Wetlands are one of the most threatened ecosystems on earth. Globally, there is growing demand to develop infrastructure to harvest water resources to support agriculture, threatening the ecological integrity of associated wetland ecosystems. We investigated the potential ecological impacts on floodplain wetland connectivity in northern Australia in response to changes in flow regime due to dam construction and climate change. Results for this study indicate that a drier climate and/or dam construction in catchments have the potential to reduce the effective size of the floodplain and reduce wetland connectivity. A drier climate will reduce rainfall and subsequent catchment run‐off, resulting in a decrease in the magnitude of riverine flows. In contrast, dams in the upper catchment will reduce the magnitude of flows downstream. The reduction in flows under both dam development and a drier climate will result in reduced extent and duration of floodplain inundation and decreased wetland connectivity. As a result, we anticipate that this loss of connectivity will reduce the capacity for nutrients, carbon and primary production to be flushed into the river channel, as well as reduce the ability for biota such as fish and turtles to move between in‐channel and off‐channel habitats.

中文翻译：

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气候变化和大坝发展：对热带湿地湿地连通性和生态栖息地的影响

湿地是地球上受威胁最大的生态系统之一。在全球范围内，对开发基础设施以收集水资源以支持农业的需求日益增长，这威胁到相关湿地生态系统的生态完整性。我们调查了由于大坝建设和气候变化引起的水流变化，对澳大利亚北部洪泛区湿地连通性的潜在生态影响。这项研究的结果表明，干燥的气候和/或集水区的大坝建设有可能减小洪泛区的有效面积并减少湿地的连通性。较干燥的气候将减少降雨和随后的集水径流，导致河流流量减小。相反，上游流域的水坝将减少下游的流量。在大坝发展和气候干燥的情况下，流量的减少将导致洪泛区淹没的程度和持续时间缩短，湿地连通性下降。结果，我们预计这种连通性的丧失将减少养分，碳和初级产品冲入河道的能力，并降低鱼类和海龟等生物群在河道之间和河道之间移动的能力。渠道外的栖息地。