Tibetan Plateau Endorheic Drainages



ID


707

Author(s)


J. Hales


Countries


China
Chinese Control Claimed by India

Major Habitat Type


Xeric freshwaters and endorheic (closed) basins

Description

Boundaries

This ecoregion includes the Mahi, Narmada, and Tapi (Tapti) River basins in India.This ecoregion includes the endorheic basins of the Tibetan plateau (Xizang, Qinghai).

Description of endemic fishes

No endemic species

Justification for delineation

Delineations were determined using a bottom-up approach that employed both published and unpublished field data and expert assessment (Abell et al. 2008; Wu & Wu 1992). This ecoregion is a large assemblage of many small high altitude endorheic basins on the Tibetan Plateau. Delineations were based on the water divide of these endorheic basins and adjacent river basins such as the Tarim, Yangtze, Qaidan, Brahmaputra, and Indus (M. Kottelat pers. comm. 2006).

Level of taxonomic exploration

More fieldwork is needed as numerous basins are apparently not yet explored (M. Kottelat pers. comm. 2006).


References

  • Abell, Robin,M.L. Thieme,C. Revenga,M. Bryer,M. Kottelat,N. Bogutskaya,B. Coad,N. Mandrak,S.C. Balderas,W. Bussing,M.L.J. Stiassny,P. Skelton,G.R. Allen,P. Unmack,A. Naseka,R. Ng,N. Sindorf,J. Robertson,E. Armijo,J.V. Higgins,T.J. Heibel,E. Wikramanayake, (2008). "Freshwater Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Biogeographic Units for Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation" BioScience 58 (5) pp. 403-414.
  • Wu, Yunfei;Wu, Cuizhen (1992). "The fishes of the Qinghai-Xizang plateau" Chengdu, China: Sichuan Publishing House of Science and Technology.