Positive Correlation Between Economic Activities and Fish Diversity in Small River Basins of Less Developed Regions: A Case Study of the Lixian River Basin

(1) Background: Affected by multiple factors, the decline in fish species diversity in some aquatic ecosystems has become increasingly pronounced. At a broad spatial scale, economic development has been widely recognized as one of the key factors influencing the fish distribution pattern. However, at a small scale, within a single river basin, the effects of economic development on the freshwater fish distribution and communities remain largely uninvestigated. (2) Methods: environmental DNA (eDNA) samples were collected from 26 sampling sites of the Lixian River in both the summer (June) and winter (November). Economic data from the Lixian River basin were collected, and analyses, including multivariate regression tree analysis and generalized linear model fitting, were performed using R 4.3.2. (3) Results: A total of 65 fish species was characterized, and the Chao1 diversity indices in the upstream (13.42) and downstream (13.00) were significantly higher than those in the middle reaches (8.55, p < 0.01) of this river. The species communities exhibited an obvious gradient changing pattern from the upstream to the downstream reaches, with parameters of water quality, including transparency, pH, dissolved oxygen and temperature, and climatic factors functioning as the key variables. Furthermore, the generalized linear model analysis revealed significant positive correlations between agricultural population (p = 0.00106), total grain production (p = 0.00476), total population (p = 0.00192) and the Chao1 index. (4) Conclusions: Climatic factors are the key factors affecting the fish diversity in the Lixian River. In less economically developed areas, the development of local economic activities may enhance fish diversity.