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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Watershed Planning within a Quantitative Scenario Analysis Framework
Published on: July 24, 2016
Re-examining dam's impact on fish habitats from a novel hydrological perspective: Implication for river habitat
Jianfei Wu1, Qiang Liu1, Liqiao Liang2
1State Key Laboratory of Wetland Conservation and Restoration, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Abstract:
Natural hydrological regime creates and sustains the diverse habitats necessary for completing fish lifecycle, yet dams fragment and degrade these habitats by disrupting the flow conditions, thereby threatening fish stocks. This study herein aimed to assess the impact of dam operations on suitable habitat of the migratory fish Coreius guichenoti (C. guichenoti) in the Jinsha River using a novel hydrological framework. A two-dimensional hydrodynamic model was coupled with habitat suitability index to reveal the habitat condition before and after dam construction. The results showed that dam operations have reduced free-flowing river habitats by decreasing flow velocity. During the May-July spawning season, the peak spawning habitat window shifted from May under pre-dam conditions to June under post-dam conditions, indicating a temporal mismatch between optimal habitat and the historical spawning window. During the spawning season, suitable habitat decreased by 44-79%, with the spawning habitat centre of gravity shifting markedly upstream. These changes suggest that dam operation has caused a function loss of spawning habitat for C. guichenoti. Management should therefore focus on maintaining hydraulic conditions during spawning season, synchronizing reservoir releases with the spawning window, and protecting unregulated tributaries as free-flowing compensatory rivers.
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