The Upper Yangtze River National Nature Reserve for Rare and Endemic Fish is a critical sanctuary facing increasing pressure from hydropower development. To assess its current ecological state, we employed environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding on 48 water samples collected from 16 transects in August 2024. Our analysis identified 93 fish species from 3 orders, 13 families, and 67 genera, of which 89 were consistent with histo...

Mastering the characteristics of planktonic microbial communities under the influence of basin-scale environmental factors can provide scientific basis to develop more targeted protection and restoration measures. Here, an environmental DNA metabarcoding technology was applied to investigate the phytoplankton and microzooplankton simultaneously along the whole basin of Jialing River, one of the most important rivers in Southwe...