Widespread and strong impacts of river fragmentation by anthropogenic barriers on fishes in the Mekong River Basin
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Abstract
Abstract The Mekong River, a global freshwater biodiversity hotspot, has suffered from intensive barrier construction, resulting in major challenges in safeguarding its fauna. Here, we provide a comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of river barriers on the distribution of 1,032 fish species in the Mekong Basin. Our analysis revealed that 93% of Mekong fish species suffer from habitat fragmentation, and species with larger habitat range requirements experienced higher river fragmentation impacts. Sub-basins along the main channel in the Lower Mekong had high values of species richness but relatively high barrier impacts. Across all migration types, potamodromous fish had the worst habitat fragmentation status (Fragmentation Index, 42.56 [95% CI, 36.95–46.05]), followed by catadromous fish. Among all IUCN conservation status categories, Critically Endangered species experienced the highest habitat fragmentation index (33.34 [12.53–46.40]). Among all barrier types, small dams and sluice gates contribute more to habitat fragmentation than large dams.
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“Thegreaterdispersaldistance,thehigherthelikelihood thatspecieswouldencountermorebarriersduringmovement 49,52 ,andresult in reduced population exchange.”
Geodiversity as a surrogate to inform freshwater fish diversity conservation and management
Wang, J., Tao, J., Heino, J., Huang, M., & Ding, C. (2025) · Journal of Applied Ecology · doi:10.1111/1365-2664.70057 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Self-citationChhuoy, S., Hogan, Z. S., Chan, B., Chandra, S., Touch, B., Sor, R., Lek, S., & Ngor, P. B. (2023) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su151813535 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Characterizing dam fragmentation impacts on freshwater fish within life cycle impact assessment
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Human barriers fragment three-quarters of all rivers in the Mekong basin
Li, M., Sun, J., Baldan, D., Olden, J. D., Liu, Q., Ding, C., & Tao, J. (2024) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2024.115158 · Cited by 10 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Across the entire basin, the most fragmented region appearstobetheChi-Munsub-basin,characterizedbythehighestnumbers ofsmalldamsandsluicegates 45 .”
Self-citationResearch status of the Lancang-Mekong River Basin: fish and environmental stressors
Sun, J., Galib, S. M., Ding, L., Tao, J., Ding, C., & He, D. (2022) · Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries · doi:10.1007/s11160-022-09740-9 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
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Over 100 years of longitudinal connectivity changes from the perspective of a migratory fish species
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Pangasianodon gigas: Hogan, Z.
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Diverse migration strategies of ariid catfishes along a salinity gradient in the Mekong River
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Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
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Quantifying the impact of dam-related barriers on river fragmentation and water quality across China
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Management Pathways for Fragmented Populations: From Habitat Restoration to Genetic Intervention
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Freshwater biodiversity impacts of global hydropower dams
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“…not only affects fish species by changing dispersal patterns but also alters habitat conditions (Mueller et al., 2011; Jumani et al., 2020; Sun et al., 2025) and spatial flows of energy, a meta-ecosystem approach that integrates metacommu-nity dynamics (species dispersal and interactions)…”
Beauty, but at what cost? Ornamental weirs fragment China's streams
Sun, J.-R., He, Y.-Y., Yi, C.-F., Olden, J., Yang, H., & Lucas, M. (2026) · Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · doi:10.1002/fee.70061 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citationKashmi, N. S., Hossain, M., Yi, C.-F., Sun, J.-R., Lucas, M., Parvez, M. T., & Galib, S. M. (2026) · Hydrobiologia · doi:10.1007/s10750-025-06092-w · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Self-citationNative and Non‐Native Populations Respond Unevenly to River Barrier Removals
Dolan, E. J., Soto, I., Olden, J., Tonkin, J., He, F., Carneiro, L., Dick, J., & Cuthbert, R. N. (2026) · Global Change Biology · doi:10.1111/gcb.70941 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Among freshwater ecosystems, rivers are especially susceptible to fragmentation due to their linear and dendritic nature (Sun et al. 2025; Vári et al. 2022).”
The global geography of threats to freshwater biodiversity
Brabant, C., Pollock, L. J., Geldmann, J., Bendixen, M., Comte, L., Farooq, H. M., Hébert, K., Lehner, B., Overed-Sayer, C., & Iversen, L. L. (2026) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aeb7910 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
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“However, concerns regarding the impacts of development activities and poaching of the native fauna have given rise to critical concerns in this region (Mey-nell, 2017; Morovati et al., 2024; Sun et al., 2025).”
Optimizing fish friendliness of sudden expansion flow using a cylindrical structure
Zhu, X., Gao, D., Yang, W., Huang, M., Wang, S., & Guo, H. (2026) · Physics of Fluids · doi:10.1063/5.0308090
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“Large-scale hydraulic infrastructures, such as dams and hydropower stations, have caused river fragmentation, disrupted longitudinal connectivity and degraded aquatic habitats (Jumani et al., 2022; Spinti et al., 2023; Sun et al., 2025).”
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Freshwater Biodiversity Research in Brazil: Trends from a Systematic Review and Topic Modeling
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Unlocking run-of-river hydropower potential in semi-arid regions through modular turbines
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Assessing jumping ability in three endemic leuciscid (Cypriniformes) fish species
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- Authors
- Sun, J., Baldan, D., Lucas, M. C., Wang, J., Rodeles, A. A., Galib, S. M., Tao, J., Li, M., He, D., & Ding, C.
- Affiliations
- Yunnan University (CN)
- National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (IT)
- Durham University (GB)
- Universidade de Vigo (ES)
- University of Rajshahi (BD)
- Corresponding author
- Sun, Jingrui
- ORCID
- Venue
- Communications Earth & Environment
- Published
- 2025-07-07
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 2662-4435 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4412095420
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 94
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 2
- FWCI
- 14.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Communications Earth & Environment (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (42301064)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish biology, ecology, and behavior
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Fish Biology and Ecology Studies
- Keywords
- river fragmentation, anthropogenic barriers, dams, sluice gates, fish distribution, freshwater fish, fish migration, potamodromous fish, critically endangered species, Mekong River Basin, Lower Mekong, species richness, freshwater biodiversity conservation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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