Boosting spring runoff into the sea by reservoir regulation and its potential for estuarine fishery recovery

With global surge in reservoir construction over the past decades,river systems worldwide have been profoundly fragmented.Consequently,flow manipulation by reservoirs has altered the natural hydrological processes,resulting in extensive modifications of fluvial-marine ecosystems.Mitigating the adverse ecological consequences of reservoirs has become a global concern and has garnered increasing attention.The Yellow River,as one of the most extensively manipulated river systems globally,has experienced substantial changes in the amount and timing of water discharge due to the presence of numerous reservoirs scattered throughout its catchment area.These alterations have caused physicochemical changes in the estuary and subsequent modifications to the estuarine ecosystem.In recent years,the Yellow River Conservancy Committee initiated the release of water through the Xiaolangdi Dam during the major spawning period of fisheries,specifically in the spring,with the aim of improving the estuarine ecological environment.From 2011 to 2020,a total of 84.05 km^(3)of water was discharged from the Xiaolangdi Reservoir during spring seasons,of which 40%(33.16 km^(3))constituted water impounded within the reservoir during preceding months.Correspondingly,the spring water discharge from the Yellow River to the sea increased significantly from 1.50 km^(3)/yr to 3.46 km^(3)/yr in the past decade,leading to a decrease in estuarine salinity by 1.6 PSU.The estuarine fishery resources,such as fish eggs in the Yellow River estuary,have demonstrated evident improvement.The reservoir regulation in the Yellow River,which has successfully enhanced spring water discharge and subsequently restored estuarine fishery resources,presents an effective attempt for mitigating the adverse ecological effects associated with reservoirs.