SITUATIONS AND CONSERVATION STRATEGIES OF FISH RESOURCES IN THE YANGTZE RIVER BASIN北大核心CSCD

The Yangtze River basin harbors a high degree of fish diversity, with 378 fish species distributing in the mainstream and its attached waters, and 149 of these species are endemic to this river. Meanwhile, the Yangtze River is an important fishery ground in China, contributing more than 60% of the total catch of freshwater fishery. Therefore, the Yangtze River plays important roles in both biodiversity conservation and capture fisheries. However, due to the increasing human activities in the past decades, fish resources in the Yangtze River have declined sharply. Firstly, more and more species have been assessed as threatened and the endangerment categories of many species have been upgraded. Secondly, the population size of many iconic species, such as Acipenser sinensis, the four famous Chinese carps and Coreius guichenoti, have declined continuously. Thirdly, the miniaturization tendencies of major fishing targets have become more and more obvious. Last but not the least, the total fishery catch reduced significantly. Overfishing, water projects construction, enclosing-lake cultivation, water pollution and alien invasion were the main reasons contributing to these changes. In most situations, these factors interacted together, which imposed more damage to the fish resources and increased the difficulty of conservation. In order to protect the fish resources in the Yangtze River effectively, following conservation strategies are suggested: establishing specialized nature reserve, banning commercial fishing completely, implementing river ecological restoration, strengthening scientific research and establishing comprehensive regulation mechanism. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

BIODIVERSITY PATTERN AND CONSERVATION OF AQUATIC VASCULAR PLANTS IN THE YANGTZE RIVER BASIN,CHINA北大核心CSCD

The Yangtze River is the largest river in China. It is a priority conservation area for biodiversity of the world, with its main river, branches and wetlands. As an essential part of freshwater ecosystem, aquatic vegetation has been well studied by Chinese researchers since 1950s, but large-scaled analysis on the biodiversity pattern is lacked. Based on published studies, we analyzed spatial and temporal pattern of aquatic plant diversity in the Yangtze River Basin, and calculated the suitable habitat area and underlying influence of environmental factors using MaxEnt software. A total of 298 species are recognized, belonging to 121 genera in 52 families, which is 57.6% of the total aquatic vascular plants in China. The Yangtze River Basin is the key area for aquatic plant diversity of China, especially the subregions of middle reaches. The elevation and land use are the key environmental variables to the spatial pattern of aquatic plants. The separation among water systems have weak influence on the spatial pattern of diversity in aquatic vascular plants, but potamo-lacustrine habitats facilitated the species homogenization of the flora in a sub-basin scale. The network consists of Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake, Tai Lake, and the middle and lower mainstream is the suitable area for the aquatic plants based on the MaxEnt model. In the past half century, the decline or loss of aquatic vegetation occurred in plenty of lakes in the Yangtze River Basin. We suggested that the protection of aquatic vegetation should be incorporated into the integrated conservation of the middle and lower Yangtze River. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

CONTAMINATED LEVEL AND RISK ASSESSMENT OF PAES IN THE UPPER REACHES OF THE YANGTZE RIVER北大核心CSCD

PAEs have been proved to be one of the major organic pollutants. The present study determined the level of PAEs using surface water samples from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The results showed that DEHP contributed the most to PAEs pollution, followed by DBP. Risk Quotients of PAEs were used for preliminary screening, and DEHP and BBP were identified as potential risk factors with RQ of 310 and 70.7. The MOS10 of DEHP and BBP were 1.40 and 1.32×105, respectively, indicating that BBP may pose little risk to aquatic organisms. The potential risk of DEHP was further analyzed with joint probabilistic curves. Among different biological groups, fish and zoobenthos were two major groups sensitive to DEHP-induced damage under current concentrations with 99.4% and 98.3% for 5% species of each group. While among the toxicity endpoints, reproduction may be more sensitive than others. The 5% and 10% aquatic species were suffered from reproductive damages by 100% and 97.8%, respectively. Overall, our results indicated that DEHP in the surface water of the upper Yangtze River may pose potential risk to aquatic organisms, especially on their reproduction. Therefore, more concerns should be paid in species protection and environmental management. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

MACRO-PATTERNS OF SPECIES DIVERSITY AND STANDING CROPS OF MACROZOOBENTHOS IN THE YANGTZE RIVER BASIN北大核心CSCD

We summarize macro-patterns of macrozoobenthos in the Yangtze River basin in this paper. A total of 1033 taxa (species/genus) belonging to 3 phyla, 7 classes, 162 families and 513 genera have been recorded from the Yangtze River Basin, including 121 annelids, 318 molluscs and 594 arthropods. In terms of taxa distributions, the species/genus number of annelids and of molluscs in the middle reaches were the highest, while that of arthropods in the upper reaches was the highest; the species/genus number of annelids and of molluscs in the lakes were the highest, while that of arthropods in the tributaries was the highest; the species/genus number of macrozoobenthos in the middle mainstem sub-basin ranked first, and that of the upper mainstem sub-basin, of the Jinshajinag sub-basin, of the Lake Dongting sub-basin and of the Lake Poyang sub-basin second. The total density of macrozoobenthos in the Yangtze River basin was 672 ind./m2, and insects were predominant; the total biomass was 34.22 g/m2, and molluscs were predominant. In terms of standing crops distribution, the total density of macrozoobenthos in the middle reaches was the highest, the total biomass in the lower reaches the highest, while the total standing crop in the upper reaches was the lowest; the total density and biomass of macrozoobenthos in the lakes ranked first, those in the tributaries second, and those in the mainstem last; the total density of macrozoobenthos in the Lake Taihu sub-basin was the highest, and the total biomass in the Lake Poyang sub-basin was the highest. Our study indicates that the upper and middle mainstem sub-basins, the Jinshajiang sub-basin, the Lake Dongting sub-basin and the Lake Poyang sub-basin are important distribution regions for macrozoobenthos. By integrating more information of aquatic organisms, we should make comprehensive and systematic conservation planing of the Yangtze River system and implement them as soon as possible. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

ASSESSING THE CONTAMINATED LEVELS AND RISK OF TYPICAL CONTAMINANTS IN THE UPPER REACHES OF THE YANGTZE RIVER北大核心CSCD

We generally reviewed the distributions and potential risks of heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River based on recent studies. The distribution of heavy metals varied significantly with locations and types of mediums, and contents of some metals exceeded the limits in food. The contents of PAHs in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River were in line with those in the lower reaches. Low molecular weight PAHs were predominant in surface water, while high molecular weight PAHs were predominant in sediments, indicating low molecular PAHs may pose greater risks to aquatic ecosystems. DEHP and DBP were the predominant monomers of PAEs in surface water and sediments, and BBP and DBP ranked first and second respectively in fish bodies. The results of risk assessment also indicated that monomers such as DBP and DnBP had greater risk than DEHP. Over all, heavy metals and organic pollutants were widely distributed in the aquatic environment in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, which may pose potential risks to the ecosystem. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

RIVER BANK HABITAT ASSESSMENT OF THE YANGTZE FINLESS PORPOISE IN THE MAIN STEM OF MIDDLE-LOWER YANGTZE RIVER北大核心CSCD

Habitat quality can directly affect population abundance and distribution of the Yangtze finless porpoise. This study investigated habitat status of both south and north banks of the main stem of the Yangtze River by taking high-resolution digital photos systematically during the 2017 Yangtze Freshwater Dolphin Expedition from 10th November to 17th December, 2017. The survey area covered the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River from Yichang to Shanghai (1669 km in length) and a total of 794 photo samples were collected. We recorded 318 sightings with 631 individuals of the Yangtze finless porpoise. The Chi-squared goodness of fit test revealed that proportions of observed frequency are significantly higher than the expected frequency in natural river banks (χ2=69.81, P<0.001). Whereas the result is opposite in the semi-natural and solidified river banks (χ2=39.26, P<0.001; χ2=12.15, P<0.001), indicating that the natural river banks were the preferred habitat of the Yangtze finless porpoise. The length of the semi-natural river and solidified banks accounted for 45.47% of the total length of the river bank, which intermingled with the patches of the natural river banks, demonstrating that the natural habitat was severely degraded and highly fragmented to impact the distribution of the Yangtze finless porpoise. Our study suggested that habitat degradation and fragmentation pose a significant threat to the survival of the Yangtze finless porpoise. Future conservation research and practice should focus on habitat restoration of the solidified river banks to reestablish and enhance habitat connectivity. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

