Abstract:

Since 2006, the decline of Yangtze cetacean, a critically endangered cetacean species living in the Yangtze River, has attracted widespread attention. To provide a good living environment for the Yangtze finless porpoise in the Zhenjiang Yangtze cetacean provincial nature reserve, a series of ecological restoration projects have been carried out. From 2015 to 2018, ecological floating islands, artificial fish nests and benthic animals release were constructed in the water area of Hechangzhou to carry out ecological restoration. During this period, this study conducted tracking monitoring and effect evaluation for ecological restoration projects. The results show that the construction of ecological floating islands could improve the biodiversity and community structure complexity of phytoplankton and zooplankton in the region. Artificial fish nests have a certain effect on the proliferation of stickiness spawning fish, such as Cyprinus carpio, Carassius auratus, Hemiculter leucisculus and Xenocypris davidi. The construction of ecological floating islands and artificial fish nests has better effects on fish aggregation. The proliferation and release of benthic animals could significantly increase the abundance and biomass of released species and the community biomass of benthic animals in the reserve, and the effect of the proliferation and release is medium. The ecological restoration effect of the nature reserve is remarkable, which provides a scientific basis for the ecological restoration of the aquatic life reserve affected by engineering construction.

Key words: Neophocaena asiaeorientalis, nature reserve, ecological restoration, ecological floating islands, artificial fish nests, effect evaluation