Dam Removal and Ecosystem Restoration Volume II: Ecological, Socio-Economic, and Economic Dimensions Across Scales

This Research Topic is the second volume in a series of dam removal collections. The first volume can be found here.Rivers are vital ecosystems that support aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity and a range of ecosystem services, including food, water, culture, and recreation. After centuries of building dams on rivers across the world, dam removal projects are now on the rise due to obsolescence, reservoir sedimentation, insufficient return on investment, safety and liability concerns, or river restoration and conservation priorities. While most projects to date have focused on smaller structures (10 m tall) - represents a frontier in restoration research: projects are more recent, more complex, and provide an opportunity to understand the ecological, social, and economic changes that accompany these transformative interventions.Building on Volume I, this Research Topic broadens the lens. We aim to collate a diverse array of papers on dam removal projects of any size, with a continued emphasis on long-term studies to synthesize the issues, outcomes, tools, and experimental designs used to study dam removal from physical, biological, ecological, socio-economic, and economic perspectives. We also welcome contributions that critically evaluate restoration outcomes - including the frameworks, indicators, monitoring designs, and decision-support tools used to judge whether a removal achieved its intended goals. With this collection, we aim to showcase diverse global projects on ecosystem and community responses to dam removal; collect perspectives from different disciplines, fields, and geographies; and synthesize the current state of knowledge in this area. We expect this Research Topic will be informative to ongoing restoration and monitoring projects related to dam removal as well as to upcoming removals of all sizes.We welcome contributions from all disciplines addressing the physical, ecological, social, and economic responses to dam removal. Contributions could include original research in a specific discipline or area, case studies, synthesis papers, or policy and methods papers that address one or more of these topics in a transdisciplinary approach. Contributors could address any of the following major topics as related to outcomes of dam removal, alone or in combination:o Freshwater, estuarine, and marine aquatic biotao River and reservoir geomorphologyo Terrestrial and riparian vegetationo Wildlifeo Sedimentationo Modellingo Socio-economic dimensions (community engagement, Indigenous and local knowledge, recreation, cultural heritage, environmental justice, public perception)o Economic factors (cost-benefit analysis, funding mechanisms, ecosystem service valuation, project financing, long-term cost of ownership versus removal)o Evaluation of restoration outcomes (monitoring frameworks, success criteria, indicators, adaptive management, lessons learned)We encourage contributors to highlight key results in their area of study, cross-disciplinary insights, and lessons learned that can inform ongoing monitoring and research efforts in current projects, as well as upcoming dam removals across the full size spectrum. Topic editors: Jeffrey J. Duda, Rebecca McCaffery, Paulo Branco, Twan Stoffers Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82414/dam-removal-and-ecosystem-restoration-volume-ii-ecological-socio-economic-and-economic-dimensions-across-scales