VARIATION OF RUNOFF IN THE YICHANG REACH OF YANGTZE RIVER AND ITS INFLUENCE TO THE CHINESE STURGEON SPAWNING UNDER THE CASCADED HYDROPOWER OPERATION北大核心CSCD

Based on the Gini coefficient and Mann-Kendall test, the runoff variation in the Yichang reach of Yangtze River from 1982 to 2017 was evaluated, and its influence to the Chinese sturgeon spawning below the Gezhouba Dam was discussed under the cascaded hydropower operation. The results showed that the runoff and Gini coefficient decreased significantly after the construction of Gezhouba Dam, which synchronously decreased the flow and water levels in spawning days of the Chinese sturgeon. Water temperature had no significant change. The analysis of the abruption revealed great change of hydrological conditions in the spawning days and Gini coefficient in 2004 and 2009, which are coincided with time of the second and fourth phase impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir. The correlation analysis indicated that the higher runoff and Gini coefficient would induce Chinese sturgeon to spawn in days with high flow and water levels. These results suggest that the ecological operation of the Three Gorges-Gezhouba cascaded hydropower could enhance the runoff with large inequality and create long duration of high flow pulses during flood seasons. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF ZOOPLANKTON IN THE MAIN STEM OF THE MIDDLE YANGTZE RIVER北大核心CSCD

To better understand zooplankton distribution and its relationship with the physical-chemical factors in middle Yangtze River, we collected 20 zooplankton samples from segments at Yichang, Jingzhou, Yueyang, Wuhan and Hukou in October, 2016. A total of 23 species that belong to 13 families and 14 genera were identified, among which 16 species belong to Rotifera, 4 to Copepoda and 3 to Cladocera. Among the five segments, the highest number of zooplankton species was detected at Hukou (9 species), while the lowest was at Yueyang (5 species). The average density at Wuhan (10.94±5.81) ind./L was higher than that at Hukou and the other segments. Rotifers (3.41±0.21) ind./L were dominant in the zooplanktonic community, and Keratella valga, Synchacta atylata and Keratella cochlearis were the dominant species. The average density of copepods (mainly nauplius) was (0.75±0.07) ind./L. Cladocera had the lowest average density. Similarly, the zooplankton biomass at Wuhan was also higher than that at Hukou and the other three segments. Comparing with studies at other segments of Yangtze River, we detected lower zooplankton diversity in our investigation. Spearman correlations indicated that the biomass and diversity of zooplankton were significantly and positively correlated (P<0.05) to chlorophyll a. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

THE YANGTZE RIVER-FLOODPLAIN ECOSYSTEM: MULTIPLE THREATS AND HOLISTIC CONSERVATION北大核心CSCD

The Yangtze (Changjiang) river-floodplain is one of the most important ecosystems in China and the world, but is seriously threatened by multiple stresses. Thus, it is crucial and urgent to rehabilitate and conserve the river-floodplain. This paper reviews ecological studies conducted on the Yangtze river-floodplain, and presents suggestions for conservation and rehabilitation. First, basic concepts and research advances of riverscape and hydrological connectivity are introduced. Second, the history and current status of the Yangtze River system are summarized. Before 23 Ma, the Yangtze River cut through the Three Gorges, forming the river much like the modern one. Numerous rivers, streams, lakes (the total area 15770 km2 at present) and wetlands are distributed in the mid-lower Yangtze river-flood-plain. Such a river-lake complex ecosystem holds a unique and diverse biota, and is the most important fishery area of China. Third, main threats to the Yangtze river-floodplain ecosystem are identified, i.e., a) habitat loss, including river channelization, sharp shrinkage of lake area (ca. 10000 km2 since the 1950s), degradation of lakeshore zones and sand over-mining; b) alternations of hydrological regimes, including construction of ca. 47000 reservoirs and disconnection of most lakes from the mainstem; c) water pollution, including eutrophication, heavy metals, organic pollutants and microplastic; d) overexploitation of biological resources, including overfishing and intensive pen culture. Fourth, effects of river-lake disconnection on lake ecosystems are summarized. It was found that a) disconnection is one of the main causes of lake eutrophication; b) species diversity, biomass, production of macrophytes and macrobenthos reach maxima at some levels of intermediate river connectivity; c) disconnection greatly reduces fish species richness of each habitat guild, and natural fish larvae is severely depleted; d) disconnection simplifies macroinvertebrate food web structure, and trophic basis is more heavily relied on detritus in disconnected lakes. Last, conservation strategies are proposed. Since the Yangtze river-floodplain is a huge integrated system, the biodiversity conservation must be conducted on the whole basin scale. By establishing species-area models of fishes, the minimum protected area of Yangtze-connected lakes is estimated to be ca. 14400 km2. It means that at least 8900 km2 of disconnected lakes should be reconnected with the Yangtze mainstem, and ecohydrological operation of dams and sluices is the feasible approach. Based upon our studies on environmental flow requirements, the following measures are suggested: a) lower water levels during spring to improve germination of macrophytes, and control rising rates of water levels during spring-summer to ensure development of macrophytes; b) open sluice gates to restore migration routes for juveniles migrating into lakes during April-September, and for adults migrating back to the Yangtze mainstem during November-December. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

SPATIO-TEMPORAL VARIATIONS OF FISH ASSEMBLAGES IN THE DONGTING LAKE北大核心CSCD

Lake Dongting is the second largest floodplain lake along the Yangtze River basin. However, the study on fish communities in the Dongting Lake is limited, lacking systematic research on the spatio-temporal variations of fish assemblages in this area. Fish were sampled seasonally from December 2012 to October 2014 in the Dongting Lake. 80 fish species belonging to 54 genera, 17 families, and 7 orders with dominant Cyprinidae accounting for 58.8% of the total species were collected. The species richness reduced by 36 in contrast with the historic records. The number and percentage of riverine and river-sea migratory species decreased by 13 (2.2%) and 4 (3.0%) respectively in comparison with historic records. We detected significant seasonal and regional differences in species composition and biodiversity. The diversity and evenness of fishes were significantly higher in summer and autumn than those in other seasons. Meanwhile, significantly lower diversity was observed in the east Dongting Lake than other regions. Our results indicated that seasonal flood pulses and, assisting by river-lake connectivity may play a fundamental role for the fish resources supplement in floodplain lakes. This study demonstrated significant spatio-temporal variations of fish assemblages in the Dongting Lake, which provided scientific foundations for fish conservation in this area. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

NATURAL REPRODUCTION AND HYDROLOGIC REQUIREMENTS OF PELAGOPHIL FISH IN THE THREE GORGES RESERVOIR北大核心CSCD

To reveal the relationships between spawning activities of pelagophil fish and environmental factors in the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), fish eggs and larvae were sampled at Zhongxian section, from May to July in 2016 and 2017. 60 fish species including 30 pelagophil fishes were sampled. Hemiculter bleekeri and Squalidus argentatus were the dominant species in eggs, and Hemiculter and Pseudolaubuca were abundant in larvae. In 2016, 7.041 billion eggs and 103.763 billion larvae drifted through the sampling section, and in 2017, 3.454 billion eggs and 34.427 billion larvae drifted through the sampling section. The amount of eggs and larvae of the four major Chinese carps reached 2.909 billion in 2016 and 2.117 billionin in 2017. Spawning activities of pelagophils fish varies temporally in different river reaches, which mainly occurred after early-June in the river reach from Zhongxian to Fuling but begun in mid-May in the river reach upstream of Changshou. Fish eggs and larvae from the river reach upstream of Changshou provided a large resource for recruitment to the fishery in TGR. Classification and regression trees (CART) analysis explored that spawning activities of the four major Chinese carps were favord when water discharge was rasing. But, spawning activities of Hemiculter bleekeri and Squalidus argentatus had no relationship with water discharge. In order to protect the spawning grounds and meet environmental requirements for natural reproduction of pelagophils fish, we propose ecological regulation of the cascade hydro-power projects in the Jinsha River and maintenance of large free-flowing stretches upstream of TGR. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

