River fragmentation has adverse effects on fish populations due to restricted migratory pattern, resulting in risk of population extinction. It has been hypothesized that river fragmentation has led to changes in fish population structure. To test the hypothesis, 149 Golden Mahseer Tor putitora were collected from seven locations, including the Ganga River and upstream and downstream of two impounded headwater tributaries: the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda rivers. Landmark–based “Truss” and “Geometric” morphometric differentiation was investigated to determine if variations in Golden Mahseer populations exist due to river impoundments. Truss network modeling yielded 90 size–corrected distance variables from 14 landmarks, following which analysis of variance (ANOVA), principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant function analysis (DFA) were performed. Geometric morphometric modeling included relative warps, PCA, and canonical variate analysis (CVA). Both DFA and CVA plot illustrated overlapping, with DFA suggesting low percentage of classification between populations. Mahalanobis and Procrustes distances extracted from CVA were non‐significant (P > 0.001) among populations. Results indicated the existence of single homogenous population of Golden Mahseer in the Ganga River. This study provides a basis for stock identification useful in developing a suitable plan towards conservation and restoration of Golden Mahseer populations in the fragmented Ganga River.

中文翻译：

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印度恒河流域金马瑟种群的形态计量学评估

由于迁移方式受到限制，河流支离破碎对鱼类种群产生不利影响，导致种群灭绝的风险。据推测，河流破碎导致鱼类种群结构发生变化。为了检验假设，149 Golden Mahseer Tor putitora采集自七个地点，包括恒河和两个蓄水源头支流的上游和下游：Bhagirathi河和Alaknanda河。对基于地标的“桁架”和“几何”形态计量学差异进行了研究，以确定是否由于河水蓄积而存在金马瑟族人口的差异。桁架网络建模从14个地标中得出90个尺寸校正的距离变量，然后进行了方差分析（ANOVA），主成分分析（PCA）和判别函数分析（DFA）。几何形态计量建模包括相对变形，PCA和规范变量分析（CVA）。DFA和CVA图均显示重叠，DFA表示人群之间的分类百分比较低。P  > 0.001）。结果表明恒河中存在单一的金马瑟族。这项研究为种群识别提供了依据，有助于制定适当的计划，以保护和恢复支离破碎的恒河中的金马瑟（Golden Mahseer）种群。