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Article

Centennial Lake Environmental Evolution Reflected by Diatoms in Yilong Lake, Yunnan Province, China

by
Yue Huang
1,*,
Ruiwen Ma
1,
Hongbo Shi
1,
Jie Li
2 and
Shuyu Tu
1
1
School of Earth Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
2
Yunnan Key Laboratory of Pollution Process and Management of Plateau Lake-Watershed, Yunnan Research Academy of Eco-Environmental Sciences, Kunming 650034, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(9), 5288; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13095288
Submission received: 13 March 2023 / Revised: 17 April 2023 / Accepted: 20 April 2023 / Published: 23 April 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lake Processes under Climate Change and Human Activities)
Browse Figures
Review Reports Versions Notes

Abstract

:
The 64 cm sediment diatoms, representing a timescale from 1938 to 2020 A.D., were analyzed to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Yilong Lake in Yunnan Province, China. Some main diatoms with important environmental indicating significance were selected through Principal Component Analysis (PCA). In addition, their ecological affinities indicated that the PCA sample scores 1 and 2, which were the main factors affecting the environmental change of Yilong Lake, corresponded to pH value and eutrophication, respectively. According to the pH value and the eutrophication data obtained from the PCA, the lake had successively gone through six major stages. Though high pH value and eutrophication had been the main characteristics for a long time, the quality of Yilong Lake was gradually improved through planned treatment in the last decades. The drying up of the lake under natural conditions resulted in an increase in pH values and high eutrophication. Meanwhile, the impact of human activities played a more important role in lake evolution: unreasonable human development in lake basins led to abnormal changes in pH values and eutrophication, and planned and targeted treatment could restore the natural state of the lake.

1. Introduction

Lakes are important freshwater resources on the Earth’s surface, with various functions such as regulating river runoff, improving the ecological environment, providing drinking water sources, and breeding aquatic organisms. They play an important role in maintaining regional ecological and environmental security and achieving sustainable human development [1]. However, under the influence of natural changes and human activities, the ecosystem of lakes has undergone changes in the area, shape, water quality, etc., resulting in a series of problems such as lake drying up [2,3], water quality deterioration [4,5], and ecological degradation [6,7]. The main factors affecting the lakes include rainfall and evaporation [8], acid deposition and climate change [9], human activities during historical periods [10,11], as well as the intensity of development and extreme climate events [12,13,14].
Usually, the evolution of the lakes is extremely slow and takes thousands of years. However, it can be accelerated under the influence of human activities [15,16], which leads to numbers of environmental problems. Among them, lake eutrophication is a major water environment problem that many countries are facing [17,18,19], especially China [20]. A large number of solutions have been adopted for the restoration and treatment of lake eutrophication, such as planting aquatic plants to absorb nutrients in water [21,22], using sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) to inhibit or reduce nitrogen and phosphorus [23,24,25,26], and introducing microorganisms to purify water [27,28], etc. However, it is not only an ecological issue but also a reflection of social issues. Therefore, social management strategies need to be carried out simultaneously, such as strengthening government management [29], planning human resources [30], improving lake management, guiding citizens to participate in lake protection, and promoting social innovation [31], etc. Until then, understanding the evolution process and the driving mechanism is a great foundation for the restoration and management of the lakes, which leads to more scientific and targeted solutions to eutrophicated lakes.
The Yilong Lake is a natural freshwater lake that belongs to the Pearl River water system. In addition, it is one of the nine plateau lakes in Yunnan Province that is located at 102°29′–102°37′ E and 23°38′–23°42′ N, 3 km southeast of Shiping County of Yunnan Province [32]. With an elevation of 1414 m, the lake is located on the plateau of southern China. It is a rift lake in an east-west strip shape. The shoreline is 62.9 km, and the drainage area is 360.4 km2. The maximum water storage is 1.05 × 108 m3, with a maximum water depth of 6.55 m and an average water depth of about 2.75 m [32]. In total, 20 rivers are entering the lake, and most of them are seasonal. Yilong Lake belongs to the subtropical plateau monsoon climate, and the rainy season is mainly concentrated from May to October [32]. The average annual water temperature is 18.0 °C; the precipitation is 919.9 mm, and the evaporation is 1034.5 mm [32]. The water is mainly supplied by precipitation. Yilong Lake is a heavily eutrophic lake [33], with serious pollution in the basin. Urban and rural domestic sewage, industrial and agricultural wastewater, rainfall scouring, and surface runoff are the main pollution sources [34].
Diatom is a kind of unicellular algae with a siliceous shell outside. Its habitat is extensive and can be found almost everywhere where water is retained [34]. The siliceous shell can be preserved in the sediment for a long time after the diatom is died [35]. Therefore, sediment diatoms can accurately record the past’s environmental information, making it possible to study environmental changes.
Because diatoms are sensitive to changes in the pH value, once it changes, the metabolism of diatoms will be abnormal, leading to changes in the species and quantity of diatoms in the water [36]. Meanwhile, the concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus and the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus in the water also have a significant impact on the species and the number of diatoms. Excessive nitrogen or phosphorus is not conducive to the growth of algae [37,38]. Therefore, the change in lake water quality can be revealed according to the change of diatom assemblage in sediments.
Lake sediment diatom analysis is a worldwide method [39] to reveal the environmental evolution of lakes through the reconstruction of climate [40,41], hydrology [42], water quality [43,44], etc. It is also carried out to reconstruct the environments of lakes in China [45,46,47]. There are abundant diatoms preserved in the sediments of Yilong Lake, and it is a suitable place to study the evolution of the lake ecosystems in response to environmental changes and human activities. However, there have been few works on the evolution of Yilong Lake, especially by using sediment diatoms, which can clarify the reasons for the changes in water quality.
Using sediment diatoms to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Yilong Lake can not only make up for the lack of research on the small-scale lake but also provide scientific reference for the management of Yilong Lake. Therefore, this paper focused on (1) changes in diatom assemblages during the last century, (2) correlations between the diatom record and lake environmental proxies, and (3) the interpretation of natural and human impact on the evolution of Yilong Lake.

