China’s lakes at present: Number, area and spatial distribution

Abstract

Based on 11004 satellite images from CBERS CCD and Landsat TM/ETM, changes in the spatial characteristics of all lakes in China were determined following pre-established interpretation rules. This dataset was supported by 6843 digital raster images (1:100000 and 1:50000), a countrywide digital vector dataset (1:250000), and historical literature. Comparative data were corrected for seasonal variations using precipitation data. There are presently 2693 natural lakes in China with an area greater than 1.0 km 2 , excluding reservoirs. These lakes are distributed in 28 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and have a total area of 81414.6 km 2 , accounting for ~0.9% of China's total land area. In the past 30 years, the number of newly formed and newly discovered lakes with an area greater than 1.0 km 2 is 60 and 131, respectively. Conversely, 243 lakes have disappeared in this time period.

Predicting fish species richness and assemblages with climatic, geographic and morphometric factors: A broad-scale study in Chinese lakes

“…Our results also showed that higher fish species richness is predicted in lakes with sufficient precipitation and a larger surface area. This is in accordance with the actual situation in China where lakes distributed along the middle reach of the Yangtze River, such as Dongting lake, Liangzi lake, Hongze lake, Poyang lake, have a higher fish species richness because they owned appropriate temperature, abundant rainfall and relatively larger surface area (Cui and Li 2005;Ma et al 2011). While lakes distributed in the area with relative lower precipitation and temperature were predicted to have lower fish species richness.…”

“…Lakes in China are covered with complex natural environments and large geological variations (Wang and Dou, 1998;Ma et al, 2011). In this study, a total of 135 lakes distributed across the mainland China were compiled as the main study area (with the coordinates across 21.9-48.9 • N and 81.2-132.6 • E, Fig.…”

“…In addition, the Northwestern lakes are isolated in an inland area where precipitation is scarce (also named as arid and semi-arid zones of China), thus most of the lakes in this region are brackish or saline, and are very poor in fish species although with large surface area, e.g. Qinghai lake (Wang and Dou, 1998;Zhao et al, 2006;Ma et al, 2011).…”

“…The area effects may be overshadowed by the large variations of the climatic variables. It may be also due partly to lake degradation caused by human activities (Wang and Dou, 1998;Ma et al, 2011). For example, some of the small lakes in China have been separated from larger lakes by anthropogenic reclamation, and hence have relatively more fish species than expected.…”

Evaluating anthropogenic N inputs to diverse lake basins: A case study of three Chinese lakes

“…Lakes are an important component of natural ecosystems in China, and play crucial roles in regulating floods, supplying drinking water, preserving biodiversity, and providing a freshwater fishery for food (Wang and Dou 1998). The latest lake survey found that 2693 natural lakes in China with an area of over 1.0 km 2 occupy *0.9 % of the country's territory (Ma et al 2011). For larger lakes over 10 km 2 in area, freshwater lakes make up 35 % of the total lake area, and have an average depth of approximately 2 m. Before the 1980s, most freshwater lakes had relatively good water quality and were eligible for drinking (Le et al 2010).…”