The DOI matches its Crossref record; 57 of the 59 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Status and trends of dam removal research in the United States
Abstract
Aging infrastructure coupled with growing interest in river restoration has driven a dramatic increase in the practice of dam removal. With this increase, there has been a proliferation of studies that assess the physical and ecological responses of rivers to these removals. As more dams are considered for removal, scientific information from these dam‐removal studies will increasingly be called upon to inform decisions about whether, and how best, to bring down dams. This raises a critical question: what is the current state of dam‐removal science in the United States? To explore the status, trends, and characteristics of dam‐removal research in the U.S., we searched the scientific literature and extracted basic information from studies on dam removal. Our literature review illustrates that although over 1200 dams have been removed in the U.S., fewer than 10% have been scientifically evaluated, and most of these studies were short in duration (<4 years) and had limited (1–2 years) or no pre‐removal monitoring. The majority of studies focused on hydrologic and geomorphic responses to removal rather than biological and water‐quality responses, and few studies were published on linkages between physical and ecological components. Our review illustrates the need for long‐term, multidisciplinary case studies, with robust study designs, in order to anticipate the effects of dam removal and inform future decision making. WIREs Water 2017, 4:e1164. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1164 This article is categorized under: Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness Engineering Water > Sustainable Engineering of Water Water and Life > Stresses and Pressures on Ecosystems
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“Removal of dams is an increasingly important issue in Europe and in the USA [90], but not yet in the Global South, where a”
From Urban Stream and Wetland Restoration in the Global South—A DPSIR Analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [90]
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Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Ryan Bellmore, J., Duda, J. J., Craig, L. S., Greene, S. L., Torgersen, C. E., Collins, M. J., & Vittum, K.
- Affiliations
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station Juneau AK USA
- Western Fisheries Research Center (US)
- American Rivers (US)
- Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center (US)
- NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (US)
- Venue
- WIREs Water
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-09-05
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 2049-1948 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2517340568
- Cited by
- 272
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 15.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Geological Survey's John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Earth-Surface Processes › Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Civil and Structural Engineering › Dam Engineering and Safety
- Keywords
- dam removal, river restoration, aging infrastructure, long-term monitoring, hydrological response, geomorphic response, ecological responses, water quality, research design, research gaps, decision support
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