Coupling interaction between biodiversity and aquatic habitat area in Western Route Project vicinity

The Western Route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project will divert water from the upper Yangtze River and its tributaries, the Dadu River and Yalong River, to the upper Yellow River. The project may ease the water shortage in the Yellow River Basin. However, it may also have some effects on the ecosystem in the upper Yangtze River Basin. Benthic invertebrates play an important role in the river ecosystem, particularly in the circulation of materials and nutrition. Benthic invertebrates are widely used to quickly assess river ecosystems because of their rapid response to changes in the water environment. The diversity of benthic invertebrates is closely associated with the aquatic habitat area. This study examined this interaction by sampling the benthic invertebrates in an expanding area. The conclusions are that the diversity of benthic invertebrates begins to decrease when the aquatic habitat area is reduced to 45% of the original area, and decreases dramatically when the aquatic habitat area is reduced to 10% of the original area. The aquatic habitat area should be kept at more than 45% of the original area in order to maintain the significant diversity of benthic invertebrates.

Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Species Diversity of Animals and Plants

Habitat fragmentation has been a research hotspot of biodiversity,and an important "bottleneck" restricting biodiversity.Habitat fragmentation can cause species loss and affect the process of immigration and colonization by decreasing habitat size and increasing isolation degree among populations,thereby affecting species diversity of animals and plants.This paper elaborated the concept and main theory of habitat fragmentation and the influence of habitat fragmentation on species diversity of animals and plants,and suggested that studies on the effects of habitat fragmentation on species diversity at multi-trophic levels and larger scales should be strengthened.

Impact of the Yalong-Yellow River water transfer project on the eco-environment in Yalong River basin

The planning Yalong-River water transfer project will transfer 5.65 billion cubic meters water from the Yalong River into the Yellow River per year.The Yalong River will be dramatically impacted hydrologically and ecologically because more than 60% of the runoff will be diverted.An ecohydrological model was used to evaluate the impacts of the project on river corridor and wetland in this study.Schizothorax is a typical plateau river species and was used as the indicator species for assessment of the impact of water transfer project.The model simulated the habitat area of Schizothorax in the reach between the Reba Dam and the Ganzi Hydrology Station on the Yalong River.The Reba Dam,A'an Dam and Renda Dam will be constructed in the Yalong River for enhancing the water level for water diversion into the Yellow River.The velocity,channel width,runoff,and water depth will be reduced due to the water transfer,especially during flood season.The reduction in the velocity,channel width,runoff and water depth will occur mainly in the reach near the three dams and the reduction will be reduced to a minimum level in a distance about 100 km downstream of the dams.The maximum net water loss of Kasha Lake is only 1197200 m3,only 0.3% of runoff flowing into the lake.The project cannot bring adverse effect on the lake.The habitat area of Schizothorax in the Yalong River might be reduced if the water was transferred from the Reba Dam.The habitat area of this species will be reduced more than 40%.