Human activities control the source of eroded organic carbon in lake sediments over the last 100 years: Evidence from stable isotope fingerprinting

Driver–response relationships in a large shallow lake since the Anthropocene: Short‐term abrupt perturbations versus long‐term sustainable pressures

“…The cascading relationship among catchment environmental changes, organic matter imports, and lake biogenic regimes is suggested by the PLS‐PM results quantified by sediment proxies' types in Dongting Lake. The findings of the multi‐proxy approach for lake sediments challenged the conventional understanding of the watershed environment, lake material inputs, and nutrient concentrations, which mostly relies on source qualification and environmental monitoring data (Bernardino et al., 2020; Hampton et al., 2008; Kong et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2023). Our research provides insights into the cause‐effect cascade relationships and interaction pathways among different types of sediment proxies, thus providing quantitative knowledge of the relationships among multiple attributes in lake sediments.…”

“…The split ratios from the three mouths of the Yangtze River to Dongting Lake were estimated to be 19.4% and 12% after the two events and 32% before the first HE (Hu et al., 2014). Both events affected the sediment input from the Yangtze River to Dongting Lake, thereby altering the exogenous material import structure of the lake (Wang et al., 2023; Yu et al., 2018). These significant HEs were successfully recorded using mixed‐source proxy peaks in lake sediments.…”

“…Although the social development of Dongting Lake in terms of population, economy, agrarianizing, and urbanization has varied among the sub‐basins since 1950, it has continuously affected land‐use changes over a long period, thus triggering soil erosion and material deposition in the lake (Wang, et al., 2021; Xiao et al., 2023). These watershed ecological changes recorded in the sediments have been explored in terms of sediment source, material composition, and content dynamics (Du et al., 2001; Ran, et al., 2023; Wang et al., 2023). However, challenges still persist in the socio‐ecological integrity of lake‐watershed systems regarding different typical events that are timely, lagged, or not captured by lake sediments and regarding the linear or nonlinear impacts of long‐term pressures and when they were significant.…”

“…Although the social development of Dongting Lake in terms of population, economy, agrarianizing, and urbanization has varied among the sub-basins since 1950, it has continuously affected land-use changes over a long period, thus triggering soil erosion and material deposition in the lake Xiao et al, 2023). These watershed ecological changes recorded in the sediments have been explored in terms of sediment source, material composition, and content dynamics (Du et al, 2001;Wang et al, 2023).…”

Human activity has increasingly affected recent carbon accumulation in Zhanjiang mangrove wetland, South China

“…The slight positive deviation of the δ 13 C value between 1950 and 1980 indicates an increase in the contribution of terrestrial and algae sources, possibly induced by deforestation and agricultural expansion. 65 , 66 After 1980, increased nutrients indicated by enriched δ 15 N promoted litter and root deposition of mangroves, 40 , 67 , 68 resulting in lower δ 13 C values. On the other hand, the protection and restoration of mangroves, and the flourishing and expansion of mangroves, are also the reasons for the increase in the OM from mangrove sources.…”