Abstract:As the ecological heart of the Xiongan New Area, the protection of Lake Baiyangdian Wetland water environment has been a priority. Various measures have been implemented, including water transfers from upstream reservoirs, supplementation via the South-to-North Water Diversion Projects middle route, and the Yellow River Diversion to Baiyangdian, creating a new pattern of multi-source water supply. These efforts have significantly improved the overall condition of the water environment. However, due to the long-term impacts of intensive human activities and the complex and varied topography of the region, Lake Baiyangdian Wetland still faces challenges such as poor water circulation in certain areas and seasonal. Therefore, understanding the characteristics and patterns of water renewal cycle and pollutant transport is crucial for the effective management of Lake Baiyangdian Wetland water environment. This study constructed a hydrodynamic model of Lake Baiyangdian Wetland using measured data to simulate water renewal cycle and tracer transport time across different seasons. The temporal and spatial distribution differences were analyzed to reveal the characteristics and patterns of water renewal and pollutant transport in Baiyangdian Wetland. The results indicated that there were significant spatial and temporal variations in water renewal cycle. Spatially, the water renewal cycle in the northeastern and southwestern regions of Lake Baiyangdian Wetland exceed 300 days, while most areas in the central region had renewal cycles longer than 200 days. The southern and southeastern regions maintain renewal cycles between 100 and 200 days, whereas river inlets and channels exhibit renewal cycle of less than 50 days. Temporally, the areas with renewal cycles exceeding 300 days were smallest in summer and autumn, accounting for less than 3% of the total area, while areas with renewal cycles under 200 days were largest, accounting for more than 65%, indicating better overall renewal capacity in these seasons compared to winter and spring. Similarly, there were considerable spatial and temporal variations in tracer transport times. The longest tracer transport times occur at the Xiaoyi River in the southern region and the Yellow River Diversion to Baiyangdian inlet, with average times of 310 days and 275 days, respectively. In contrast, the shortest transport times were observed at the Baigou River inlet in the north and the Fu River inlet in the west, with averages of 240 days and 202 days, respectively. Temporally, tracer transport times in Lake Baiyangdian Wetland were significantly shorter in summer and autumn than in spring and winter, reflecting faster water movement and better exchange and circulation during these seasons. The findings of this study provide important scientific references for the management of Baiyangdian Wetland water environment and the restoration of its aquatic ecosystem.

Abstract:The migration and transformation of nitrogen (N) in nature is a key process to maintain the ecosystem balance. In natural water, N-transforming microorganisms in river sediments play a crucial role in the process of N conversion. In order to investigate N distribution in rivers and the sediment microorganism driving processes, this paper studied N distribution in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, and the composition and function prediction of microbial communities in sediments. Results showed that the sediment ammonium salt was high while the sediment nitrate was lower in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River at high altitude (＞3000 m), and the water nitrite was significantly higher in the 2000-3000 m altitude reaches than that in other altitude reaches. Meanwhile, the distribution of N components was affected by environmental factors such as pH, dissolved oxygen and flow velocity. The sediment bacterial communities were mainly affected by sediment-N components and dissolved organic carbon, while the archaea community was mainly affected by altitude, sediment-N composition and soil organic carbon. The similarity of potential nitrogen-transforming microbial communities showed a significant decline pattern in geographical space, and the potential N-transforming archaea communities in the high altitude reaches were significantly different. Among them, the potential nitrifying archaea were the dominant bacterial group in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, and the potential nitrifying archaea and potential dissimilating nitrate reducing archaea were significantly higher in the high altitude reaches than in the low altitude reaches. For different processes,Nitrososphaerales, Nitrososphaeraceae and Nitrososphaeraceae are the dominant microorganisms in the nitrification process, andFlavobacteriumis the main group in the N reduction process.Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1andBradyrhizobiumare the main groups in N fixation.Xanthobacter ,Paracoccus and Pseudomonasare the main groups in denitrification. This paper reveals that nitrogen distribution in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River at high altitude is mainly driven by potential sediment-N transforming archaea, these results can provide theoretical support for the ecological management strategy of the upper reaches of the Minjiang River.

