Regulation of Vegetation and Evapotranspiration by Water Level Fluctuation in Shallow Lakes

Water level fluctuations play a critical role in regulating vegetation distribution, composition, cover and richness, which ultimately affect evapotranspiration. In this study, we first explore water level fluctuations and associated impacts on vegetation, after which we assess evapotranspiration (<i>ET</i>) under different water levels. The normalized difference vegetation index (<i>NDVI</i>) was used to estimate the fractional vegetation cover (<i>F_v</i>), while topography- and vegetation-based surface-energy partitioning algorithms (TVET model) and potential evaporation (<i>E_v</i>) were used to calculate <i>ET</i> and water evaporation (<i>E_p</i>). Results show that: (<i>1</i>) water levels were dramatically affected by the combined effect of ecological water transfer and climate change and exhibited significant decreasing trends with a slope of −0.011 m a⁻²; and (<i>2</i>) as predicted, there was a correlation between water level fluctuation at an annual scale with <i>Phragmites australis</i> (<i>P. australis</i>) cover and open-water area. Water levels also had a controlling effect on <i>F_v</i> values, an increase in annual water levels first increasing and then decreasing <i>F_v</i>. However, a negative correlation was found between <i>F_v</i> values and water levels during initial plant growth stages. (iii) <i>ET</i>, which varied under different water levels at an annual scale, showed different partition into transpiration from <i>P. australis</i> and evaporation from open-water area and soil with alterations between vegetation and open water. All findings indicated that water level fluctuations controlled biological and ecological processes, and their structural and functional characteristics. This study consequently recommends that specifically-focused ecological water regulations (e.g., duration, timing, frequency) should be enacted to maintain the integrity of wetland ecosystems for wetland restoration.