2. Materials and Methods

Columnar sedimentary diatoms were selected to reflect the past changes in Yilong Lake, and the semi-quantitatively evolutionary history was reconstructed by diatom assemblage using a proper multivariate analysis method. On the basis of diatom identification, the 210Pb dating was also conducted, and an appropriate multivariate analysis method was selected to calculate and analyze the relationship between different diatom species. Then a semi-quantitative reconstruction of the lake environment was obtained by considering the ecological affinity of diatoms and judging the factors that influence the diatoms. Finally, the lake evolution could be discussed by comparing the semi-quantitative reconstruction result and the measured water quality data.

2.1. Sampling

Sediment diatom samples were extracted from a gravity core site (23°41′ N, 102°30′ E) (Figure 1), which was drilled from the northwest of Yilong Lake, about 3 km away from Shiping County, with a water depth of 3.2 m in May 2020. A total of 64 continuous sediment samples covering a time interval of 82 years were analyzed for diatom contents. Each sample represented a 1 cm thick slice of sediment.

2.2. Diatom Analysis

The diatom samples were prepared by a qualitative sample preparation method [48]. All samples were treated with 10% HCl to remove the calcareous matter and with 30% H2O2 to destroy the organic material. An aliquot of the shaken suspension was placed on a cover slip and mixed with a pipette to settle diatoms evenly on the cover slip. After the material had completely dried, coverslips were transferred onto permanently labeled slides, mounted with Naphrax (dn = 1.73), and heated to 250 °C.
A Leica microscope with phase contrast and a magnification of ×1000 was used for the diatom identification. Diatoms were counted under oil immersion in random transects for each sample. Relative abundance, calculated as a percentage of the total diatom assemblage, was measured based on counting more than 300 diatom valves manually and identified at the species or genus level according to relevant references [49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61].

2.3. Age Model

210Pb ages of the core site were carried out in the laboratory at the Faculty of Geography at Yunnan Normal University in Kunming, China. Due to the complete drying up of Yilong Lake in 1981 and 2009, which changed the conventional sedimentation mode, the Constant Initial Concentration (CIC) model was selected for calculation under significant hydrological changes [62,63]. The average sedimentation rate was 0.77 cm/a, and 64 cm of sediment represented the time from 1938 to 2020 (Figure 2).

