Estimating the ecological water levels of shallow lakes: a case study in Tangxun Lake, China

Wei Yang,Liping Zhang,Ruiqing Li,Mingxiang Xu,Qiuliang Deng

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-62454-5

Abstract

Water level management is an effective tool for the ecological restoration of shallow lakes. In this study, we developed an ecologically-based approach to estimate the monthly suitable ecological water levels (EWLs). This approach took both the lake topographic features and aquatic plants’ growth characteristics into account. The aquatic vegetation coverage was used to characterize the degree of the lake ecological restoration. The relationship between water level and vegetation coverage was established. We chose the Tangxun Lake as a testbed, and the recommended lowest EWL was 16.6 m, as the minimum threshold for water level regulations. The results revealed that the predicted vegetation coverage decreased with the rise of water level during the germination period (February and March). To achieve the vegetation coverage goal of 30% and 50%, the lake’s water levels must be lowered to 17.1 m and 16.8 m respectively during germination. The EWLs were recommended to be low in spring and high in summer, which was matched with the natural water level regimes. The proposed approach can provide a reliable reference for water level regulation of shallow lakes especially the lakes with insufficient data.

Highlights

Water level management is an effective tool for the ecological restoration of shallow lakes
We developed an approach for calculating the suitable monthly ecological water levels (EWLs) of shallow lakes
Water level management is an effective tool for the ecological restoration of shallow lakes, the relationship between ecosystem health and water level have rarely been quantified

Summary

Introduction

Water level management is an effective tool for the ecological restoration of shallow lakes. The historical flow record methodologies and the hydraulic rating methodologies rely heavily on the availability of reliable long-term hydrological data[9,18] These two methodologies are based on the concept that water levels below the natural water levels will destroy the ecosystem integrity[19]. Further studies are still necessary to develop the methods for EWLs calculation in lakes that could meet the water level requirements at different growth stages of aquatic species. We developed an approach for calculating the suitable monthly EWLs of shallow lakes The essence of this approach was to regulate the water level based on the water level requirements of aquatic plants. The principle and procedure of this method were introduced in detail, and the methodology was applied to the Tangxun Lake

Methods

Results

Conclusion