Abstract:Relationship between land use and water quality varies across different river types and spatiotemporal scales. Quantitative analysis of such variations can provide scientific grounds for effective control of river water pollution. This study chose the karst river Wujiang River and the semi-karst river Jialingjiang River, to utilize the water quality monitoring data and land use data within their respective riparian buffer zones (100-500 m) and sub-watershed. Six spatial scales were considered, and redundancy analysis was employed to quantitatively explore the multi-scale impacts of land use on water quality in these different watersheds. The findings were as follows: (1) Jialing River Basin (JRB) was dominated by farmland, while forest land in the Wujiang River Basin (WRB). The aggregation and the maximum patch index of the two basins were similar. Aggregation showed no significant differences across spatial scales, and the maximum patch index decreased with the increasing spatial scale. Edge density was higher in JRB than that in WRB, and it decreases with increasing spatial scale, showing an opposite trend in WRB. The Shannon diversity index was higher in JRB, and it decreases with increasing spatial scale, while in WRB, it first increases and then decreases with spatial scale. (2) The concentration of most water quality indicators was higher in the wet season than in the dry season. Total nitrogen was a key indicator of water quality pollution in both basins, and total phosphorus was a potential nutrient pollutant. Overall, the water quality in WRB was better than that in JRB. The proportion of karst landform area and differences in land use were important reasons for the differences in water quality between the two basins. (3) Land use in JRB had the highest explanatory power for water quality variables in the dry season and at the 400 m riparian buffer zone. In WRB, land use had the highest explanatory power for water quality variables in the wet season and at the sub-watershed scale. Generally, land use in WRB contributed more to water quality changes, comparing to JRB. (4) Different land use indices had varying impacts on water quality. Construction land, edge density, farmland, and water bodies significantly impacted the JRB water quality, with water bodies exerting a positive effect. Water bodies, the Shannon diversity index, and farmland were the key indices that affected the WRB water quality, with farmland having a certain positive impact. Therefore, different types of rivers should, within the optimal spatial scale, plan the area of farmland and construction land based on the landform characteristics of the basin, increase the forest coverage rate in riparian zones, and promote ecological fertilization and ecological control technologies to enhance river water environmental safety and sustainable water resource utilization.

Abstract:In the context of a warming climate, there is increasing evidence that lake ecosystems in remote alpine areas far from human activities have undergone significant changes. However, the complex interplay of climatic, non-climatic factors, and watershed processes complicates the understanding of lake ecosystem responses to global changes in alpine areas. In this study, we chose Lake Julong, an alpine lake in Weixi, Yunnan Province, as the research site, and analyzed the history of lake basin ecosystem changes over the past two centuries using grain size, magnetic susceptibility, elements, and diatoms in the sedimentary record, in conjunction with climatic records and remote sensing data. The results showed that the regional temperature increased during 1970-1996, the glaciers covering the Lake Julong watershed ablated in a large area, and the geochemical indicators (total organic carbon, total nitrogen, median particle size, sedimentation rate) indicated the enhancement of lake hydrodynamics and a reduction in nutrient loads. After 2000, regional precipitation decreased, and temperature continued to increase, leading to the disappearance of permanent glaciers in the watershed and an increase in bare land area. Elemental and magnetization indexes indicated enhanced weathering and erosion of soils. The diatom community of Lake Julong was dominated by Staurosira construens and Staurosirella pinnataduring the study period. During the period of enhanced hydrodynamics, the relative abundance of Nitzschia fonticolaa nd epiphytic Achnanthidium minutissima increased. The primary composition of diatoms (expressed as PCA Axis 1 scores) reached a tipping point in the 1960s and then remained relatively stable, in contrast to the continuous changes in climatic, hydrological, and erosional indicators. However, the secondary composition of diatom communities continued to change after the 1960s, indicating that processes such as watershed climate, hydrology, and erosion had begun to affect rare species in the diatom community. This suggests that the entire diatom community may be increasingly affected under future global change. This study highlights the combined effects of hydrology, erosion, and glacier retreat on aquatic communities in alpine lakes under climate change, clarifying the nonlinear response characteristics of these communities to global changes.