2.4. Determination of Water Quality

Three water quality indicators, total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and chlorophyll a (Chla), were measured monthly between 1993 and 2020 at the Yunnan Key Laboratory of Pollution Process and Management of Plateau Lake-Watershed, Yunnan Research Academy of Eco-environmental Sciences, Kunming. They were strictly carried out in accordance with the national environmental protection standards of China: a spectrophotometer method for Chla (HJ 897-2017) [64], an alkaline potassium persulfate digestion UV spectrophotometric method for TN (HJ 636-2012) [65], and an ammonium molybdate spectrophotometric method for TP (GB 11893-89) [66]. The average contents of 12 months were calculated for each year.

2.5. Data Analysis

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was selected to analyze the results of diatom identification. This multivariate analysis method uses a linear transformation to explore the structure of multivariate variables [67]. The main influencing factors can be found in many related variables [68]. The environmental impact factors, represented by each axis on the PCA ordination graph, were determined based on the position of diatom species on the same graph and their ecological affinities. Then the scores on each axis of all the samples from different depths could be calculated, which represented the changes in environmental impact factors.

3. Results

3.1. Diatom Zones

A total of 28 species of diatoms in 19 genera were identified in Yilong Lake, of which Achnanthes exigua, Aulacoscira islandica, Cymbella cymbiformis, Epithemia sorex, Fragilaria construens, F. construens var. venter, F. inflata, Gomphonema gracilis, Navicula menisculus, N. viridula, and Nitzschia denticula were abundant (Figure 3). The diatom assemblage was dominated by freshwater species and alkaline species. Eutrophic species were concentrated in some layers. The number of main diatoms changed significantly (Figure 4). Six diatom assemblage zones were distinguished with cluster analysis (cf. Grimm [69]) in the core site of Yilong Lake. The layers of 1981 and 2009–2013 were diatom-absent zones with no diatom found or only a few diatom fragments existed. The original data of diatoms are shown in Supplementary Materials Table S1.

3.1.1. Zone I (1938–1948 A.D.)

C. cymbiformis and E. sorex reached the highest abundance in this zone, while other main diatoms were rarely found.

3.1.2. Zone II (1948–1962 A.D.)

With the decrease in C. cymbiformis and E. sorex, A. exigua, G. gracilis, and N. menisculus appeared. The abundance of N. viridula reached large numbers. Meanwhile, F. construens, F. construens var. venter, and F. inflata were still scarce in this zone.

3.1.3. Zone III (1962–1980 A.D.)

F. construens and F. construens var. venter began to appear, which was characteristic of diatoms assemblage in this zone. The abundance of A. islandica attained its peak, while N. menisculus and N. viridula decreased instead.

3.1.4. Zone IV (1980–1995 A.D.)

A huge change in diatom assemblage was found in this zone. The abundances of F. construens and F. construens var. venter rapidly increased and became the main dominant species. Meanwhile, A. islandica, C. cymbiformis, E. sorex, and G. gracilis disappeared. Yilong Lake dried up in 1981 A.D., which might be the reason for the diatom’s absence.

3.1.5. Zone V (1995–2008 A.D.)

This zone was characterized by the highest abundance of F. construens var. venter. F. construens was in relevantly high abundance. Comparatively, N. menisculus and N. viridula decreased rapidly, and C. cymbiformis and E. sorex were still missing.

3.1.6. Zone VI (2008–2020 A.D.)

F. construens, F. construens var. venter, and F. inflata still were the most abundant diatom species in this zone. The numbers of other main diatom species were moderate except for N. menisculus. There was also an absence layer at the bottom of this zone which represented the drying up of the lake during 2009–2013.

