Emerging Reservoir Delta‐Backwaters: Biophysical Dynamics and Riparian Biodiversity

Dams have been built on most of the world's large rivers. Thousands more are being proposed in countries with developing economies. Dams have major ecological consequences for river systems, including the loss of native riparian forests. Sediment that historically moved downstream and sustained coastal deltas is now accumulating at tributary and mainstem confluences in reservoirs worldwide. Our study found that vegetation communities similar to those destroyed in reservoirs are re‐establishing on these emerging delta‐backwaters. This understudied expansion of riparian forest is compensating, to a yet unknown degree, for the massive losses of ecosystem services caused by river damming. Photo credit: Gray Tappan. Photo credit: Malia Volke. Photo credit: Malia Volke. Photo credit: Malia Volke. Photo credit: Gray Tappan. These photographs illustrate the article “Emerging reservoir delta‐backwaters: biophysical dynamics and riparian biodiversity” by Malia A. Volke, W. Carter Johnson, Mark D. Dixon, Michael L. Scott published in Ecological Monographs. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.136