Ecological and navigational impact of the construction and operation of the Qingyuan dam

Yang, Xuesong; Zhang, Shanghong; Wu, Chuansen; Zhang, Rongqi; Zhang, Yang

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110563

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 25 publications

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“…The protection of fish habitats has gradually become a hot point for the study of river ecosystems in recent years [10][11][12]. Through ecological operation and the construction of ecological engineering, suitable hydrodynamic conditions can be provided for the growth of fish [13,14]. A prerequisite for this research is the accurate identification of fish habitats and their susceptibility to the impacts of water conservancy projects [15][16][17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Fish Habitats and Suitable Ecological Flow under Hydropower Operation

Yan,

Qin,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Water

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Hydropower operations significantly alter the natural hydrological conditions of rivers, exerting adverse effects on riverine ecosystems. Accurate identification of fish habitats under hydropower operation and maintaining suitable ecological flow are crucial for riverine ecological conservation and water resource management. Coreius guichenoti was selected as the target species and the Yibin reach of the downstream Jinsha River was selected as the studied river reach. Subsequently, Weighted Usable Area (WUA) and Habitat Connectivity Index (HCI) were employed to comparatively analyze the habitat quantity and quality before and after the construction and operation of the Xiangjiaba hydropower station, namely the natural period (1991–2005), construction period (2006–2014), and operation period (2015–2020). Finally, correlations between WUA, HCI, and flow were established to determine the optimal ecological flow corresponding to optimal fish habitats. The results indicate that the average WUA and HCI during the construction period are similar to the natural period. In comparison to the natural period, the average WUA decreases by 9.2%, and the average HCI decreases by 0.05 during the operation period. It is determined that the habitat conditions are optimal when the flow is between 3000 and 5000 m3/s. After further refining the flow scenarios, the suitable ecological flow is determined to be 3500 m3/s. This study can provide a scientific basis for the water resources management in the Jinsha River and contribute to the field of riverine ecological conservation and restoration.

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