3.2. PCA Results and Ecological Affinity of Diatoms

A PCA method was performed on diatom data of Yilong Lake using C2 [70], excluding four samples (7–9 cm; 31 cm) in which diatom could not be found (Figure 5).
The eigenvalues of axis 1 and 2 were 0.21 and 0.10, respectively, which explained 31% of the total. The relationships between each diatom species and each axis are as follows: (1) Each diatom species can be represented by the corresponding vector with the arrow direction pointing to its extreme. (2) The angles between vectors represent the correlation of diatom species. The smaller the angle is, the more positive the correlation is. On the contrary, the greater the angle is, the more negative the correlation is. In addition, there is no correlation between two diatom species if the angle is 90°. (3) Meanwhile, the correlations between the vectors and axis are the same as above.
According to the ordination results of PCA (Figure 5), the diatoms in the positive direction of axis 1 mainly include E. sorex and G. gracilis. Except for the Antarctic region, E. sorex is distributed in all continents and the Arctic region and is a typical worldwide species [53] and is also reported all over China [61]. It mainly lives in a freshwater environment with extremely weak running water and can survive in pH values ranging from 4.7 to 9 [53] and occurs in an acidic, neutral environment with a pH value equal to 6 in China [71]. G. gracilis is also a widely distributed species in the world, which is common in streams, waterfalls, and rivers, except in the South and North Poles [53]. It is also found in China within the pH value range of 4.78–8.04 [72] and is regarded as a typical neutral pH species [73]. Therefore, these two diatoms found in Yilong Lake can be classified as acidic to neutral species.
The diatoms in the negative direction of axis 1 are mainly F. construens and F. construens var. venter, which occur in rivers, lakes, wetlands, and oceans and prefer to live in a neutral–alkaline freshwater environment [53]. Simultaneously, A. exigua, N. menisculus, N. viridula, F. inflata, and N. denticula occur around them as well, and they all live in an environment of a pH value greater than 7 [53]. A. exigua is a worldwide diatom that prefers alkaline waters [74]. It is reported in lakes, rivers, springs, and hot springs all over the world [75]. F. inflata can survive in water with a pH value of 7.4–9.0 [53] and is distributed widely in China [61]. N. menisculus is a freshwater species that prefers alkaline environments [76,77]. N. viridula is a cosmopolitan diatom and occurs in rivers, lakes, wetlands, estuaries, and oceans; they are especially abundant in low-gradient streams and rivers with tolerance to high pH value waters [78]. N. denticula is widely distributed in China. It grows in flowing water environments and is common in swamps, lakes, rivers, and other environments [79]. Its habitat is closely related to alkaline freshwater [79].
Therefore, it can be considered that the environmental variable represented by axis 1 should be the pH value of the water, with the positive direction representing the acidic environment and the negative direction representing the alkaline environment.
Similarly, the diatoms in the positive direction of axis 2 mainly include A. islandica, E. sorex, and C. cymbiformis. A. islandica is commonly found in oligotrophic to mesotrophic waters with high latitudes or altitudes [80,81], including boreal lakes, such as Winnipeg Lake and Forest Lake in North America [82]. E. sorex is a benthic species and likes to live in clean waters with low nitrogen [83]. C. cymbiformis is widely distributed in the arctic and temperate zones, mainly in oligotrophic lakes and streams [84].
F. construens and F. construens var. venter, occurring in mesotrophic and eutrophic lakes [61], are distributed near the original point of axis 2, which may often indicate clean waters [85,86,87].
A. exigua, N. menisculus, and N. viridula are distributed in the negative position of axis 2. In terms of ecological affinity, A. exigua is more common in eutrophic polluted waters [88], and N. menisculus is commonly found in freshwaters such as swamps, lakes, and rivers and endures organic pollution with high tolerance to inorganic eutrophication [89], while N. viridula exists in waters with high nitrogen and phosphorus [78] and occurs in eutrophic rivers in China [90]. They all prefer to live in waters with high eutrophication.
Therefore, the environmental variable represented by axis 2 should be water eutrophication, with the positive direction representing the oligotrophic water environment and the negative direction representing the eutrophic water environment.

