China is a country with many lakes, about one-third of which are freshwater mainly distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Currently most of the lakes are mesotrophic or eutrophic. Lake eutrophication has become one of the major ecological and environmental problems faced by lakes in China and can lead to a series of abnormal ecosystem responses, including extinction of submerged plants, frequent occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms, increased microbial biomass and productivity, decreased biodiversity, accelerated cycles, and a change in the efficient use of nutrients. With development of eutrophication, the whole lake ecosystem suffers decreased biodiversity, simplification of biotic community structure, instability of the ecosystem, and ultimately the clear-water, macrophyte-dominated ecosystem gradually shifts to a turbid-water, algae-dominated ecosystem. This ecosystem succession mechanism is speculated to be caused by different nutrient utilization efficiencies of macrophytes and phytoplankton. The ultimate ecosystem succession trend of seriously eutrophic lakes is that a phytoplankton-dominated autotrophic lake shifts to a heterotrophic lake dominated by micro-organisms, protozoans. Today, eutrophication generally refers to trophic state arising from increased nitrogen and phosphorus input, specifically, increased discharge of plant nutrients (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus) from industrialization, agricultural modernization, and urbanization.Nitrogen, phosphorus, and some other elements are essential for plant growth; however, if a water body receives more nitrogen and phosphorus than necessary, the ecosystem can experience changes such as algal blooms; therefore, eutrophication can be considered as a biological or ecological concept. In this sense, using nitrogen, phosphorus, or other environmental factors is not the most appropriate way to evaluate the trophic level of a lake or reservoir; instead, the evaluation should be based on primary productivity of macrophytes and phytoplankton, but these indicators are difficult to assess. Alternatively, nitrogen, phosphorus, transparency, and chlorophyll a are commonly used as indicators for evaluation of eutrophication.OECD proposed the following thresholds of eutrophication in 1982: average total phosphorus concentration >0.035 mg/L; average chlorophyll a concentration >0.008 mg/L; and average transparency <3 m [2]. According to these thresholds, many lakes in China have become eutrophic. An assessment of the trophic status of lakes in the middle and

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Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem degradation is widely recognized as a major global environmental and development problem. Although great efforts have been made to prevent aquatic ecosystem degradation, the degree, extent and impacts of this phenomenon remain controversial and unclear, such as its driving mechanisms. Here, we present results from a 17-year field investigation (1998–2014) of water quality and a 12-year remote sensing mapping (2003–2014) of the aquatic vegetation presence frequency (VPF) in Eastern Lake Taihu, a macrophyte-dominated bay of Lake Taihu in China. In the past 17 years, nutrient concentrations and water level (WL) have significantly increased, but the Secchi disk depth (SDD) has significantly decreased. These changes were associated with increased lake eutrophication and a degraded underwater light climate that further inhibited the growth of aquatic vegetation. In Eastern Lake Taihu, increased nutrients, chlorophyll a and WL, and a decreased SDD were all significantly correlated with a decreased VPF. NH4+-N concentration and SDD/WL were the most important controlling factors for VPF. Therefore, increased anthropogenic nutrient inputs and a degraded underwater light climate surely result in a decreased VPF. These results elucidate the driving mechanism of aquatic vegetation degradation and will facilitate Lake Taihu ecological restoration.