Dams on thr Rio Xingo

Whats happening in the wild, current issues and debates....oooh this one'll get hot!

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Plastic Mac
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Post by Plastic Mac »

clownfish-god wrote:This is a huge lake we are talking about, will one dame really cause that much destruction!

It's a huge river not a lake...and yes one dam may well cause that much damage.
Lornek8
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Post by Lornek8 »

I am new to this forum, and although this thread is old I thought I would leave my input. As another of my many hobbies I also raise orchids and have seen similar situations before. In the book "Orchid Fever" the author describes seeing orchid collectors attempting to save orchids from felled trees about to be burned to clear land for agriculture. The orchid collectors were turned away by government officials as it was illegal to collect the particular orchids due to various laws (CITES, etc). So, rather than save the orchids, they were burnt along with the rest of the forest, which ironically, I guess was okay. Unfortunatly I can see the same thing happening to the Xingu fish. Hopefully I am wrong, but history has not been on the fish's side.
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McEve
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Post by McEve »

clownfish-god wrote: Is their a way if they are going to build it that we take as many fish/reptile/living creature out of that area?
If it had only been a matter of collecting the fish and relocating it, it wouldn't have been such a disaster. but the problem is, you can't.

You cannot relocate the Zebra without it being extinct as we know it today. Reason for this is quite simple. Nature has a way of making sure that a species is adapted to their enviroment, and to keep the species - as a specie.

Nature takes care of this in one of two ways. It either makes it impossible for two species to interbreed and get fertile offsprings, genetically, which it does if two closely related species live in the same lake or river. BUT, if closely related species are separated geographically, it doesn't bother, as they will never meet, crossbreeding is not a problem, so there's no need for a genetic barrier. There's a geographical barrier.

Relocate the Zebra to any other river than the Xingu, and it won't take long before they interbreed with other Hypancistus already present in that particular river.

Bye bye Zebra. And the other Hypancistrus sp. already living in that river for that matter :roll:

Absolutely tragic what you told us about the orchids Lornek8. It's impossible to make sense out of their reasoning...
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