Identifying priority areas of Four Major Chinese carps’ species in the Pearl River basin based on the MaxEnt model

The Pearl River basin (PRB) is an important producing area and the gene pool of wild resources of Four Major Chinese carps (FMCC). However human activities and climate changes causes the area shrink of the river network in PRB, the pollution aggregation, the serious habitat destroy of aquatic organisms, and the threat of biological resources and their living environment. Based on the accurate location and distribution data of FMCC from the literature and the field survey report of 2015–2016, this study used the MaxEnt model to predict the hot spot distribution area of FMCC in PRB. The simulation results show that the distribution of FMCC in the PRB gradually increases from the upper reaches to the middle and lower reaches. According to the MaxEnt model, the hot spots of FMCC in the PRB are mainly distributed in the south reaches and the lower reaches of the southeast. The model simulation also demonstrates that the hottest spots for the distribution of FMCC species in the PRB are the Yujiang basin, the Qianjiang basin and the lower reaches of the Xijiang basin. This study can provide the scientific guidance for the protection and the restoration of FMCC species in the PRB.