Lake ecosystems are vital for sustaining regional ecological security and delivering diverse ecosystem services. However, traditional frameworks often overlook emerging contaminant risks and fail to explicitly link ecological integrity with ecosystem service outcomes. To address this gap, we developed and applied an integrated diagnostic framework that incorporates polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ( PAHs ) as a representative emerging stressor into a multi-dimensional integrity-based evaluation, explicitly connecting integrity status to service. It encompasses five core dimensions: organism integrity, habitat integrity, material process integrity (including PAHs risk evaluated via the RQ method), hydrological integrity, and ecosystem services. Application of this framework to Dongping Lake: a critical hydraulic node in China's Yellow River Basin, revealed an overall “Healthy” status but with significant spatial heterogeneity and functional degradation. The Northern zone exhibited the poorest ecological performance, primarily attributable to intensive hydrological regulation and elevated PAHs risk, The Central zone showed the best ecological performance, and The Southern zone maintained an intermediate status. Notably, material process integrity was constrained by a “Moderate Risk” level from PAHs , a threat that conventional assessments would likely mask. Network analysis identified four key management leverage points: macrophyte coverage, shoreline development index, dissolved oxygen, and public satisfaction, and quantified a trade-off between water supply provision and ecological integrity. This study provides a transferable and systematic approach for integrating emerging contaminant risks into lake health assessments, offering actionable insights for adaptive management in rapidly developing regions. • Constructed a diagnostic pathway linking PAHs risk, ecosystem integrity, and services for lake health. • Demonstrated that excluding PAHs overestimates ecological health by 3.4%–3.7%. • Network analysis identified four key leverage points for targeted management interventions. • Revealed significant spatial heterogeneity in ecological health across lake zones. • Provided a transferable framework for lake ecosystems in rapidly developing regions.
Liu et al. (Sun,) studied this question.