Editing Xingu River (section)

==Description and history==
The first Indigenous Park in Brazil was created in the river basin by the Brazilian government in the early 1960s. This park marks the first indigenous territory recognized by the Brazilian government and it was the world's largest indigenous preserve on the date of its creation. Currently, fourteen tribes live within [[Xingu Indigenous Park]], surviving on natural resources and extracting from the river most of what they need for food and water.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Xingu - Indigenous Peoples in Brazil |url=https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/Povo:Xingu |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=pib.socioambiental.org}}</ref>

The Brazilian government built the [[Belo Monte Dam]] on the Lower Xingu, which began operations in 2019 and is the world's fifth-largest hydroelectric dam. Construction of this dam was under legal challenge by environment and indigenous groups, who assert the dam would have negative environmental and social impacts along with reducing the flow by up to 80% along a {{Convert|100|km|mi|abbr=on|-1}} stretch known as the Volta Grande ("Big Bend").<ref name=rainfoun>{{cite web|title=Summary and History of the Belo Monte Dam: Rainforest Foundation |url=http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/files/Belo%20Monte%20Factsheet.pdf |publisher=Summary and History of the Belo Monte Dam: Rainforest Foundation |access-date=9 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106172656/http://rainforestfoundationuk.org/files/Belo%20Monte%20Factsheet.pdf |archive-date=6 January 2011 }}</ref> The river flow in this stretch is highly complex and includes major sections of [[rapids]].<ref name=Fitzgerald2018>{{Cite journal |author1=Fitzgerald |author2=Perez | author3=Sousa |author4=Gonçalves |author5=Py-Daniel |author6=Lujan |author7=Zuanon |author8=Winemiller |author9=Lundberg |date=2018 |title=Diversity and community structure of rapids-dwelling fishes of the Xingu River: Implications for conservation amid large-scale hydroelectric development | journal=Biological Conservation |volume=222 | pages=104–112 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2018.04.002 |s2cid=53625155 |doi-access=free }}</ref> More than 450 fish species have been documented in the Xingu River Basin and it is estimated that the total is around 600 fish species, including many [[endemics]].<ref name=":0">Camargo, M., T. Giarrizzo and V. Isaac (2004). ''Review of the geographic distribution of fish fauna in the Xingu River Basin, Brazil.'' [[Ecotropica]] 10: 123–147</ref> At least 193 fish species living in rapids are known from the lower Xingu,<ref name=Fitzgerald2018/> and at least 26 of these are endemic.<ref name=Hyland/> From 2008 to 2018 alone, 24 new fish species have been described from the river.<ref name=Fitzgerald2018/><ref name=Hyland>Hyland, T: ''[http://exelmagazine.org/article/race-against-time/ Race against time.]'' Retrieved 4 June 2014.</ref><ref name=Sousa2018>{{cite journal| author1=Sousa, L.M. | author2=M.S. Chaves | author3=A. Akama | author4=J. Zuanon | author5=M.H. Sabaj | year=2018 | title=Platydoras birindellii, new species of striped raphael catfish (Siluriformes: Doradidae) from the Xingu Basin, Brazil | journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia | volume=166 | issue=1 | pages=1–13 | doi=10.1635/053.166.0106 | s2cid=90673235 }}</ref> Many species are seriously threatened by the dam, which will significantly alter the flow in the Volta Grande rapids.<ref name=Fitzgerald2018/><ref>Ekström, J. (23 December 2007) ''[http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/shanesworld.php?article_id=360 Hydroelectric dam constructions in Amazonas.]'' Retrieved 10 February 2013.</ref><ref>Survival International (2009). ''[http://assets.survivalinternational.org/documents/266/Experts_Panel_BeloMonte_summary_oct2009.pdf Experts Panel Assesses Belo Monte Dam Viability].'' Retrieved 10 February 2013.</ref>

In the Upper Xingu region was a highly self-organized [[pre-Columbian]] anthropogenic landscape, including deposits of fertile agricultural [[terra preta]], black soil in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], with a network of roads and polities each of which covered about 250 square kilometers.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Heckenberger|first=Michael J.|author2=J. Christian Russell |author3=Carlos Fausto |author4=Joshua R. Toney |author5=Morgan J. Schmidt |author6=Edithe Pereira |author7=Bruna Franchetto |author8=Afukaka Kuikuro |date=29 September 2008|title=Pre-Columbian Urbanism, Anthropogenic Landscapes, and the Future of the Amazon|journal=Science|publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science|volume=321|issue=5893|pages=1214–1217|doi=10.1126/science.1159769|pmid=18755979|s2cid=41438038}}</ref>

Near the source of Xingu River is [[Culuene River]], a {{Convert|600|km}} tributary.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Junk |first1=Wolfgang J. |title=The Central Amazon Floodplain: Ecology of a Pulsing System |date=1997 |publisher=Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg |location=Plön, Germany |isbn=978-3-64208214-6}}</ref>