Abstract: To screen suitable habitat compensation tributaries for indigenous fish in the main stream affected by habitat changes in the reservoir area after the completion of a planned power station in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, we conducted habitat quality assessments and fish resource surveys on the main and tributary streams of the Yellow River in June and September 2023. Using remote sensing, the main and tributary rivers of the Yellow River in the study area were divided into 213 sections, which were then clustered and grouped based on environmental variables. Representative river sections were selected from each group for plot survey. Referring to the qualitative habitat evaluation index (QHEI), the weighted average model was used to calculate the overall quality assessment score of each tributary. The results showed that the scores of Qiemuqu and Gequ were 72.7 and 70.9, respectively, indicating good habitat quality level. The scores of other tributaries were all <70, indicating average or poor quality level. Based on the rating results, Qiemuqu and Gequ were selected as alternative rivers for habitat compensation. A comparative analysis was further conducted on the suitability of Qiemu〖HJ*4〗qu, Gequ, and the Yellow River main stream above Longyangxia, as well as Bagou River, Daheba River, and Qushen’an River with good habitats. The results showed that the fish commonality between Gequ and Qiemuqu accounted was 58.82%, which was not inferior to other rivers. In terms of fish diversity, the Shannon diversity index and Margalef richness index of each river ranged from 0.781 to 2.959 and 2.001 to 2.790, respectively. For those two variables, the values of Qiemuqu were 2.324 and 2.215, and the values of Gequ were 2.959 and 2.138. Ultimately, we determined that Qiemuqu and Gequ would be the habitat compensation rivers after the water storage in the planned power station reservoir area. Our results provide a scientific basis for the protection of the habitats of endemic fish species under the influence of hydropower development in the reservoir area of this power station.

Key words: upper Yellow River, fish habitat, qualitative habitat evaluation index, habitat compensation, fish resource