4. Evolution in pH Value and Eutrophication in Yilong Lake

Axis 1 and 2 of the PCA ordination, which are the most important factors, represent pH value and eutrophication, respectively. Each sample in depth was given a sample score on both axis 1 and 2 after being calculated by PCA. Then all the sample scores on axis 1 and 2 could be obtained. Since axis 1 represents pH value, so sample score 1 should be the semi-quantitive data of it. The same with eutrophication. Therefore, the pH value (Figure 6a) and eutrophication (Figure 6b) reflected by the diatom assemblage of Yilong Lake could be obtained between 1938 and 2020. Comparing with the measured data of TN (Figure 6c), TP (Figure 6d), and Chla (Figure 6e) between 1993 and 2020, we could infer the evolution of water quality in Yilong Lake from 1938 to 2020. Six stages were divided by changes in pH value and eutrophication as follows.
It should be noted that there were two diatom-absent zones that occurred at 31 cm and 7–9 cm. Nevertheless, there are many reasons for the absence of diatoms, such as the lake drying up or a large amount of water pulse. For example, a small amount of water entering the lake increased the pH value of the water body, which led to the excessive dissolution of diatom shells. On the other hand, it may also be due to a large amount of water entering the lake, which made the sedimentation rate too high. For Yilong Lake, there have been two times of complete drying up in the past century. The first was on 28 April 1981, which lasted more than 20 days. The second was from 2009 to 2013, a dramatic 4-consecutive-year drought that completely dried up Yilong Lake. They could correspond to the diatom zones of 31 cm and 7–9 cm, respectively.

4.1. 1938–1948 A.D.

The diatom assemblage was characterized by acidic–neutral and oligotrophic–mesotrophic species, which represented a low pH value and low degree of eutrophication. Carbonatites are widely distributed in the Yilong Lake basin [91], which reduces the pH value of the water. A large amount of peat at the bottom of the lake also proved that the pH value of the lake was low in history. As a characteristic local industry, tofu products have a history of 600 to 700 years. The water used for making tofu is mainly composed of gypsum and magnesium chloride. It is acidic when dissolved in water, which also confirms the low pH value. In 1944, the total population of Shiping County was less than 100,000, and the industry was still underdeveloped. Hence, the lake was less affected by human activities. Fertilizers used for farming were also mainly traditional organic such as plant ash and human and animal dung [33], which had little impact on the lake. In addition, it also made the water low in nutrients.

4.2. 1948–1962 A.D.

At this stage, the pH value rose slightly, while the number of some eutrophic species started to increase. It presented a low pH value and high eutrophication. In 1949, the total population of Shiping County was nearly 15,000 [33]. Agricultural, especially increasing lakeside farmland, led to the growth of nutrient elements entering the lake [92]. Since 1950, forest resource has begun to be developed in large amounts. The average annual cutting volume was 34,389 m3 from 1950 to 1960. Especially in 1958, the forests used to conserve water on the north bank of Yilong Lake were completely cut down. In addition, irrigation of farmland has led to serious water and soil loss, and the spring flowing into the lake has been cut off, resulting in a sharp drop in the water level, with only 7.8 × 106 m3 of water remaining [33], less than 1% of the normal year. In 1959, the lake was significantly oligotrophic, which was caused by the flood originating from the average annual rainfall of 1089.4 mm [33]. It effectively alleviated lake eutrophication.

4.3. 1962–1980 A.D.

During this period, the pH value decreased and stayed relatively acidic. Meanwhile, the water improved and remained in relatively low eutrophication. However, at the end of this stage, a tendency to rise was found both in the pH value and the eutrophication. The number of alkaline species decreased significantly and remained at a low level until 1980. On the one hand, the forest, which purified the lake in Shiping County, had increased from 0.53 km2 to 8.53 km2 through logging and regeneration from 1962 to 1980 [33]. On the other hand, since 1971, the area and volume of the lake have been reduced due to water pumping for power generation and reclaiming the lake for farmland, which not only reduced the environmental capacity of the lake but also weakened the purification capacity of the lakeside zone for pollutants carried by the runoff into the lake [93]. The lakeside cultivated land increased by 24.53 km2 by 1980 [33], which made the pH value and eutrophication fluctuate greatly. Furthermore, the drought greatly reduced the water level and made the lake rich in nutrients since 1979 [33]. During this time, most of the alkaline and eutrophic diatoms, such as A. exigua, N. menisculus, and N. viridula reached their peak. The greatly eutrophic water made aquatic organisms grow rapidly and in large numbers, consuming carbon dioxide in the water with photosynthesis and damaging the hydrolysis balance of carbonate in the water body, which led to the increased alkalinity of the water [94].

