Changes in China's lakes: climate and human impacts.

ABSTRACT: Lakes have played a critical role in providing water and ecosystem services for people and other organisms in China for millennia. However, accelerating climate change and economic boom have resulted in unprecedented changes in these valuable lakes. Using Landsat images covering the entity of the country, we explored the changes in China's lakes and the associated driving forces over the last 30 years (i.e. mid-1980s to 2015). We discovered that China's lakes have changed with divergent regional trends: in the sparsely populated Tibetan Plateau, lakes are abundant and the lake area has increased dramatically from 38 596 to 46 831 km² (i.e. increased by 8235 km², or 21.3%), whereas, in the densely populated northern and eastern regions, lakes are relatively scarce and

SUBMITTER: Tao S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8288840 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature