AQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS
Aquatic Conserv: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 20: 127–131 (2010)
Published online in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/aqc.1098
Editorial
Requiem for a river: extinctions, climate change and
the last of the Yangtze
DAVID DUDGEON
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Received 12 December 2009; Accepted 4 January 2010
INTRODUCTION
Freshwater biodiversity is under global threat, with some of
the largest and most charismatic species in the world’s great
rivers facing possible extinction (Dudgeon et al., 2006; Stone,
2007). One such iconic species was the Yangtze River dolphin
or baiji, Lipotes vexillifer, confirmed as the first human-caused
cetacean extinction in 2007 (Turvey et al., 2007). As the sole
representative of the monotypic Lipotidae, it represents the
loss of an entire evolutionary lineage. Unfortunately, the baiji
was one of a host of Yangtze species that are now gravely
threatened. This reflects the dramatic degradation and
modification of the river ecosystem that has occurred since
the 1950s (reviewed by Dudgeon, 1992, 1995, 2005a),
ratcheting up the effects of centuries of extensive human
impact. What is the prognosis for Yangtze biodiversity?
YANGTZE RIVER HEALTH
The Yangtze River (or Chang Jiang) is, by length and
discharge, the largest river in China, and the third longest in
the world. The catchment of 1.8 million km2 sustains over
400 million people, and much of the landscape is human
dominated. The Yangtze originates at 5400 m elevation in the
glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau, flowing south through Sichuan
Province into Yunnan Province then north and east into
Sichuan again. There it is joined by the Min Jiang (Figure 1) at
which point the river has descended to an elevation of
approximately 300 m. This upper mainstream section of the
Yangtze is referred to as the Jinsha Jiang.
From its intersection with the Min Jiang, the Yangtze is
navigable for well over 2000 km down to the sea, although the
channel is bisected by the giant Three Gorges Dam (TGD) – the
largest hydropower facility in the world – and the Gezhouba
Dam further downstream. Chongqing (190 m elevation), a vast
conurbation of around 32 million people, is situated at the top
of the Three Gorges, while the TGD approximately 320 km
further downstream, marks the beginning of the Yangtze
floodplain. The floodplain is characterized by numerous lakes
including Poyang Lake (China’s largest lake) and Dongting
Lake, and is flat enough to allow passage of ocean-going vessels.
Together with other commercial boat traffic (numbering
4210,000 large vessels), they serve the major cities of the
floodplain, such as Wuhan (49 million people), Nanjing
(almost 8 million) and Shanghai (420 million) situated at the
river mouth, as well as Yichang (4 million) adjacent to the TGD
and, especially, burgeoning Chongqing further upstream. These
cities contribute over 25 billion tons of wastewater — around
half China’s total — to the Yangtze each year, much of it
untreated (Wu et al., 1999; SEPA, 2004; Dudgeon, 2005a).
Point-source pollution by sewage and industrial wastes is
compounded by diffuse pollution including nitrogen
(196 kg ha 1: 3.6 times the world average rates), phosphorus,
and pesticides from agricultural land, as well as contaminants
from vessels (Li and Zhang, 1999; Xue et al., 2008).
The national network for monitoring water quality in
Chinese rivers established by the State Environmental
Protection Agency (SEPA, raised to ministry status in 2008
and referred to herein as MEP) produces annual reports that
incorporate data from many sites along the Yangtze. Water is
graded according to six levels or classes: i.e. I to V and ‘Worse
than Grade V’ (see MEP, 2008). Pollution in the Yangtze has
increased in recent years, with higher burdens in the lower
course and in smaller tributaries (reviewed by Xue et al., 2008).
Only 31% of water samples from the Yangtze and its tributaries
(mainly in the upper Jinsha Jiang) are of first or second class
quality and much of the river is third class or poorer. Even in
the Three Gorges Reservoir, only 80% of samples meet the class
III standard (i.e. o10,000 faecal coliforms L 1; o1.0 mg L 1
*Correspondence to: David Dudgeon, Division of Ecology and Biodiversity, School of Biological Sciences, The University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. E-mail: [email protected]
Copyright r 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
128
D. DUDGEON
Figure 1. The Yangtze River showing the positions of the Three Gorges Dam and Gezhouba Dam, People’s Republic of China, as well as details of the
upper Yangtze Basin and Jinsha River and the position of Chongqing city. The original boundaries of the Upper Yangtze River Rare and Endemic
Fishes Reserve are indicated by stippling. The approximate locations of 13 dams that are planned or under construction are shown also:
1 5 Xiaonanhai; 2 5 Xiangjiaba; 3 5 Xiluodo; 4 5 Baihetan; 5 5 Wudongde; 6 5 Guanyinyan; 7 5 Ludila; 8 5 Longkaikou; 9 5 Jin’anqiao; 10 5 Ahia;
11 5 Liyuan; 12 5 Liangjiaren; 13 5 Hutiaoxia. The positions of two additional dams that have been proposed at Luzhou (upstream arrow) and Jiangjin
(downstream arrow) within the reserve are shown also, as well as the only confirmed spawning site for Chinese paddlefish (asterisk).
ammonia), but this is not surprising given its location
downstream of Chongqing. Levels of persistent organic
pollutants are rising, posing threats to the drinking water of
major cities along the river (Xue et al., 2008), with media reports
characterizing the lower Yangtze as ‘cancerous’.
In addition to pollution, the Yangtze biota must contend
with overexploitation and flow regulation (Dudgeon, 1995,
2000). The Yangtze formerly contributed around 70% of
China’s freshwater catch (0.5 million t y 1) but yields fell to
half this value between 1954 and 1970, and have declined further
to 100 000 t y 1 (Fu et al., 2003; Chen et al., 2004).
Anadromous Reeve’s shad (Tenualosa reevesii), which once
supported a lucrative fishery, is now virtually extinct due to the
combined effects of overfishing, pollution and dams obstructing
migrations (Wang, 2003; Chen et al., 2004). Much of the present
Yangtze fishery yield depends upon the well-established practice
of stocking the river and its floodplain lakes with cultured fry of
major carp (Fu et al., 2003). This measure has implications for
the genetic variability of indigenous carp, but may reduce
fishing pressure on rare species.
LIKELY EXTINCTIONS OF YANGTZE
MEGAFISHES
The Yangtze hosts 261 fish species, 177 of them endemic
(Fu et al., 2003: estimates of richness vary slightly among
authorities). No comprehensive conservation assessment of
Yangtze fishes has been attempted, but 25 species are listed in
the National Red Data Book for threatened Chinese fish (Yue
and Chen, 1998) and receive nominal legislative protection.
They include China’s largest freshwater fishes: the Chinese
sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis), Yangtze sturgeon (Acipenser
dabryanus) and Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius).
Copyright r 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Although all three are Grade-1 Nationally Protected Species,
which cannot be fished, their populations have experienced
marked declines (Wei et al., 1997, 2004). The Yangtze sturgeon
and Chinese paddlefish are Yangtze endemics categorized by
the IUCN as critically endangered; the Chinese sturgeon is
endangered, but the status of all three species needs updating
(IUCN, 2009).
The Gezhouba Dam, constructed on the Yangtze
mainstream in 1981, blocked breeding migrations, fragmented
populations and degraded spawning sites of sturgeons and
paddlefish (Dudgeon, 1995, 2000; Wei et al., 1997; Chen et al.,
2004). The TDG, an even more effective barrier to migration,
ensured that paddlefish reproduction was limited to the upper
section of the river. This species is on the verge of extinction.
Zhang et al. (2009) failed to detect any paddlefish during a 3year hydroacoustic and fisheries study of the upper Yangtze,
even in reaches adjacent to its only known spawning site in the
lower Jinsha. Only three adult paddlefish have been captured
during the last decade (most recently in 2003); juveniles have not
been recorded since 1992 (Zhang et al., 2009).
Like the paddlefish, Yangtze sturgeon are now restricted to
the upper Yangtze, whereas the Chinese sturgeon is confined
to the lower course. Since 1983, over 100,000 larvae of Chinese
sturgeon obtained by artificial propagation have been released
into the Yangtze each year (Wei et al., 1997, 2004). Stocking of
inbred fish may be responsible for a genetic bottleneck in the
remnant wild population (Zhang et al., 2003), but could result
from population decreases associated with dam building that
destroyed spawning areas. Artificial propagation of Yangtze
sturgeon has been achieved recently, with release of juveniles
advocated (Gao et al., 2009), but may be inadvisable given the
low genetic variability of wild populations caused by
substantial declines in abundance between 1958 and 1999
(Wan et al., 2003). Yangtze sturgeon are ‘seldom captured’
Aquatic Conserv: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 20: 127–131 (2010)
DOI: 10.1002/aqc
EXTINCTIONS, CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE LAST OF THE YANGTZE
(Gao et al., 2009), and the only individuals collected by Zhang
et al. (2009) during their 3-year paddlefish survey were several
small ‘hybrid sturgeon’. Establishment of captive breeding
populations of sturgeons and paddlefish as an ‘insurance
policy’ of ex situ conservation has been advocated repeatedly
(Yue and Chen, 1998; Wei et al., 2004; Zhang et al., 2009), and
was also proposed for the baiji (for details, see Dudgeon,
2005b). Given the failure to implement those ex situ
conservation measures, one might conclude that the
paddlefish and Yangtze sturgeon will follow the baiji into
extinction.
DECLINES IN CHARISMATIC YANGTZE
ANIMALS
The status of Yangtze megafishes is mirrored by other species:
the Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis) is critically endangered
in the wild (IUCN, 2009), and while many individuals are held in
captivity, there is limited scope for reintroduction to the lower
Yangtze for this ‘animal without a habitat’ (Thorbjarnarson and
Wang, 1999). The Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle (Rafetus
swinhoei), which may be the largest freshwater turtle species on
Earth, is apparently extinct in the wild and classified as critically
endangered (IUCN, 2009). A single female and at least one male
survive in captivity in China, but breeding has yet to be
achieved. The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) —
the world’s largest amphibian, and one of only three surviving
Cryptobranchidae — is likewise critically endangered owing to
the combined effects of dams, pollution and overexploitation
(Wang et al., 2004). The black finless porpoise, Neophocaena
phocaenoides asiaeorientalis is the only freshwater population of
porpoises in the world. This subspecies is endemic to the
Yangtze where it is confined to the floodplain. Steep declines in
abundance and distribution are attributable to the same factors
that eliminated the baiji — entanglement with fishing gear,
pollutants, collision with vessels, sand mining and dams
limiting access to floodplain lakes — fuelling fears that these
porpoises may soon be extinct (Zhao et al., 2008).
Lower Yangtze wetlands, especially Poyang and Dongting
Lakes, have been degraded by pollution, sedimentation, land
reclamation, and changes in flood regime, making them less
suitable as wintering habitat for rare or threatened water birds,
such as white-fronted and swan geese (Anser albiforns and
A. cygnoides), white and black storks (Ciconia boyciana and
C. nigra), Japanese crane (Grus japonicus) and the Siberian white
crane (G. leucogeranus) (Dudgeon, 1999). Floodplain mammals
that have declined along the Yangtze due to habitat loss and
hunting include the Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis)
and Père David’s deer (Elaphurus davidianus). The latter is
extinct in the wild, but has been reintroduced under captive
management in Yangtze Tianezhou Reserve (IUCN, 2009).
129
building a new dam on the Jinsha River in 2005 (Figure 1).
Now completed (but not yet operating), the Xiluodu Dam
(12.6 million kW; 278 m tall) ranks second in size to the TGD.
