Review on Ecological Response of Aquatic Plants to Balanced Harvesting

Macrophytes are the main primary producers in lake ecosystems and are the main transmitters of material and energy flows in lake ecosystems, directly influencing the structure and function of lake ecosystems. The balanced harvesting of aquatic plants is a cost-effective scientific management approach to maintain ecosystem health. The article defines “balanced harvesting” as an aquatic plant harvesting technique to optimize the structure of aquatic plant communities, maintain the normal function of the ecosystem material cycle and energy flow, and enhance the stability and resilience of the system. The ecological significance of balanced harvesting in regulating the evaporation coefficient of the subsurface, reducing the accumulation and release of endogenous nutrient loads in lakes, delaying the evolutionary process of marshification, inhibiting biological filling, increasing biodiversity and system stability, and improving the environment of water bodies under the natural laws of adapted aquatic plants is reviewed. The way, time, and method of the balanced harvesting of aquatic plants in Baiyangdian, a grass-type lake in the north, were analyzed in order to provide an important reference for wetland ecological restoration and protection, maintaining the health of the aquatic ecosystem, and making the lake environment sustainable.