ASSESSING THE ECOLOGICAL HEALTH STATUS OF THE THREE GORGE RESERVOIR北大核心CSCD

Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) is the key project for the governance and development of the Yangtze River. TGR is an important region for the ecological and environmental protection in the Yangtze River economic belt. The hydrology and water environment have taken fundamental changes since the impoundment of TGR with some negative ecological and environmental problems. To address whether the aquatic ecosystem of TGR is healthy or not, the phytoplankton community index (PhyCoI) was used to assess the ecosystem health of TGR. Field survey was carried out on April 2015 in the whole region of TGR, including 23 tributary bays and 18 sections in the main channel of TGR with 173 sampling sites. A total of 61 phytoplankton taxa were identified, belonging to Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, Bacillariophyta, Cryptophyta, Pyrrophyta, Euglenophyta, and Chrysophyta. Based on the scores of PhyCoI, the overall health status of TGR is good, with 68% sites in the status of very healthy (4≤PhyCoI<5) or healthy (3≤PhyCoI<4), 26% sites in sub-healthy (2≤PhyCoI<3), and 6% sites in general sick condition (1≤PhyCoI<2). Specifically, 96% sites in the main channel of TGR are healthy, and other 4% sites are in the status of sub-healthy. In the tributary bays, the ratios for the status of very healthy, healthy, sub-healthy, and general sick are 2%, 53%, 35%, and 9%, respectively. From the view of spatial distribution, overall health status of the main channel of TGR is good, and the health status of the main channel in Hubei Province is better than that in the Chongqing Province. In addition, the health status of sites in the Xiangxi Bay, Meixi Bay, and Xiaojiang Bay were highly variable. And in general, the health status of the bays near the dam of TGR is better than the bays far away from the dam. These results provide science and technology support for ecological and environmental protection of TGR. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN REPRODUCTION ACTIVITIES OF FISHES WITH DRIFTING EGGS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS IN THE CHISHUI RIVER北大核心CSCD

The Chishui River is the only undammed first-order tributary of the upper Yangtze River Basin. It is an important part of the “National Nature Reserve for Rare and Endemic Fishes of the Upper Yangtze River”, which plays important roles in fish conservation. To determine main environmental factors that affect the breeding activities of fishes with drifting eggs in this river, investigations on fish resources of early life stages were carried out in Chishui Reach from March to July in 2015 and April to August in 2016. A total of 27 species of fish early resources, belonging to 3 orders, 7 families and 22 genera, were collected during the investigation period. Nine of these species Pseudolaubuca engraulis, Squalidus argentatus, Gobiobotia filifer, Botia superciliaris, Parabotia fasciata, Parabotia bimaculata, Leptobotia elongate, Leptobotia taeniops and Lepturichthys fimbriata laid drifting eggs in the running water. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) revealed various breeding environmental requirements for these species. Specially, B. superciliari, P. fasciata, P. bimaculata, L. elongate, L. taeniops and L. fimbriata tended to lay eggs when the water discharge was increasing, while P. engraulis and S. argentatus showed an opposite trend. Additionally, G. filifer preformed differently between 2015 and 2016. In the low flow year, their reproductive activities were positively associated with the water discharge. However, in the high flow year, no significant relation between the reproduction activities and water discharge was observed. These results strengthen our understanding of reproductive behavior of different fish species and provide valuable insights into fish conservation. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

MANAGEMENT,CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH OF INTERNATIONALLY SHARED WATERCOURSES IN SOUTIIERN AFRICA—NAMIBIAN EXPERIENCE WITH THE OKAVANGO RIVER AND RIVERS OF THE EASTERN CAPRIVI

Summary

Although the emphasis of the recent National Rivers Research Initiative (now the Research Programme for the Management of Rivers) in South Africa was on river research in that country, the reality is that in southern Africa many watercourses are shared by more than one country. Therefore a central issue in integrated river basin management and development should be the recognition of the principle of international joint planning, conservation, monitoring and research.

