Articles | Volume 18, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4529-2014
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4529-2014
Research article
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17 Nov 2014
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 17 Nov 2014

Historical impact of water infrastructure on water levels of the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap system

T. A. Cochrane, M. E. Arias, and T. Piman

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Cited articles

Adamson, P. T., Rutherfurd, I. D., Peel, M. C., and Conlan, I. A.: The Hydrology of the Mekong River (Chapter 4), in: The Mekong, Biophysical Environment of an International River, edited by: Campbell, I., Academic Press, San Diego, 53–76, 2009.
Arias, M. E., Cochrane, T. A., Kummu, M., Killeen, T. J., Piman, T., and Caruso, B. S.: Quantifying changes in flooding and habitats in the Tonle Sap Lake (Cambodia) caused by water infrastructure development and climate change in the Mekong Basin, J. Environ. Manage., 112, 53–66, 2012.
Arias, M. E., Cochrane, T. A., Kummu, M., Lauri, H., Koponen, J., Holtgrieve, G. W., and Piman, T.: Impacts of hydropower and climate change on drivers of ecological productivity of Southeast Asia's most important wetland, Ecol. Modell., 272, 252–263, 2014a.
Arias, M. E., Piman, T., Lauri, H., Cochrane, T. A., and Kummu, M.: Dams on Mekong tributaries as significant contributors of hydrological alterations to the Tonle Sap Floodplain in Cambodia, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 11, 2177–2209, https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-11-2177-2014, 2014b.
Baran, E. and Myschowoda, C.: Dams and fisheries in the Mekong Basin, Aqua. Ecosyst. Health Manage., 12, 227–234, 2009.
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Short summary
Natural patterns of water levels in the Mekong are changing as a result of hydropower and irrigation development. Since 1991, significant changes in water level fluctuations and rising and falling rates have occurred along the lower Mekong. The changes were linked to temporal and spatial trends in water infrastructure development and can lead to impacts on ecosystem productivity. Climatic change is also important, but it has not been the main cause of the key water level alternations.