4.4. 1980–1995 A.D.

The Yilong Lake dried up on 28 April 1981, which lasted more than 20 days. After rewatering, the water was generally in a high pH value and eutrophication state. The acidic species almost disappeared at this stage; the number of F. construens increased rapidly, and oligotrophic–mesotrophic species were gradually replaced by mesotrophic–eutrophic species. Since 1982, embankments and bays were flourished through fish farming. By the end of 1985, the embankments had been 6.65 km2 [95], accounting for 15.25% of the lake’s surface, which not only occupied the lake surface but also destroyed the space for biological reproduction and the environment for biological purification. In 1989, the total output of the tofu products in Shiping County reached 3.6 × 103 t, and sugar 5.6 × 103 t [33], which discharged 8 times wastewater that contained 1.059 × 104 mg·L−1 of COD on average [96]. In other words, 880.60 mg/L in the sugar wastewater [96]. In 1990, there were 235 manufactories of tofu products, most of which were small and around the lake area, and they discharged 6.4 × 105 t of organic wastewater to Yilong Lake every year, including 7.5 × 102 t of COD, 3.0 × 102 t of suspended solids, and 3.22 t of NH3-N [95]. With the increase in organic content in the lake, the diatom N. menisculus maintained a high number. In 1992, cage fish farming developed more than 4000 cages, covering more than 0.11 km2 of the lake surface [95]. The aquatic plants in the lake were completely consumed. In addition, a large amount of feed was put into the lake to continue fish farming, which brought 341.00 t of nitrogen and 40.70 t of phosphorus into the lake every year [97].
Comparing the water monitoring data of Yilong Lake measured from 1993 to 2002, the changes in TN, TP, and Chla (Figure 6c–e) were fitted with the nutrition degree (Figure 6b), which indicated that the nutrition changes were caused by the above three indexes. N. viridula is a diatom that is tolerant of high nitrogen and phosphorus, which is synchronized with the changes in nitrogen and phosphorus in water from 1993 to 1995. In 1995, the water quality of Yilong Lake decreased to severe eutrophication, and the lake surface had ecological problems such as swamping. The number of benthic species F. construens began to decrease due to its sensitivity to light conditions.

4.5. 1995–2008 A.D.

At this stage, the lake was generally in a high pH value and medium trophic state, of which neutral–alkaline species were dominant. It could be judged from the presence of alkaline diatom N. denticula, and the pH value was lower than 9.7. From 1995 to 1997, cage fish farming was gradually banned, which decreased the Chla, TN, and TP. By February 1998, cage fish farming was completely banned, and the contents of Chla, TN, and TP decreased to 20.56 mg·m−3, 2.01 mg·L−1, and 0.05 mg·L−1, respectively, reaching the lowest level since 1985.
In 2001, 32.67 km2 of farmland was treated by the “rural non-point source pollution control project”, which was carried out by the local government. During the year, nearly 2.0 × 106 t of wastewater was discharged into Yilong Lake, and the emissions, including about 150 t of TN, 2.7 t of TP, 348 t of COD, 327 t of BOD, and 1.3 × 103 t of suspended solids [33], were reduced to less than half of which in the 1990s. On 1 April 2002, the first sewage treatment plant, with a daily treatment capacity of 1.0 × 105 t of wastewater, was put into operation. So far, domestic sewage and major industrial wastewater have been treated and discharged into Yilong Lake [97]. Therefore, the eutrophication of the lake was significantly alleviated. The oligotrophic–mesotrophic species such as A. islandica and C. cymbiformis, which are sensitive to the change in lake eutrophication, appeared. In addition, the number of F. construens, a typical eutrophic species, showed a low amount.
In 2003, 8.47 km2 of the area was carried out for artificial afforestation, 15 km2 of hillsides was closed for afforestation, 3.20 km2 of farmland was returned to forestry, and a total of 25.77 km2 of the area was treated for water and soil loss [33]. In 2004, 5.0 × 105 m3 of sediment was dredged out of Yilong Lake, which reduced the nutrient load of sediment released into the water. In total, 15 t of garbage was salvaged, and 9.4 × 105 m3 of clean water was transferred from the outer basin [98]. Such a series of control measures had a significant impact on the benthic species F. construens, which increased sharply under sufficient photosynthesis. In December 2006, 11.112 km of rainwater and sewage pipes were laid in Shiping County. In January 2007, the Yilong Lake Chenghe Wetland, with an area of 0.0427 km2, was put into operation, supplying an average daily treatment capacity of 6.0 × 103 m3 of polluted water [33]. By the end of 2009, a total of 2.5957 km2 of fish ponds returned to the lake [99].

