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Water diversions facilitate spread of non-native species

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Abstract

Many countries/areas are experiencing or may soon experience water scarcity owing to rapid population growth, urbanization and/or climate change. Currently, almost one-fifth of the world’s population (1.2 billion) live in areas of physical water scarcity. Water diversions have become a commonplace solution proposed by governments for alleviation of physical water scarcity. Thus far, more than 80 major projects are completed or under construction globally, including the world’s largest diversion: South-to-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP) in China. Negative effects associated with water diversions, such as habitat loss and transfer of pollutants, have been recognized. However, it has been largely overlooked that “invasion highways” are created when water diversions link biogeographic regions. These “invasion highways” can facilitate spread of an array of non-native species. Although previous experiences have provided clear warnings regarding spread of non-native invasive species through artificial waterways, these lessons have been largely ignored by governments when resolving water scarcity problems. Here we use SNWTP, which will likely facilitate spread of invasive golden mussels, as well as many known examples of non-native invasive species spread through artificial waterways in other water systems, to call on governments to formally establish policy and seek management solutions to considering spread of non-native species when planning water diversions.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31272665) and 100 Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to A.Z., and by Canada Research Chairs and Discovery grants from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to HJM and GDH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 18 Shuangqing Road, Beijing, 100085, China

    Aibin Zhan, Ping Ni, Wei Xiong & Yiyong Chen

  2. China-Canada Three Gorges Reservoir Water Science Center, Southwest University, 1 Tiansheng Road, Beibei, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Lei Zhang, Zhiqiang Xia, G. Douglas Haffner & Hugh J. MacIsaac

  3. Faculty of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, 1 Tiansheng Road, Beibei, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Lei Zhang & G. Douglas Haffner

  4. Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4, Canada

    Lei Zhang, Zhiqiang Xia, G. Douglas Haffner & Hugh J. MacIsaac

Authors
  1. Aibin Zhan
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  2. Lei Zhang
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  3. Zhiqiang Xia
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  4. Ping Ni
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  5. Wei Xiong
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  6. Yiyong Chen
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  7. G. Douglas Haffner
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  8. Hugh J. MacIsaac
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Correspondence to Aibin Zhan.

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Zhan, A., Zhang, L., Xia, Z. et al. Water diversions facilitate spread of non-native species. Biol Invasions 17, 3073–3080 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-015-0940-1

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