Remote sensing has become an integral and invaluable tool to inform biodiversity conservation and monitoring of habitat degradation and restoration over time. Despite the disproportionately high levels of biodiversity loss in freshwater ecosystems worldwide, ichthyofauna are commonly overlooked in favor of other keystone species. Freshwater fish, as indicators of overall aquatic ecosystem health, can also be indicators of larger scale problems within an ecosystem. As a case study with multi‐temporal, multi‐resolution satellite imagery, we examined deforestation and forest fragmentation around the Atewa Forest Reserve, Ghana. Within small creeks, Limbochromis robertsi, a unique freshwater cichlid with an extremely limited distribution range, can be found. Historically, the land cover in the area has undergone substantial deforestation for agriculture and artisanal small‐scale mining. In the 1389‐km² study area, we found deforestation accelerated along with increased forest fragmentation in the 2014–2017 period (167.4 km² of deforestation) with the majority of the forest loss along the river and creek banks due to small‐scale mining operations and increased agriculture. Field visits indicated a decrease in the total L. robertsi population by approximately 90% from the early 1990s to 2018. Its distribution has been reduced to higher elevations by anthropogenic habitat barriers at low elevations and the presence of predatory species. Loss of riparian forest through land use and cover change to mining and agriculture contributes to the habitat degradation for this endemic species. Fine spatial‐ and temporal‐scale studies are required to assess habitat characteristics are not captured by global‐ or continental‐scale datasets.

中文翻译：

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在加纳的丽鱼科丽鱼Limbochromis robertsi的有限范围内生境丧失

遥感已成为必不可少的工具，可为保护生物多样性以及监测生境的退化和恢复提供信息。尽管全世界淡水生态系统中生物多样性丧失的比例过高，但鱼腥藻通常被其他关键类物种所忽视。淡水鱼作为总体水生生态系统健康的指标，也可以作为生态系统内更大范围问题的指标。作为多时间，多分辨率卫星图像的案例研究，我们检查了加纳阿特瓦森林保护区周围的森林砍伐和森林破碎化情况。在小河中，林博罗里斯·罗伯特西可以找到分布范围极其有限的独特淡水丽鱼科鱼。从历史上看，该地区的土地覆盖已因农业和手工小规模采矿而遭到了严重的砍伐。在1389 km ^2的研究区域中，我们发现在2014–2017年期间，森林砍伐和森林碎片化加剧（森林砍伐为167.4 km ²）加速，沿河和小溪两岸的大部分森林流失是由于小规模采矿造成的行动和增加农业。实地访问表明罗伯特氏菌总数减少从1990年代初期到2018年，人口数量减少了大约90％。由于低海拔地区的人为栖息地障碍和掠夺性物种的存在，其分布已减少到较高海拔地区。土地利用造成的河岸森林流失以及采矿和农业的覆被变化导致该特有物种的栖息地退化。需要精细的时空尺度研究来评估全球或大陆尺度的数据集未捕获的生境特征。