Xie Huiyu, Ma Yu, Jin Xiaowei, Jia Shiqi, Zhao Xu, Zhao Xianfu, Cai Yongjiu, Xu Jian, Wu Fengchang, Giesy John P
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.
College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Environ Sci Ecotechnol. 2024 May 28;21:100434. doi: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100434. eCollection 2024 Sep.
Lake ecosystems confront escalating challenges to their stability and resilience, most intuitively leading to biodiversity loss, necessitating effective preservation strategies to safeguard aquatic environments. However, the complexity of ecological processes governing lake biodiversity under multi-stressor interactions remains an ongoing concern, primarily due to insufficient long-term bioindicator data, particularly concerning macroinvertebrate biodiversity. Here we utilize a unique, continuous, and biomonitoring dataset spanning from 2011 to 2019 to investigate the spatio-temporal variation of macroinvertebrate communities. We assess the impact of four crucial environmental parameters on Lake Dongting and Lake Taihu, i.e., water quality, hydrology, climate change, and land use. These two systems are representative of lakes with Yangtze-connected and disconnected subtropical floodplains in China. We find an alarming trend of declining taxonomic and functional diversities among macroinvertebrate communities despite improvements in water quality. Primary contributing factors to this decline include persistent anthropogenic pressures, particularly alterations in human land use around the lakes, including intensified nutrient loads and reduced habitat heterogeneity. Notably, river-lake connectivity is pivotal in shaping differential responses to multiple stressors. Our results highlight a strong correlation between biodiversity alterations and land use within a 2-5 km radius and 0.05-2.5 km from the shorelines of Lakes Dongting and Taihu, respectively. These findings highlight the importance of implementing land buffer zones with specific spatial scales to enhance taxonomic and functional diversity, securing essential ecosystem services and enhancing the resilience of crucial lake ecosystems.
湖泊生态系统在稳定性和恢复力方面面临着不断升级的挑战，最直观的表现是生物多样性丧失，因此需要有效的保护策略来保护水生环境。然而，在多压力源相互作用下，控制湖泊生物多样性的生态过程的复杂性仍然是一个持续受到关注的问题，主要原因是长期生物指标数据不足，尤其是关于大型无脊椎动物生物多样性的数据。在这里，我们利用一个独特的、连续的生物监测数据集，该数据集涵盖了2011年至2019年，以研究大型无脊椎动物群落的时空变化。我们评估了四个关键环境参数对洞庭湖和太湖的影响，即水质、水文、气候变化和土地利用。这两个系统代表了中国长江相连和不相连的亚热带洪泛平原的湖泊。我们发现，尽管水质有所改善，但大型无脊椎动物群落的分类和功能多样性却出现了令人担忧的下降趋势。导致这种下降的主要因素包括持续的人为压力，特别是湖泊周边人类土地利用的改变，包括营养负荷增加和栖息地异质性降低。值得注意的是，河湖连通性在塑造对多种压力源的不同反应方面起着关键作用。我们的结果突出了生物多样性变化与洞庭湖和太湖岸线分别半径2 - 5公里和0.05 - 2.5公里范围内土地利用之间的强烈相关性。这些发现凸显了实施具有特定空间尺度的土地缓冲区对于提高分类和功能多样性、保障重要生态系统服务以及增强关键湖泊生态系统恢复力的重要性。