It will be part of a 12-dam cascade along the Jinsha River but,
because construction is not proceeding in a coordinated
fashion (Liu, 2009), the ultimate number of dams could
exceed this number. The combined height of the completed
dam cascade may exceed 2000 m with devastating
consequences for the Jinsha (Chen and Yin, 2008; see also
Yao et al., 2006). The tailwaters of each dam will extend
backward to the dam wall of its upstream counterpart, so that
the river will descend in a series of stepped impoundments with
few or no free-flowing sections.
Work on Xiluodu began in 2004 before MEP had approved
environmental impact assessments on the proposed project,
and work ceased temporarily in 2005 prior to MEP sanction of
hastily-compiled reports and studies of potential impacts on
fish. MEP also fined CTGPC for breaches of regulations.
Temporary suspensions on construction of other dams in the
cascade have done little to slow or limit dam development.
A clear indication that impacts on river ecology are not a
primary concern of ministerial or provincial officials is the
construction of Xiangjiaba Dam (6 million kW; 161 m tall)
within the boundaries of the 500 km long Upper Yangtze River
Rare and Endemic Fishes Reserve. That reserve was
designated by the State Council of China in 1987 to protect
paddlefish and Yangtze sturgeon as well as habitat for the
Chinese giant salamander and 69 endemic or ‘rare and
precious’ fish species including Asia’s only catostomatid
(Myxocyrinus asiaticus). To circumvent concerns about
conservation, the CTGPC successfully petitioned the State
Council in 2005 to amend the reserve boundaries to exclude
the part of the river where Xiangjiaba is situated. Xiluodu is
immediately upstream of the original boundary.
The CTGPC has also announced plans to build the 195-m
tall Xiananhai Dam within the reserve, close to its downstream
border 30 km from Chongqing (Figure 1). The details and
schedule of the project, which were subject to a 2008
environmental assessment commissioned by the Chongqing
municipal government, have yet to be released. A petition to the
State Council to further amend the reserve boundaries has yet to
be heard (Liu, 2009). Irrespective of whether any adjustment is
made, the tailwaters of Xiananhai Dam will extend upstream
transforming much of the reserve into an impoundment. The
reserve could be compromised further by additional proposals
for a pair of dams at Luzhou and Jiangjin (Figure 1; Chen and
Yin, 2008). Whether or not these two dams are built, the
prospect for fish in the Upper Yangtze is grim. In-stream
habitat will be profoundly altered, populations of rare fish will
be fragmented, and breeding migrations or transport of floating
eggs and larvae will be impaired. While the need for additional
fish reserves has been highlighted (Fu et al., 2003), and sites
identified (Park et al., 2003), the chances of official designation
seem limited. Moreover, the integrity of potential sites has been
or will be damaged by the dam cascade.
UPPER YANGTZE DAM CASCADE
While the upper Yangtze does not experience the high levels of
pollution and intensity of human impact that pervade the
lower course, a serious threat looms. The China Three Gorges
Project Corporation (CTGPC), a state-authorized investment
institution responsible for the construction of the TGD, began
Copyright r 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Much of the rationale for the upper Yangtze dam cascade is
hydropower generation. Dams on the Yangtze could help
reduce carbon emissions which would otherwise result from
Aquatic Conserv: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 20: 127–131 (2010)
DOI: 10.1002/aqc
130
D. DUDGEON
burning China’s huge reserves of sulphur-rich coal. However,
the ecological costs will be high with an associated and
growing extinction debt. Furthermore, irreversible climate
change may already be affecting the Yangtze basin. Chinese
and Indian glaciologists have warned of rapid retreats of
Himalayan glaciers in Tibet and Kashmir (Khadka, 2009).
Although the widely quoted figure that melt rates are so fast
that there is ‘high likelihood’ these glaciers will disappear by
2035 (Cruz et al., 2007) has been discredited (Khadka, 2009;
Black, 2010) glacier melt combined with thawing permafrost
could result in a 29% increase in runoff in the Yangtze
headwaters (Anon, 2009). While melt water is less important
than rainfall as a supply for the Yangtze, these forecasts
suggest an immediate future of increasing flows, followed by a
longer-term decline and periodic water scarcity (Cruz et al.,
2007). Increasing deviations from the natural flow regime
caused by dams, glacier melt, and increased seasonality of
monsoonal rains will combine to alter profoundly the flow
cycles to which the Yangtze biota are adapted and upon which
they depend, thereby adding to the thermal stresses imposed
by gradual warming. They will also result in further dams for
water storage and flood control intended to enhance human
water security.
