreases, and parsing the contributions of these individual forces is important for advancing and deploying turbines that minimize these impacts to fishes. We used a national hydropower database and conducted a systematic review of the literature to accomplish three goals: (1) report on the spatial distribution of turbine types and generation capacities in the USA, (2) determine fish mortality rates among turbine types and fish species and (3) examine relationships between physical forces similar to those encountered during fish turbine passage and fish injury and mortality. We found that while Francis turbines generate 56% of all US hydropower and have the highest associated fish mortality of any turbine type, these turbines are proportionally understudied compared to less-common and less injury-associated Kaplan turbines, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. While juvenile salmonid species in actual or simulated Kaplan turbine conditions were the most commonly studied, the highest mortality rates weremore » reported in percid fishes passing through Francis turbines. Also, although there are several mechanisms of turbine-associated injury, barotrauma was the most commonly studied with swim bladder rupture, exopthalmia, eye gas bubbles, and prolapsed cloaca being the most serious symptoms associated with rapid pressure decreases. Future studies should focus on understanding which species are most at-risk to turbine passage mortality and, subsequently, increasing the diversity of taxonomy and turbine types in evaluations of turbine mortality.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1234988
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 19; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 0960-3166
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
13 HYDRO ENERGY

Citation Formats

Pracheil, Brenda M., DeRolph, Christopher R., Schramm, Michael P., and Bevelhimer, Mark S. A fish-eye view of riverine hydropower systems. Understanding the biological response to turbine passage. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1007/s11160-015-9416-8.
Pracheil, Brenda M., DeRolph, Christopher R., Schramm, Michael P., & Bevelhimer, Mark S. A fish-eye view of riverine hydropower systems. Understanding the biological response to turbine passage. United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-015-9416-8
Pracheil, Brenda M., DeRolph, Christopher R., Schramm, Michael P., and Bevelhimer, Mark S. 2016. "A fish-eye view of riverine hydropower systems. Understanding the biological response to turbine passage". United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-015-9416-8. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1234988.
@article{osti_1234988,
title = {A fish-eye view of riverine hydropower systems. Understanding the biological response to turbine passage},
author = {Pracheil, Brenda M. and DeRolph, Christopher R. and Schramm, Michael P. and Bevelhimer, Mark S.},
abstractNote = {One-way connectivity maintained by fish passing through hydropower turbines in fragmented rivers can be important to population dynamics, but can introduce a new and significant source of mortality due to turbine-associated mortality. Sources of mortality during downstream turbine passage can come from several sources including blade strike, shear forces, cavitation, or pressure decreases, and parsing the contributions of these individual forces is important for advancing and deploying turbines that minimize these impacts to fishes. We used a national hydropower database and conducted a systematic review of the literature to accomplish three goals: (1) report on the spatial distribution of turbine types and generation capacities in the USA, (2) determine fish mortality rates among turbine types and fish species and (3) examine relationships between physical forces similar to those encountered during fish turbine passage and fish injury and mortality. We found that while Francis turbines generate 56% of all US hydropower and have the highest associated fish mortality of any turbine type, these turbines are proportionally understudied compared to less-common and less injury-associated Kaplan turbines, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. While juvenile salmonid species in actual or simulated Kaplan turbine conditions were the most commonly studied, the highest mortality rates were reported in percid fishes passing through Francis turbines. Also, although there are several mechanisms of turbine-associated injury, barotrauma was the most commonly studied with swim bladder rupture, exopthalmia, eye gas bubbles, and prolapsed cloaca being the most serious symptoms associated with rapid pressure decreases. Future studies should focus on understanding which species are most at-risk to turbine passage mortality and, subsequently, increasing the diversity of taxonomy and turbine types in evaluations of turbine mortality.},
doi = {10.1007/s11160-015-9416-8},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1234988}, journal = {Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries},
issn = {0960-3166},
number = 6,
volume = 19,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}

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Cited by: 73 works
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Works referenced in this record:

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journal, June 2012


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journal, April 2014


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Works referencing / citing this record:

Basin-scale effects of small hydropower on biodiversity dynamics
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Passage survival of European and American eels at Francis and propeller turbines
journal, September 2019


Evaluating a light-louver system for behavioural guidance of age-0 white sturgeon
journal, July 2017


Protocol for the assessment of mortality and injuries in fish larvae associated with their downstream passage through hydropower dams
journal, April 2019


Damming interacts with the flood pulse to alter zooplankton communities in an Amazonian river
journal, March 2019


Fish-Net: Probabilistic models for fishway planning, design and monitoring to support environmentally sustainable hydropower
journal, April 2018


American eel state of buoyancy and barotrauma susceptibility associated with hydroturbine passage
journal, January 2019


Juvenile Chinook Salmon Survival When Exposed to Simulated Dam Passage after Being Implanted with a New Microacoustic Transmitter
journal, July 2018


Temporal fish community responses to two cascade run-of-river dams in the Madeira River, Amazon basin
journal, August 2017


Surface bypass as a means of protecting downstream-migrating fish: lack of standardised evaluation criteria complicates evaluation of efficacy
journal, January 2018


Basin-scale effects of small hydropower on biodiversity dynamics
text, January 2018


American eel state of buoyancy and barotrauma susceptibility associated with hydroturbine passage
journal, January 2019


Temporary turbine and reservoir level management to improve downstream migration of juvenile salmon through a hydropower complex
journal, January 2021