Characteristics and development trends of ecohydrology in lakes and reservoirs: Insights from bibliometrics

Abstract

AbstractEcohydrology, an interdisciplinary subject connecting ecology and hydrology, has developed rapidly in recent years. Because lakes and reservoirs are responsible for the drinking water supply of billions of people and water issues are becoming increasingly severe, the importance of these water bodies is self‐evident. Lake (reservoir) ecohydrology has thus attracted considerable attention. This study aimed to analyse the characteristics and development trends of ecohydrology using a bibliometric analysis based on the Science Citation Index database. A total of 21,753 papers from 1900 to 2017 on lake (reservoir) ecohydrology were published in 2,323 journals, and the large majority of them were published in the past three decades. Most research has been concentrated in Europe (40.0%) and North America (31.0%). Among these studies, a few key lakes, for example, Lake Taihu, Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, and Lake Ontario, have been analysed in detail by numerous researchers. The results of a word frequency analysis show that the topics related to ecohydrology have transformed from the microcosmic perspective to the macroscopic perspective, and major topics include eutrophication, global change, models, and ecosystem management. The results of a principal component analysis show that the scope of lake (reservoir) ecohydrology research in Europe and North America has stagnated in recent years, whereas in China, ecohydrology research has developed rapidly over the same period. The development of ecohydrology research around the world is not even, and we need to push for more research on major lakes that are outside of Europe, the United States, and China.