We developed the habitat suitability criteria for the black‐necked Crane (BNC) to manage their wintering habitat in the Nyamjang Chu River in Zemithang valley, India. We generated habitat suitability criteria (HSC) curves for BNC based on the habitat availability in the river channel and use by the BNC. The HSC curves indicated that BNC preferred velocity ranged from 0 to 0.2 m/s and depth ranged from 0 to 30 cm in the river channel. Based on the HSCs of BNC, three scenarios were explored in PHABSIM: Scenario (i) increase in flow versus dry riverbed area; Scenario (ii) increase in flow versus instream suitable area; Scenario (iii) increase in flow versus weighted usable area based on combined dry and instream suitable area. The output of Scenario (i) indicated at 20 cumecs discharge achieved optimum dry riverbed area (47.07%) available for BNC, whereas Scenario (ii) predicted the different section of the river produced optimum instream area at different discharges. Though, the Scenario (iii) predicted at 20 cumecs discharge, the study area generated more than 57.38% of combined suitable habitat available for BNC. Since a proposed hydropower dam in the Zemithang valley is intend to raise water level in the river channel, it is expected to be reduced suitable habitat for BNC in the valley. Based on the PHABSIM output, we concluded that the availability of suitable habitat of BNC decreases steadily if the discharge flow increases above 20 cumecs. Moreover, the predicted average dry riverbed area (47.07%) at 20 cumecs was almost equal to the percentage of dry riverbed area (47.8%) that was naturally available during the winter. Thus, we recommend a maximum of 20 cumecs as ecological flows to maintain the minimum required habitats for wintering BNC in the Nyamjang Chu River. Consequently, the installation of the proposed dam in Zemithang valley may not be feasible.

中文翻译：

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拟定与喜马拉雅水电大坝相关的印度喜马拉雅东部Nyamjang Chu河黑颈鹤保护栖息地适宜性标准

我们为黑颈鹤（BNC）制定了栖息地适宜性标准，以管理其在印度Zemithang谷的Nyamjang Chu河中的越冬栖息地。我们根据河道中的栖息地可用性和BNC的使用情况为BNC生成了栖息地适宜性标准（HSC）曲线。HSC曲线表明，河道中BNC的优选速度范围为0至0.2 m / s，深度范围为0至30 cm。基于BNC的HSC，在PHABSIM中探讨了三种方案：方案（i）流量相对于干河床面积的增加；方案（ii）流量相对于河内合适面积的增加；方案（iii）流量相对于加权可用面积的增加（基于干旱和河流适宜的总面积）。方案（i）的输出表示为20立方公尺的排水量，为BNC提供了最佳的干河床面积（47.07％），而方案（ii）预测河流的不同断面在不同的流量处产生最佳的入流面积。虽然，方案（iii）预测在20立方米的排水量下，但研究区域产生了BNC可利用的合计合适栖息地的57.38％以上。由于拟在Zemithang山谷中兴建的水坝将提高河道的水位，因此预计将减少该山谷中BNC的适宜生境。根据PHABSIM的输出，我们得出结论，如果排放流量增加到20立方公尺以上，则BNC合适的栖息地的可用性会稳定下降。此外，预测的平均枯水河床面积（47.07％）为20立方公尺，几乎等于冬季自然可用的枯水河床面积的百分比（47.8％）。因此，我们建议最多使用20立方公尺作为生态流量，以保持Nyamjang Chu河中BNC越冬所需的最少栖息地。因此，在Zemithang山谷中安装拟建的水坝可能是不可行的。