A Study on the Characterization Methods of Ecological Water Requirements in Rivers in the Southern Plain Region, China

A Study on the Characterization Methods of Ecological Water Requirements in Rivers in the Southern Plain Region, China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article A Study on the Characterization Methods of Ecological Water Requirements in Rivers in the Southern Plain Region, China Yukun Li, Hongyuan Fang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7392428/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 11 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Determining the ecological water requirements is essential for the health of river ecosystems, with the concept of ecological flow being commonly used to characterize the status of rivers and lakes. However, the low hydraulic connectivity of channels in the river systems of the southern plain region makes ecological flow monitoring challenging. Consequently, the ecological water level is often used as a substitute for ecological flow to represent ecological water requirements. Nevertheless, the conceptual and intrinsic differences between these two parameters call into question the validity of this substitution, for which there is a lack of thorough verification. Building upon this, this study selected three representative hydrological stations—Jinsuozhen Station, Sihong Station, and Shuanggou Station—in the Jiangsu plain as control sections for investigation. A comprehensive analysis of the correlation and periodicity characteristics between meteorological-hydrological factors is conducted, with multiple methods employed to calculate the alteration degree of Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) metrics. The Tennant method is further applied to evaluate whether the proposed ecological water level meets the multi-year average water level requirements. The results demonstrate that:(1) Significant positive correlations and periodicity characteristics exist between meteorological and hydrological factors in the study area. (2) The calculation of the overall alteration degrees was performed using three distinct methodologies: traditional IHA-RVA, entropy weight method, and histogram matching approach (HMA). The results are outlined below: Jinsuozhen Station (41.57%, 34.95%, 18.31%), Sihong Station (20.36%, 14.05%, 13.13%), and Shuanggou Station (26.24%, 16.98%, 12.54%). The results obtained from this study suggest that the overall hydrological alteration level across all stations is relatively low. (3) The evaluation results of the selected appropriate ecological water level at the three hydrological stations' control reaches demonstrated good performance, meeting the multi-year average water level requirements. This finding suggests that the current hydrological regime remains stable and intact, thereby providing a healthy environment conducive to the development of in-stream flora and fauna. Consequently, within river systems of the southern plain, ecological water level can function as a reliable surrogate for ecological water requirements, effectively supplanting ecological flow as a means to evaluate the ecological status of rivers and lakes. Biological sciences/Ecology Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences Earth and environmental sciences/Hydrology Southern plain region ecological water level IHA-RVA method ecological index characterization methods Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 11 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 27 Nov, 2025 Reviews received at journal 22 Nov, 2025 Reviews received at journal 22 Nov, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 06 Nov, 2025 Reviews received at journal 20 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 19 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 17 Sep, 2025 Editor invited by journal 15 Sep, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 03 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 03 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7392428","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":522724196,"identity":"96919bd6-65b6-4ec1-b664-37660c4ff55f","order_by":0,"name":"Yukun Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yangzhou University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yukun","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":522724197,"identity":"0a911a12-f651-4cdb-9f5d-48634d118dda","order_by":1,"name":"Hongyuan 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China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Southern plain region, ecological water level, IHA-RVA method, ecological index, characterization methods","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7392428/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7392428/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eDetermining the ecological water requirements is essential for the health of river ecosystems, with the concept of ecological flow being commonly used to characterize the status of rivers and lakes. However, the low hydraulic connectivity of channels in the river systems of the southern plain region makes ecological flow monitoring challenging. Consequently, the ecological water level is often used as a substitute for ecological flow to represent ecological water requirements. Nevertheless, the conceptual and intrinsic differences between these two parameters call into question the validity of this substitution, for which there is a lack of thorough verification. Building upon this, this study selected three representative hydrological stations\u0026mdash;Jinsuozhen Station, Sihong Station, and Shuanggou Station\u0026mdash;in the Jiangsu plain as control sections for investigation. A comprehensive analysis of the correlation and periodicity characteristics between meteorological-hydrological factors is conducted, with multiple methods employed to calculate the alteration degree of Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) metrics. The Tennant method is further applied to evaluate whether the proposed ecological water level meets the multi-year average water level requirements. The results demonstrate that:(1) Significant positive correlations and periodicity characteristics exist between meteorological and hydrological factors in the study area. (2) The calculation of the overall alteration degrees was performed using three distinct methodologies: traditional IHA-RVA, entropy weight method, and histogram matching approach (HMA). The results are outlined below: Jinsuozhen Station (41.57%, 34.95%, 18.31%), Sihong Station (20.36%, 14.05%, 13.13%), and Shuanggou Station (26.24%, 16.98%, 12.54%). The results obtained from this study suggest that the overall hydrological alteration level across all stations is relatively low. (3) The evaluation results of the selected appropriate ecological water level at the three hydrological stations' control reaches demonstrated good performance, meeting the multi-year average water level requirements. This finding suggests that the current hydrological regime remains stable and intact, thereby providing a healthy environment conducive to the development of in-stream flora and fauna. Consequently, within river systems of the southern plain, ecological water level can function as a reliable surrogate for ecological water requirements, effectively supplanting ecological flow as a means to evaluate the ecological status of rivers and lakes.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"A Study on the Characterization Methods of Ecological Water Requirements in Rivers in the Southern Plain Region, China","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-01 03:58:33","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7392428/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-11-27T08:26:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-11-22T11:41:29+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-11-22T10:00:10+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"79757571192270866320651637414473879681","date":"2025-11-06T12:41:01+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-20T06:58:03+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"292188125610675142161146970605347816771","date":"2025-10-18T02:00:34+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"184957326578267684164966450270361890219","date":"2025-09-30T00:53:07+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-19T10:40:53+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-09-18T01:12:47+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-15T07:08:32+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-09-03T09:53:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2025-09-03T09:44:12+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"f5abfa45-0d54-4aa5-9810-a6c2798972ee","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 1st, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":55560691,"name":"Biological sciences/Ecology"},{"id":55560692,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology"},{"id":55560693,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences"},{"id":55560694,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Hydrology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-16T16:08:08+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7392428","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39374-x","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2026-02-11 15:57:59","publishedOnDateReadable":"February 11th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-01 03:58:33","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-026-39374-x","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39374-x","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7392428","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7392428","identity":"rs-7392428","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}