Multiple fish diversity facets in the Nu-Salween basin: Unexpected bimodal patterns, environmental drivers, threats, and conservation implications.

ABSTRACT: The Nu-Salween River represents the second-longest river and one of the last major free-flowing systems in Southeast Asia, constituting a globally significant reservoir of freshwater biodiversity. However, basin-wide patterns of fish diversity across taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional dimensions, together with weighted endemism, remain poorly understood, and the environmental determinants shaping these patterns are not well resolved. To address this limitation, a basin-scale analysis was conducted using 26 998 georeferenced occurrence records encompassing 445 native freshwater fish species distributed across 382 subdrainages. Species richness, phylogenetic diversity, functional diversity, and weighted endemicity exhibited unexpected bimodal distributions along the longitudinal gradien

SUBMITTER: Wang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC13647058 | biostudies-literature | 2026 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature