Riverine environments have been threatened by anthropogenic perturbations worldwide, whereby their fish assemblages have been modified by habitat changes and nonendemic species invasions. We assessed changes in fish assemblages by comparing the species presence in historical and contemporary fish data in the Yellow River from 1965 to 2015. The temporal change in species assemblages was found with increased nonendemic species and fewer natives. Fish species richness of the river declined 35.4% over the past fifty years. Moreover, the decreased mean Bray–Curtis dissimilarity among reaches suggested that the fish assemblages of different reaches in the Yellow River were becoming more similar over time. However, temporal patterns of fish assemblages varied among reaches. In the upper Yellow River, higher species richness and more invasive species were found than those in the historical record, while the lower reaches experienced significant species loss. Dam constructions, exotic fish invasions, and flow reductions played the vital role in structuring the temporal fish assemblages in the Yellow River. It is suggested that river basins which experienced different types and levels of stressors by anthropogenic perturbations can produce varied effects on their temporal trends of species assemblages.

Schizopygopsis pylzovi Kessler (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae), an endemic species to China, is a major commercial fish in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. The complete mitochondrial DNA genome of S. pylzovi was sequenced. The mitogenome is 16,704 bp in length and includes 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and two non-coding regions. The basic composition of S. pylzov is 28.5% for A, 27.0% for T, 26.1% for C, and 18.4% for G, with a slight AT bias of 55.5%. Gene order is similar to that of the typical vertebrate, as is nucleotide composition and codon usage. The complete mitogenome sequence of S. pylzovi would be useful to further phylogenetic analysis and genetic conservation for this endemic species.

Located at a narrow and deeply-cut valley in the middle reach of Yalong River in Southwestern China, the Kala Hydropower Station is subjected to serious seepage and leakage problems due to complex geological conditions at the dam site. A numerical method combining a substructure technique, a variational inequality formulation of Signorini’s type and an adaptive penalized Heaviside function (short for SVA method) was adopted for the simulation and assessment of seepage control effects at the dam site in Kala Hydropower Project. Numerical modeling of a typical overflow dam section and the whole dam site demonstrated that the primary design was a proper scheme for seepage control, and furthermore, optimization of the seepage control system can be performed in designing the layout.