Heying Sun
Ecology and Environment Monitoring and Scientific Research Center, Yangtze River Basin Ecology and Environment Administration, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China
Objectives and conclusions of the study
Objectives
Global freshwater ecosystems are facing unprecedented threats. Setting protected areas (PA) is prevalent for fish conservation worldwide. Owing to inadequate planning, the effectiveness of PAs tends to be lower than expected, especially under stresses such as construction of dams. The Yellow River is one of the longest rivers in the world and had the earliest human activities and hydropower development in China. This study used spatial analysis method to assess the effectiveness of PAs for the conservation of endangered and endemic fishes in the Yellow River. Trait-based methods were also used to analyze the current and potential impact of dams towards fish conservation.
Conclusions
The results stressed the importance of conservation planning in areas with construction of dams. We recommend using systematic conservation planning method in the Yellow River to allocate limited conservation resources more efficiently and take into accountthe neglected endemic species. The analysis framework we used could aid researchers in developing regions to assess both the impact of dams and the conservation effectiveness of existing PAs and validate the importance of systematic conservation planning in freshwater ecosystem.