Abstract

It’s essential to identify the priority conservation species in the habitat restoration and biodiversity conservation. Generally, people select the valuable fishes or the commercial fishes as target species in basins, according to experts’ experience rather than the scientific evaluation. With the influence of urban development, construction of water conservancy facilities and human activities, the river habitat of the Shaying River (Xuchang section) is poor. Fish conservation studies play an important part in the habitat restoration of this river section. Thus, we studied the evaluation method for the priority protection of fishes based on multiple ecological dimensions. The method including six multidimensional indicators, namely, habitat suitability, ecological stability, species endangerment criteria, intensity of human interference, genetic value, and species value. Then, we determined the indicator weights by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and assessed the protection priority of fishes based on various assessment criteria and comprehensive qualitative or quantitative analyses. The result shows that Ctenopharyngodon idellus, Opsariichthys bidens, and Culter alburnus Basilewsky have priority for protection, coinciding with the status in the basin. Overall, this study complements the existing indicator species selection methods, and is more scientific and comprehensive, providing an effective method for priority protection species and river habitat restoration projects.

摘要

在栖息地恢复和生物多样性保护中确定优先保护物种至关重要。人们一般根据专家的经验，而不是科学的评价，选择有价值的鱼类或经济鱼类作为流域的目标物种。沙颍河（许昌段）受城市发展、水利设施建设和人类活动的影响，河道生境较差。鱼类保护研究在该河段的生境恢复中发挥着重要作用。为此，我们研究了基于多生态维度的鱼类优先保护评价方法。该方法包括生境适宜性、生态稳定性、物种濒危标准、人为干扰强度等六大多维指标，遗传价值和物种价值。然后，我们通过层次分析法（AHP）确定指标权重，并根据各种评估标准和综合定性或定量分析评估鱼类的保护优先级。结果表明Ctenopharyngodon idellus、Opsariichthys bidens和Culter alburnus Basilewsky优先保护，与流域内的地位相吻合。总体而言，本研究补充了现有指示物种选择方法，更加科学全面，为优先保护物种和河流生境恢复工程提供了有效方法。