Reconstruction of Ecological Transitions in a Temperate Shallow Lake of the Middle Yangtze River Basin in the Last Century

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

"Reconstruction of Ecological Transitions in a Temperate Shallow Lake of the Middle Yangtze River Basin in the Last Century" is a very neat and clearly written article, and commend the authors for its succinct writing and presentation.

1) However, my main query is that if I was a water manager tasked with developing a mitigation strategy for Taibai Lake, I would find that the conceptual part of this study masks the usefulness of its results.  I wasn't convinced by the "Policy implications" and "Conclusions" enough, would it be worth stating more clearly management recommendations?

2) I also found the feedback loops difficult to follow. I appreciate the authors attempts to test conceptual theory but again, I am not entirely convinced why the authors approached this data in quite separate analyses (breakpoint, linear regression, conceptual?) and not in a more holistic way?

3) I am very confused as to why the authors used linear regression to test state-driver response? Has this been done elsewhere in other shallow lake studies? Why would single drivers elucidate a linear response, when we already know multiple drivers are at play and often elucidate non-linear responses? 

4) Line 39 - engineered lakes only provide these services?

5) Line 101 - don't need a capital C for century

6) Fig 7. Need to label Phase 1 to Phase 3 in Figure, as confusing at first as to what these feedback systems are showing.

7) Just wondering why diatoms are used in the breakpoint analysis and not macrophytes for example, often used as a proxy for regime change in shallow lakes (i.e. macrophyte to plankton states)? I know the authors detail they used diatoms due to their ecology and occupation of different biotopes but this doesn't explain why they are important in assessing ecosystem-wide state change -  perhaps some reflection on the importance of choosing the "ideal" proxy when looking at regime changes would help here?

Author Response

Please see the attachment. 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper highlights a very important problem of reconstruction of regime shifts in shallow lakes. The distinct parts of the manuscript are prepared correctly, and the paper as a whole constitutes a very interesting and important searching document. In my opinion the manuscript is written very well and I recommend it to publish without any corrections.

Author Response

Thanks for the recommendation. 

Reviewer 3 Report

The presented article contains interesting data on the paleolimnology of Taibai Lake. The work was carried out at a high scientific and methodological level. The article is interesting to read. However, after reading it, a question arises. What is the purpose of the study? The tasks set are aimed at solving an exclusively local, very small problem that does not reflect modern trends in limnology. It would be very helpful if the authors expanded on the findings and could consider how their data could be used in lake paleomonitoring. As presented, the article is of limited regional interest.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx