**2. Materials and Methods**

This study was based on a fish samples assessment, from 2016 to 2021, in summer drought periods, at five rivers, on every 500 m sector, in the west of the Saxon Villages area (Figure 1). The sites more than one meter in depth in the studied lotic systems were measured and inventoried, walking in all the riverbeds length. The near downstream 500 mlong stretches of these lotic systems were also checked to see what fish species and how many individuals thereof are present, and if there is a difference in their abundance between refuge and non-refuge 500 m sectors. The fish numbers in the identified refuge habitats (lotic habitats with a depth of minimum one meter and a length of maxim 10 m) were compared with the near downstream 500 m-long lotic sector fish number of individuals and presented. The major method limitation is that it is relatively cronophagous; the river's entire length should be walked by the researchers through the riverbed.

**Figure 1.** The study area location on the South-Eastern Carpathians basin (Romania).

The sampling highlights the presence of aquatic refuge habitats and fish communities' richness in and near the refuge habitats.

During the drought season, field studies concerning the habitats were carried out on Dupu¸s, Biertan, Valchid, Laslea, Mălâncrav, and Fel¸ta/Flores,ti rivers (Figure 2).

The fish assemblages' survey presented, through time/on effort (one hour/500 m), these quantitative samplings, which were gathered with a hand-net.

For the fish communities' quantitative structure, the used description was: the individuals' number in the unit of time/effort unit—average value for the samples of the same station, for six years of the study, on each identified refuge habitat and its downstream near-500-m sector.

The sampled fish were identified, counted, and released immediately back into their natural habitats. Different habitat characteristics data (refuge depth, banks description, land use, substrate, banks height, minor riverbed width, GPS coordinates, vegetation, and human impact) were collected (Tables A1–A6).

This research proposed some in situ adapted management elements for the recovery, at least partially, of the previous ecologic status of the lotic systems' habitats in the area and of their associated fish species communities.

**Figure 2.** The studied lotic systems.
