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All that goes up must come down? Absence of downstream passage through a fish ladder in a large Amazonian river

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Abstract

Millions of fish ascend through fishways in South America every year, but there is no evidence that downstream passage is occurring in large dams. Based on this concern, this study monitored the fish ladder at Lajeado Dam, Tocantins River, a large Amazonian tributary. To investigate the extent of downstream movements through the fishway, ascending and descending movements were quantified between November 2007 and October 2008. Monitoring showed that the ladder is restrictive to many species in both directions, but downstream passage was much more limited: almost all fish captured in the ladder (99.5%) were ascending the facility. Consequently, the numerical ratio between ascending and descending fish (ind./m2) showed high positive values throughout the year (1508:1 on average); migratory species showed higher ratios. All results showed that downstream passage through the ladder is very limited, and that the facility allows only one-way movements (i.e., upstream). This is the first empirical evidence showing that a ladder is critically deficient for downstream passage of fishes in South America.

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Acknowledgments

We thank our colleagues from the Núcleo de Estudos Ambientais (Neamb) at the Universidade Federal do Tocantins (UFT) for their logistical support and assistance with field and laboratory work. We also thank Lucas Driver and David Hoeinghaus (University of North Texas) for language revision and suggestions. Investico S.A. provided financial funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Núcleo de Estudos Ambientais (Neamb), Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Rua 3, Quadra 17, Jardim dos Ipês, Porto Nacional, TO, 77500-000, Brazil

    Carlos Sérgio Agostinho, Fernando Mayer Pelicice, Elineide Eugênio Marques & Anderson Brito Soares

  2. Investco S.A., Miracema do Tocantins, TO, Brazil

    Deusimar Augusto Alves de Almeida

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  1. Carlos Sérgio Agostinho
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  2. Fernando Mayer Pelicice
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  3. Elineide Eugênio Marques
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  4. Anderson Brito Soares
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  5. Deusimar Augusto Alves de Almeida
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Correspondence to Fernando Mayer Pelicice.

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Handling editor: David J. Hoeinghaus

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Agostinho, C.S., Pelicice, F.M., Marques, E.E. et al. All that goes up must come down? Absence of downstream passage through a fish ladder in a large Amazonian river. Hydrobiologia 675, 1–12 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0787-0

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