Other consequences of climate change are addressed in a
soon-to-be released report by World Wide Fund for Nature
that reports an annual mean temperature rise of 0.711C
between 2001 and 2005 in the Yangtze Basin (for a summary,
see Anon, 2009). Predictions include increased frequency of
extreme events such as floods and droughts, with lower dryseason water levels and increasing temperatures reducing the
extent of floodplain wetlands and habitat for water birds.
Changes in temperature already appear to be affecting fish
migrations within the Yangtze and bird migration pathways
(Anon, 2009).
SUMMARY AND PROSPECTS: THE LAST OF
THE YANGTZE?
The synopsis of threats to Yangtze biodiversity presented here
is far from comprehensive: for instance, it fails to include the
impacts arising from an ambitious scheme, conceived by Mao
Zedong in 1952, to transfer water from the Yangtze to the
Yellow River and arid lands of northern China (Dudgeon,
1995). An eastern route along the coast through the ancient,
but now refurbished, Grand Canal will transfer water from
the lower Yangtze; work on this route is virtually complete.
A middle route transferring water from a major Yangtze
tributary (the Han Jiang) has been under construction since
2003, whereas a western route, intended to divert water from
the headwaters, has stalled due to engineering difficulties. The
project will bring manifest benefits to the north, but will not be
without impacts on the Yangtze. Reduced discharge, increased
pollution burdens and saline intrusion in the estuary are
among the likely outcomes (Dudgeon, 1995, 1999).
Degradation of the Yangtze by pollution, overfishing, flow
regulation, dense boat traffic, sand mining, and sedimentation,
in combination with construction of a dam cascade upstream
of the Three Gorges Reservoir, is driving extinctions of large
charismatic animals. Smaller less conspicuous species are
certain to be declining also. Climate change, and human
adaptation to it, will worsen an already grave situation, in part
Copyright r 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
because China’s strategy for limiting emissions of greenhouse
gases (currently 450% of the global total) depends on
reductions in the carbon intensity of its development: i.e. less
fossil fuel burned per unit of GDP. This will increase demands
for hydropower in the foreseeable future especially given the
likely continued growth of the Chinese economy. Much of the
Yangtze will soon be a mere semblance of its natural state,
offering few prospects for persistence of what remains of the
river’s unique biodiversity.
Polemicist and cultural historian Raymond Williams
(1921–1988) wrote ‘To be truly radical is to make hope
possible, rather than despair convincing’, a passage that
should resonate with conservation biologists. Large-scale
conservation planning and action at the scale needed to
effect improvements for Yangtze biodiversity are precisely
those that will run contrary to the hydropower and engineering
projects needed to sustain economic development and enhance
human water security in China. For that reason alone, it is
difficult to be optimistic about the Yangtze. The extinction of
the baiji is but one example of the failure of biodiversity
concerns to gain traction in wider discussions about
development or national plans in China. There and
elsewhere, there are dispiriting signs that we have failed to
slow or stabilize biodiversity loss from fresh waters. The
option of making hope possible for the Yangtze no longer
seems realistic or achievable. If I am right, it is high time we
decided upon a combination of conservation goals that will be
attainable for this and other large rivers draining densely
settled catchments in a warmer, more uncertain world where
stark trade-offs between the needs of humans and freshwater
biodiversity are the norm.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to Tong Lu and Lily Ng for assistance with map
preparation and to Qi-wei Wei (Yangtze Fisheries Research
Institute) for helpful input. This is a contribution from the
DIVERSITAS freshwaterBIODIVERSITY Committee and
the Global Water System Project.
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