论文部分内容阅读
The rich fish diversity of river Ganges basin and its threatened status in the current context highlights the need for a large scale study to identify priority areas for their management.Freshwater biodiversity is under threat worldwide,but the intensity of threat in the Ganges basin is exceptionally high.Many tributaries of the Ganges basin in India are grossly polluted and significant portions of their drainage basins and floodplains have been deforested or otherwise degraded due to several factors.Therefore,assessing the pattern of the river Ganges basins ecosystem is extremely important.In this connection,ten rivers of the basin were assessed to explore fish biodiversity patterns,assemblage structure in relation to local habitat during September,2010-2013.The analysis of data shows presence of considerable diversity of 124 fish species belonging to 26 families and 74 genera including some new record of biogeographical distribution.Innovative tools were applied based on synthetic conservation value including the rarity index (RI),the biodiversity conservation concern (BCC) and the origin Index (OI).Analysis of occurrence data indicates significant intrabasin variations in species richness and diversity.Based on this study,potential sites could be identified for local scale management.The paper addresses several issues for sustaining rich diversity in the river basin.