Assessment of water ecological health in shallow lakes: A new framework based on water resource-environment-ecology

IF 7 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Ecological Indicators Pub Date : 2025-04-20 DOI:10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113498

Yanru Tao, Qiujin Xu, Mingke Luo, Wenjing Dong, Yan Pang

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Abstract

In lake ecosystems, human disturbances can severely damage ecological integrity, particularly in shallow lakes. Existing research on water ecological health (WEH) assessment has often overlooked critical aspects such as water resources, water environment, and water ecology, which makes the previous research methods less effective. Therefore, it is essential to explore a new framework for addressing the challenges of WEH assessment in shallow lakes. In this study, Taihu Lake in China between 2011 and 2023 was used as a case study. This paper first constructed a new framework based on water resource-environment-ecology (WREE), which includes seven key indices, and the reasons for this change were explored. Additionally, the eutrophication assessment and the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) evaluation method were employed to assess the effectiveness of this new approach framework. The results show that the water quality in Taihu Lake improved to a certain extent from 2011 − 2023, whereas eutrophication and cyanobacterial blooms have not significantly improved, and WEH has been classified into the medium state (level III). In particular, the WEH values were relatively low in 2013 and 2017, and showed a fluctuating downward trend from 2020 to 2023, which may be attributed to meteorological factors and human activities leading to an increase in pollution-tolerant species and a decrease in biodiversity, ultimately resulting in a deterioration of WEH. The long-term WEH assessment results for Taihu Lake highlight the applicability of the framework based on the WREE, and can be widely applied to similar lake ecosystems but are not applicable to short-term seasonal variations. Given the impacts of increased human activities and climate change, the WREE framework provides valuable insights for the sustainable development and effective management of lake ecosystems, while also enhancing the existing WEH assessment theory.

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浅湖水生态健康评价：基于水资源-环境-生态的新框架

在湖泊生态系统中，人为干扰可严重破坏生态完整性，特别是在浅湖中。现有的水生态健康评价研究往往忽略了水资源、水环境和水生态等关键方面，导致以往的研究方法效果不佳。因此，有必要探索一个新的框架来解决浅湖生态环境健康评估的挑战。本研究以2011 - 2023年中国太湖为例进行研究。本文首先构建了基于水资源-环境-生态（WREE）的新框架，其中包括7个关键指标，并探讨了这种变化的原因。此外，采用富营养化评价和压力-状态-响应（PSR）评价方法对该方法框架的有效性进行了评价。结果表明：2011 ~ 2023年，太湖水质有一定程度的改善，富营养化和蓝藻华没有明显改善，WEH处于中等状态（III级），其中2013年和2017年相对较低，2020 ~ 2023年呈波动下降趋势；这可能是由于气象因素和人类活动导致耐污染物种增加和生物多样性减少，最终导致生态环境恶化。太湖长期生态环境影响评价结果表明，基于WREE的生态环境影响评价框架可广泛应用于类似湖泊生态系统，但不适用于短期季节变化。考虑到人类活动增加和气候变化的影响，WREE框架为湖泊生态系统的可持续发展和有效管理提供了有价值的见解，同时也增强了现有的湖泊生态系统的评价理论。

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来源期刊

Ecological Indicators 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

11.80

自引率

8.70%

发文量

1163

审稿时长

78 days

期刊介绍： The ultimate aim of Ecological Indicators is to integrate the monitoring and assessment of ecological and environmental indicators with management practices. The journal provides a forum for the discussion of the applied scientific development and review of traditional indicator approaches as well as for theoretical, modelling and quantitative applications such as index development. Research into the following areas will be published. • All aspects of ecological and environmental indicators and indices. • New indicators, and new approaches and methods for indicator development, testing and use. • Development and modelling of indices, e.g. application of indicator suites across multiple scales and resources. • Analysis and research of resource, system- and scale-specific indicators. • Methods for integration of social and other valuation metrics for the production of scientifically rigorous and politically-relevant assessments using indicator-based monitoring and assessment programs. • How research indicators can be transformed into direct application for management purposes. • Broader assessment objectives and methods, e.g. biodiversity, biological integrity, and sustainability, through the use of indicators. • Resource-specific indicators such as landscape, agroecosystems, forests, wetlands, etc.