Lake‐related ecosystem services facing social–ecological risks

Abstract Lakes are closely linked to human communities and offer a variety array of ecosystem services. In the context of climate change, increased human activities have disturbed the supply–demand balance of key ecosystem services in lakes, making them increasingly vulnerable to social–ecological risks. However, previous studies have not adequately explored the risks and challenges faced by lake ecosystem. The purpose of this study is to explain the current status of trade‐offs between key pairs of ecosystem services in lakes and to investigate the main social–ecological risks associated with these pairs. Our findings reveal that crop production and water purification services, freshwater provision and flood regulation services, as well as aquatic production and habitat maintenance services are the three principal pairs of ecosystem services in lake ecosystems. The exacerbation of trade‐offs among these pairs creates three major social–ecological risks in lake ecosystems, that is, eutrophication, flooding and biodiversity loss. In order to address these challenges and achieve sustainability in lake basins, a systematic framework for managing social–ecological risks must be established. This framework should adopt an approach of ‘all element—integrated process—whole basin’ to social–ecological risk management, focusing on ecological restoration, landscape optimization and ecological compensation to mitigate the trade‐offs between key pairs of ecosystem services. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.