4.6. 2008–2020 A.D.

High pH value and low nutrition were characteristics of this stage. During the consecutive drought from 2009 to 2013, the water level of Yilong Lake dropped sharply until the lake completely dried up. In the opportunity, 2.328 × 106 m3 of sediment and about 2.4 × 104 t of organic content, 495 t of TN, and 686 t of TP [33] were taken out of the lake basin. When the lake was rewatered, the eutrophication was lower than that before, and the number of oligotrophic–mesotrophic species increased. However, within the recovery of water, the fish and plants were regenerated, the eutrophication rose again, and the oligotrophic–mesotrophic species such as E. sorex and C. cymbiformis relatively disappeared rapidly.
After 2016, F. construens, F. construens var. venter, and F. inflata were abundant, which indicated an alkaline lake environment. In addition, the TN and TP in the lake showed a significant decrease from 2016 to 2018. The existing 800 m3·d−1 sewage treatment plants were reconstructed and expanded to reach 1 200 m3·d−1 in 2016, which reduced the NH3-N by 36–96% [99]. In 2017, trees and aquatic plants were planted on both sides of the Cheng River instead of the fishponds and farmland. Nearly 100 million yuan was invested in renovating the rivers into Yilong Lake and in building wetlands. In 2018, the fishponds along the lake and the river were cleared; livestock and poultry were banned, and more than 150 small manufactories of tofu products were closed. In total, 3.80 km2 of farmland was converted back to the lake, and 5.33 km2 of wetland was built; 173 km of sewage was built in Shiping County, with a sewage treatment capacity of 2.5 × 104 t·d−1. In total, 4.0 × 107 m3 of clean water was transferred to Yilong Lake, 9.0 × 107 m3 of polluted water was drained out, and the storage of the lake remained above 9.0 × 107 m3 [99].
However, the annual rainfall in the Yilong Lake basin was only 636.4 mm in 2019, less than 1/3 of the normal. Nevertheless, 20 rivers and ditches with a total length of 57.9 km were cleaned, 2.2 × 104 m3 of silt was cleared up, and 3.8 × 107 m3 of clean water was transferred into the lake [34]. Before the flood season in 2020, a total of 120 km of river channels and ditches were cleared, 16.67 km2 of shelter forest was planted, and 2 km2 of steep slope land was treated [34], which made the eutrophication decrease.

