22 min listen
Episode 14: Hydroelectric Dams Kill Insects, Wreak Havoc with Food Webs
FromBioScience Talks
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Length:
30 minutes
Released:
Jul 13, 2016
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Hydropower dams generate more energy than all other renewable sources combined. However, they can also produce dire environmental consequences, including the devastation of aquatic insect populations and the food webs that those insects underpin. A practice called "hydropeaking" is evidently to blame. By altering river flows to meet power-generation needs, hydropeaking generates artificial tides that extirpate insect species. In this episode of BioScience Talks, we're joined by Dr. Ted Kennedy, a research ecologist with the US Geological Survey's Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center. In this month's BioScience, he and his colleagues describe the underlying phenomenon and the citizen science project that brought it to light. In our discussion, Dr. Kennedy explains his findings and offers possible solutions to the hydropeaking conundrum. Read the article describing the research. Subscribe on iTunes. Subscribe on Stitcher.
Released:
Jul 13, 2016
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
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