Abstract:The restoration of submerged vegetation plays an important role in the ecological restoration of eutrophic urban lakes, and the study on the habitat requirements of submerged vegetation is essential for their effective restoration. In order to investigate the habitat requirements of submerged macrophytes in subtropical urban lakes in China, three typical urban lakes in Wuhan, namely Lake Donghu, Lake Nanhu and Lake Shahu, were selected for field investigation in this study.Vallisneria denseserrulataMakino, a dominant species, was selected as the research object. The study measured 16 indicators ofV. denseserrulataMakino including medium to long-term growth (e.g. biomass), short-term physiology (e.g. carbohydrate content), and instantaneous fluorescence, along with 17 indicators related to water and sediment properties. By integrating generalized additive models (GAM) and plant trait network analysis (PTN), the study comprehensively assessed the habitat requirements ofV. denseserrulataMakino in urban lakes of Wuhan. Results showed that: (1) 53.5% of the 43 sampled sites in three urban lakes were mildly eutrophic, while 46.5% were moderately eutrophic. (2) Environmental factors significantly affected the biomass accumulation ofV. denseserrulataMakino. Conditions such as a water depth of approximately 1.1 m and a total nitrogen concentration of around 1 mg/L were most favorable for the growth and biomass accumulation ofV. denseserrulataMakino. Total nitrogen in the sediment ranging from 0.16 to 2.50 mg/kg and total organic carbon (TOC) in the sediment from 0.19% to 13.70% couldpromote biomass increase. (3) The N∶P ratio (average 3) inV. denseserrulataMakino tissue indicated that its growth was limited by nitrogen. GAM analysis showed that the growth ofV. denseserrulataMakino was minimally affected by total phosphorus in the water and sediment, and that nitrogen sources in urban lakes were more important toV. denseserrulataMakino than phosphorus sources. (4) Higher nutrient levels in the water often stimulated the short-term carbon and nitrogen metabolism ofV. denseserrulataMakino, but inhibited its long-term growth. The negative effect of sediment organic carbon content on the growth and reproduction ofV. denseserrulataMakino was relatively weak. The research suggests that in the future, when applyingV. denseserrulataMakino for the restoration of subtropical urban lakes, there should be a greater focus on controlling the aquatic habitat conditions, especially nitrogen sources, in order to maximize its ecological benefits and more effectively promote lake ecological restoration.

Abstract:After the implementation of the 10-year Fish Banning in the Yangtze River Basin, the recovery of fish resources will have a certain impact on the seasonal succession characteristics of zooplankton community. The present study aims to understand the seasonal succession characteristics of zooplankton community structure and its influencing factors during early Fish Banning period. As the largest freshwater lake in China, Lake Poyang is also a focal area for the implementation of Fish Banning policy. In this study, zooplankton were quantitatively surveyed in five seasons including July, October 2022 and January, April, July 2023 in Lake Shahu and Lake Dahuchi, which are two shallow dished sub-lakes of Jiangxi Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve. A total of 82 species of zooplankton, including 61 species of rotifers, 11 species of cladocerans, and 10 species of copepods were identified during the survey period. In the five survey months, the number of shared species were 9. Among them,Keratella cochlearis ,Asplanchna priodonta ,Polyarthra trigla ,Polyarthra vulgaris ,Microcyclops varicans ,Mesocyclops leuckarti, Sinocalanus dorrii and Bosmina longirostris were dominant species. From summer 2022 to summer 2023, the seasonal variety trends of Shannon-Wiener diversity index and Pielou evenness index of zooplankton first decreased and then increased. The one-way ANOVA revealed significant differences in zooplankton abundance and biomass in the five seasons. The zooplankton abundance and biomass were lower in spring and winter, while higher in summer and autumn. The clustering of zooplankton communities by Bray-Curtis similarity measure and Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling revealed that the communities of zooplankton in the five survey months showed significant seasonal differences. The zooplankton communities of the five survey months can be clearly divided into five: the summer community of 2022, the autumn community of 2022, the winter community of 2022, the spring community of 2023, and the summer community of 2023. The winter 2022 community showed a high level of similarity with the spring 2023 one, and the summer 2022 community showed a high level of similarity with the summer 2023 one. Redundancy analysis indicated that environmental factors explained 87.2% of the variation in zooplankton. Monte Carlo tests revealed that water temperature, turbidity and dissolved oxygen had significantly impacts on zooplankton community structure changes. The study revealed that extreme drought events had significantly reduced the zooplankton community stability in the sub-lakes of Lake Poyang. There was a noticeable decrease in abundance and biomass of zooplankton communities before and after the Fish Banning.