5. Conclusions

(1)
The average deposition rate of Yilong Lake was 0.77 cm/a. The pH value and eutrophication were the two main environmental factors that affected the environmental change of Yilong Lake, which was in a high pH and eutrophication state for a long time.
(2)
In Yilong Lake, the main diatom species indicated a high pH value were A. exigua, N. menisculus, N. viridula, F. inflata, and N. denticule. Meanwhile, A. exigua, N. menisculus, and N. viridula could be used for the index of eutrophication. On the contrary, A.islandica and E. sorex could be considered indicators for lower eutrophication in the lake.
(3)
According to the pH value and eutrophication curves obtained from PCA, the evolution of Yilong Lake from 1938 to 2020 could be divided into six major stages. Though high pH value and eutrophication had been the main characteristics for a long time, the quality of Yilong Lake was gradually improved through planned treatment in the last decades.
(4)
Different stages of evolution in Yilong Lake corresponded to different natural changes and human activities. Due to the influence of lithology and sedimentation, the pH value of Yilong Lake was relatively low, and there were few affections by human activities in the preliminary stage. Since 1984, eutrophication has rapidly increased due to the increasing population and accompanying human activities such as agricultural development, deforestation, and land reclamation. After 1980, the water quality of Yilong Lake continued to improve due to planned treatment such as building sewage treatment plants, restoring forests, dredging, and planting lakeside wetlands.
(5)
The sediment diatom records provided effective information on the pH value and eutrophication of Yilong Lake, reflecting the history of the lake over the past century. In addition to the changes in nature, especially the drying up of the lake caused by drought, which might lead to the high pH value and eutrophication, human activities had also played an important role in the lake environment. The irrational human development in the lake basin caused abnormal changes in pH values and eutrophication, while the planned and targeted treatment could restore the natural state of the lake. This provided a scientific basis for research on the evolution of plateau lakes such as Yilong Lake, as well as for lake governance and protection.

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/app13095288/s1, Table S1: Relative percentage of diatoms in Yilong Lake.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Y.H., H.S. and R.M.; methodology, Y.H., H.S. and R.M.; software, R.M.; validation, Y.H.; formal analysis, Y.H., H.S. and R.M.; investigation, Y.H.; resources, J.L.; data curation, J.L.; writing—original draft preparation, H.S. and S.T.; writing—review and editing, Y.H. and R.M.; visualization, R.M. and S.T.; project administration, J.L.; funding acquisition, J.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by Science and Technology Department of Yunnan Province (No. 202203AC100002), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U220220245).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. Position of the core site in Yilong Lake.
Figure 1. Position of the core site in Yilong Lake.
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Figure 2. 210Pb ages of the core site in Yilong Lake.
Figure 2. 210Pb ages of the core site in Yilong Lake.
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Figure 3. Plates of some main diatom species in Yilong Lake. 1: A. exigua, 2: A. islandica, 3: C. cymbiformis, 4: E. sorex, 5: F. construens var. Venter, 6: F. construens, 7: F. inflata, 8: G. gracilis, 9: N. menisculus, 10: N. denticula, 11: N. viridula.
Figure 3. Plates of some main diatom species in Yilong Lake. 1: A. exigua, 2: A. islandica, 3: C. cymbiformis, 4: E. sorex, 5: F. construens var. Venter, 6: F. construens, 7: F. inflata, 8: G. gracilis, 9: N. menisculus, 10: N. denticula, 11: N. viridula.
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Figure 4. Relative percentage of main diatom species in Yilong Lake.
Figure 4. Relative percentage of main diatom species in Yilong Lake.
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Figure 5. PCA ordination of diatom species in Yilong Lake.
Figure 5. PCA ordination of diatom species in Yilong Lake.
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Figure 6. pH value and eutrophication compared with TN, TP, and Chla in Yilong Lake. (a,b): pH value and eutrophication between 1938 and 2020, (c–e): TN, TP, and Chla between 1993 and 2020.
Figure 6. pH value and eutrophication compared with TN, TP, and Chla in Yilong Lake. (a,b): pH value and eutrophication between 1938 and 2020, (c–e): TN, TP, and Chla between 1993 and 2020.
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Huang, Y.; Ma, R.; Shi, H.; Li, J.; Tu, S. Centennial Lake Environmental Evolution Reflected by Diatoms in Yilong Lake, Yunnan Province, China. Appl. Sci. 2023, 13, 5288. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13095288

AMA Style

Huang Y, Ma R, Shi H, Li J, Tu S. Centennial Lake Environmental Evolution Reflected by Diatoms in Yilong Lake, Yunnan Province, China. Applied Sciences. 2023; 13(9):5288. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13095288

Chicago/Turabian Style

Huang, Yue, Ruiwen Ma, Hongbo Shi, Jie Li, and Shuyu Tu. 2023. "Centennial Lake Environmental Evolution Reflected by Diatoms in Yilong Lake, Yunnan Province, China" Applied Sciences 13, no. 9: 5288. https://doi.org/10.3390/app13095288

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