Qaidan
ID
632
Author(s)
J. Hales
Countries
China
Major Habitat Type
Temperate upland rivers
Drainages flowing into
Endorheic basin
Main rivers to other water bodies
The Qaidam basin has a number of salt lakes, including Keluke, Tuosu, Xiaochaidamu, and Tainjinair.
Description
Boundaries
Qaidam is a basin located on the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau between the Quilian, Altun and Khunlun ranges. It occurs in the Qinghai Province in western China.
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Delineations were determined using a bottom-up approach that employed both published and unpublished field data and expert assessment (Abell et al. 2008; Wu & Wu 1992). Qaidam basin is distinguished as an ecoregion since it is a large, high-altitude closed basin (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.