Explain how changing waterways and building dams can impact ecosystems.

Answer 1

While I could write an entire paper on this topic, here is a bit to help you better understand the interconnections between different environmental factors in an ecosystem.

Both abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) factors are impacted by water. Changing any aspect of a waterway (direction, flow rate, depth, etc.) will change the soil around it which will obviously then impact vegetation (plants). Since many other species depend on plants for food and shelter, they, in turn, are impacted (positively or negatively) as well. Then in a domino effect, each organism which depends on interactions with impacted species will either benefit or suffer from the change in the overall landscape due to a change to a waterway. The changes can also alter water temperature and light penetration such that aquatic species (even microscopic ones) are also affected and likewise cause a chain of events.