Assessing aquatic ecological health for Lake Poyang, China: Part II index application

Abstract

As one of the largest Yangtze river-connected lakes in China, Lake Poyang's heath status has increasingly become a cause for concern. This study evaluated Lake Poyang's heath status using a newly developed index (ecosystem health index for Lake Poyang, LP-EHI). The evaluation results revealed a declining tendency in the lake's health status from 2010 to 2014. The health conditions for Lake Poyang were "good", "fair", and "fair" in 2010, 2013, and 2014, respectively. The individual indices for water quality, nutrient conditions, and benthic macroinvertebrate showed a deteriorating trend from 2010 to 2014 mainly due to human activities, such as industrial pollution. Further analysis revealed that the health status of Lake Poyang was strongly affected by hydrological processes. This study demonstrated the potential of LP-EHI in evaluating the ecological health of Lake Poyang. Such a heath status evaluation can be applied to other lakes, and can benefit lake management, restoration, and conservation.