By Sid Perkins
When the Three Gorges Dam begins to impound the waters of the Yangtze River in south central China later this year, dozens of the mountains and other elevated areas upstream will become islands. If the ecological results of similar projects around the world are a guide, the outcome will devastate the rich diversity of species now living along the river, according to a team of scientists.
HIGH ANXIETY. The 185-meter-tall Three Gorges Dam may wreak ecological havoc on mountains upstream, whose upper elevations will become islands as waters build behind the dam. |