Abstract:Lake Chaohu, as the fifth largest Chinese freshwater lake, is one of the key areas for water pollution prevention in China. It plays a crucial role in supporting ecological civilization development in Anhui Province and promoting Yangtze River protection. The rapid socio-economic development in the Lake Chaohu Basin has exerted significant pressure on the lake, resulting in water quality deterioration and frequent cyanobacteria algae blooms. In the past ten years, despite the improvement in the water quality owing to comprehensive management efforts, eutrophication remained a critical issue, and knowledge about the long-term changes in aquatic biological community structures was still limited, especially for benthic macrozoobenthos. This study combined field survey and historical records to obtain data on benthic fauna and environmental factors from five different periods since 1980. Using principal component analysis (PCA), canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), the study explored the changes in benthic macrozoobenthos density, community structure, and dominant groups over the past 40 years in Lake Chaohu. The results showed that from 1980 to 2022, a total of 77 species (genera) from 3 phyla and 6 classes of benthic fauna were recorded, with significant changes in abundance of entire community and different taxonomic groups. The dominant species have experienced a transition from being primarily composed of cleaner mollusks to a gradual shift towards pollution-tolerant families such as midges and oligochaetes, followed by a slow recovery of cleaner species. Specific changes are as follows: in 1980-1981, species diversity was high, with mollusks being dominant; in 2002-2003, eutrophication intensified, and the benthic community rapidly degraded, with pollution-tolerant oligochaetes and chironomids larvae dominated, with a relative abundance of 96.1%; in 2008-2009, the relative abundance of oligochaetes and chironomid larvae decreased to 87%; in 2013-2014, the relative abundance of Chironomidae increased, but the relative abundance of Oligochaeta dropped from 55.1% to 24.1%, with the two species collectively accounting for 96.5%; in 2022, the abundance of benthic fauna dropped to the lowest historical level (278 ind./m2), the relative abundance of Oligochaeta fell to 6.9%, and the number of bivalve mollusks increased from two in 2013-2014 to five, with the national protected species, theNovaculina chinensisbeing found at nine sites with an occurrence of 30%, indicating a recovery of biodiversity. Over the past 40 years, total nitrogen, chlorophyll-a , dissolved oxygen, water depth, sediment total nitrogen, and wind speed have been the main environmental factors influencing the succession of the benthic macrozoobenthos community.

Abstract:To reveal the fish diversity and alien fish invasion status of 4 lake areas of Lake Xinghu (Lake Zhongxin, Lake Xiannv, Lake Bohai and Lake Qinglian), fish resource survey was conducted from March to April 2023. Index of relative importance, species diversity index, Jaccard similarity index, nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), abundance-biomass comparison curve were used to analyze the species composition, dominance, distribution patterns and diversity of fish in this study. A total of 23 fish species were captured in this survey. There were 11 native fish species such asCirrhina molitorella ,Carassius auratusandHypophthalmichthys molitrix , 12 alien fish species such asPterygoplichthys pardalis ,Prochilodus lineatusandCirrhinus mrigala . Alien fish species had an absolute advantage in terms of percentage (52.17% cumulative proportion), biomass (74.94% cumulative proportion), abundance (77.05% cumulative proportion), and index of relative importance (79.24% cumulative proportion).Pterygoplichthys pardalis ,Prochilodus lineatus ,Sarotherodon galilaeus ,Oreochromis niloticus ,Coptodon zilliiandCirrhinus mrigalaare high-risk invasive fish with stable populations. If not being controlled, they would have a significant impact on the native fish and ecological environment of Lake Xinghu. Among them,Pterygoplichthys pardaliswas the absolute dominant species with the highest ecological risk. The similarity analysis results showed that the average Jaccard similarity index value was 0.70, which was “similarity” level, indicating that the fish communities were relatively similar at various 4 lake areas; The W value of community disturbance analysis was close to 0, indicating that the fish community of Lake Xinghu was at a relatively low level of human disturbance. The results of species diversity indicated that the overall species diversity in Lake Xinghu was at a relatively normal level, while the fish species diversity in Lake Zhongxin and Lake Qinglian was higher than that in Lake Xiannv and Lake Bohai. At present, the most severe ecological hazard in Lake Xinghu is alien fish invasion, rather than direct human interference.

