The Lhalu Wetland National Nature Reserve, the largest natural urban wetland on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, plays a critical role in maintaining regional ecological balance and biodiversity. However, the baseline biodiversity of this reserve remains unclear because of the extensive temporal span of historical records, shifts in taxonomic systems, and inconsistent survey methodologies, which impedes a robust scientific understanding of its ecological dynamics. This study systematically compiled and taxonomically verified species records from over 50 sources spanning the 1950s to the present. The records cover plants, fish, birds, and amphibians/reptiles, thereby resolving issues of synonyms, homonyms, and misidentifications. Each species record is annotated with its original survey time, allowing users to distinguish historically reported occurrences from those recorded in recent surveys. Species accumulation curves were constructed for major taxa and compared with 45-year climatic trends (1979–2023) and socioeconomic indicators for Lhasa City. A total of 438 vascular plant species (82 families, 251 genera) and 311 animal species (39 orders, 98 families), including 30 fishes, 174 birds, and 11 amphibians/reptiles, were documented. Invasive species comprised 55 alien plants and 13 alien fishes, while 4 plant and 46 animal species are under national protection. Temporal synchrony between increases in alien taxa and anthropogenic pressures (gross domestic product (GDP) and population growth, infrastructure development) suggests that human activities may be a potential driver of biodiversity change, but formal causal inference is precluded by heterogeneity in survey methods and sampling effort. This work provides a structured dataset of the biodiversity baseline of the Lhalu Wetland and offers a descriptive assessment of its temporal patterns in relation to climate and human disturbance, while explicitly acknowledging data limitations. It provides essential data and theoretical support for the scientific management and targeted conservation of plateau urban wetlands.
Zeng et al. (Wed,) studied this question.