Co-operation and a better understanding of shared waters would prevent deleterious impacts, not only in the country where they occur, but also in those downstream. With this in mind, since the early 1980s Namibia has worked on joint cross-border projects in efforts to manage and conserve her shared water bodies. These include joint river gauging exercises, biological control of Saivinia molesta in the eastern Caprivi region and, more recently, the application of a biological monitoring technique, the South African Scoring System version 4, to north-eastern perennial rivers.

The formation of the Joint Permanent Water Commission between Botswana and Namibia enabled the Departments of Water Affairs of both countries to work together on their shared rivers. The establishment of the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission between Angola, Botswana and Namibia in 1994 improved this co-operation even further. Namibia and its' counterparts are thus committed to sharing information, co-ordinating research and monitoring activities and to undertaking detailed studies to improve their knowledge of these shared systems.

Such cross-border co-operation is vital for the survival of shared river systems not only as ecological entities in their own right, but also as sources of water, power and the other resources they provide, both directly and indirectly, to the human and wildlife populations that they support.     

MACRO-PATTERNS AND PREDICTIVE MODELS OF ZOOBENTHOS ON MID-LOWER YANGTZE SHALLOW LAKES北大核心CSCD

The Yangtze floodplain is one of the most important wetlands in the world. For decades, many lakes in this region have suffered from multiple stressors, such as over-exploitation fishery resources and cultural eutrophication. To solve these problems, it is necessary to establish a quantitative lake ecosystem management platform at a regional scale. Recognizing the lack of regional scale zoobenthos models with high predictive power, we carried out 105 lake-time investigations on 46 small-to medium-sized lakes along the mid-lower Yangtze River in this study. The results showed that the density and biomass of zoobenthos of these lakes were (847±248) ind./m2 (mean±SE) and (29.41±3.97) g/m2, respectively. The density and biomass of oligochaetes, gastropods and chironomids were (403±225) ind./m2 and (1.12±0.39) g/m2, (82±20) ind./m2 and (26.38±3.99) g/m2, and (356±62) ind./m2 and (1.86±0.58) g/m2, respectively. Further analyses showed that water depth, Secchi depth, water temperature, total phosphorus, phytoplankton chlorophyll a, and submersed macrophyte biomass were the important factors affecting the standing crops of zoobenthos. A series of models were therefore established. The explanation of variations in zoobenthos density among lakes was generally better than that of biomass. The explantion percentage of simple regression models were between 18%—33% for density and 7%—18% for biomass. In the multiple regression models, the explanation percentage was 46%—49% for density and 16%—55% for biomass. Considering the large sampling size of this study, the explanation of these research models was significantly higher than that of previous studies. When comparing the percentage predictive errors (PPE), the simple models and multiple models showed similar results: PPE was 76%—171% for density and 115%—1034% for biomass in simple models, and 88%—114% for density and 141%—1015% for biomass in multiple models. Therefore, these simple regression model with relatively few variables and good predictive power are suggested in practical application. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.     

ECOLOGICAL WATER LEVEL MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR AQUATIC VEGETATION IN THE MID-LOWER YANGTZE SHALLOW LAKES北大核心CSCD

Eco-hydrological regulation of lakes have received more and more attentions in recent years, but systemic research on hydrological requirements of aquatic organisms is still limited. We systematically summarized the current status of aquatic plants and water level in the mid-lower Yangtze shallow lakes, influences of water level fluctuations on aquatic plants, and the requirement mode of water level fluctuation of aquatic plants. We also introduced a new method assessing ecological water level in shallow lakes based on aquatic plants, and provided corresponding strategies of water level regulations for lakes with different functions. © 2019, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.