Abstract:Lake Baima, located at the lower reaches of the Huaihe River Basin, serves as a multi-functional water body with roles in flood retention, water supply, ecological balance, cultural landscape, tourism, and aquaculture. To assess the fish community structure and diversity during the initial phase of the fishing ban, a survey of fish resources was conducted from June 2023 to April 2024. During the studied period,Pseudobrama simoni, Aristichthys nobilis, Acheilognathus macropterus and Culterichthys erythropterus were identified as the dominant species, whileCoilia brachygnathus ,Culter dabryi ,Toxabramis swinhonis ,Hypophthalmichthys molitrix ,Carassius auratusandCyprinus carpioexhibited seasonal dominance. The Margalef richness index, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Pielou evenness index and Simpson’s diversity index for the fish community were 4.860, 2.424, 0.637 and 0.844, respectively. Although there were no significant differences in fish species diversity across various lake regions and seasons, Bray-Curtis cluster analysis and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (NMDS) showed that there were distinct spatial and temporal variations in fish community structure. At the similarity level of 52.28%, the fish communities were categorized into three groups, i.e. , the central and northern lake areas (group Ⅰ), the spring, summer and autumn seasons in the southern lake area (group Ⅱ), and the winter season in the southern lake area (group Ⅲ). The stability of the fish community in the northern lake area exhibited considerable fluctuations, whereas the community structure in other regions of Lake Baima was relatively stable. These findings suggested a recovery trend of the fish resources in Lake Baima. However, there were considerable challenges including the high proportion of small omnivorous fish, low abundance of protected species, and low stability of fish community in the northern lake area. It was recommended to enhance the conservation for Lake Baima’s fish resources through targeted actions such as stock enhancement, habitat restoration, pollution source control, and strengthened fishery regulation, as well as regular monitoring. The results of this study provided essential data for evaluating the long-term effects of the ten-year fishing ban in Lake Baima, and offered a scientific foundation for the management and conservation of fishery resources in other fishing banned lakes.

Abstract:Floating-leaved and emergent aquatic vegetation play crucial roles as primary producers in lake ecosystems, each fulfilling distinct ecological functions. Monitoring the spatial distribution and changes of floating-leaved and emergent aquatic vegetation using satellite remote sensing is essential for lake ecological assessment and carbon source-sink accounting. However, distinguishing between the two types of aquatic vegetation using only optical remote sensing data is challenging due to their typical spectral characteristics. This challenge is further compounded by algal blooms in eutrophic lakes, which also exhibit similar spectral characteristics. To address this issue, we proposed an automatic classification algorithm for identifying two types of aquatic vegetation by combining Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 MSI data. Firstly, we identified areas with vegetation spectral characteristics using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Otsu’s method in lakes. Then, in these regions, the first principal component (PCA1) of Sentinel-1 SAR image and the K-means clustering algorithm were used to extract floating-leaved and emergent aquatic vegetation. Its noted that PCA1 was a key classification indicator of the algorithm, which could remove the interference of algal blooms and achieve the separation of floating-leaved and emergent aquatic vegetation. The algorithm was conducted accuracy validation in four typical lakes (i.e. Lake Taihu, Lake Ulansuhai, Lake Yangcheng and Lake Nanyi), with an average overall classification accuracy of 83.76% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.71. Based on the algorithm, we mapped and analyzed the intra-annual and inter-annual variations of floating-leaved and emergent aquatic vegetation in Lake Taihu. The results showed that the area of both groups reached their coverage peaks from July to October. From 2016 to 2023, the area of floating-leaved aquatic vegetation significantly increased from 24.21 km2 to 68.03 km², while the area of emergent aquatic vegetation remained relatively stable and the average annual area was 41.48 km². This algorithm not only addresses the difficulties in identifying floating-leaved aquatic vegetation and emergent aquatic vegetation, but also achieves automation. It has great potential for monitoring large-scale spatial and temporal changes of floating-leaved aquatic vegetation and emergent aquatic vegetation in lakes. This provides the technical support for future lake ecological assessments and carbon source-sink accounting.

Abstract:The left bank watershed from Wuhan to Hukou, as one of the key three-tier sub-basins in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, encompasses several major urban centers, including Wuhan, Xiaogan, Huanggang, and Suizhou. It provides vital water resources to local population. Consequently, ensuring drinking water security for both human consumption and livestock welfare is of paramount importance. Dynamic changes in water area directly reflect water supply situation. Precise monitoring on water area in reservoirs is crucial for accurate management and effective allocation of water resource, as well as the protection on water ecological environment and avoiding water disasters. This study utilized time series radar images from Sentinel-1 A/B and the Edge Otsu water area extraction algorithm to monitor the water area changes in the drinking water source reservoirs (DWSR) within the catchment from 2018 to 2021. The accuracy evaluation results indicated that the overall precision of water area extraction exceeds 0.95. We employed the PELT (pruned exact linear time) mutation detection algorithm to identify abrupt temporal changes (drastically changed, exceeding normally seasonal variations) in water area of the DWSR within the basin from 2018 to 2021. The results showed that from 2018 to 2019, the DWSR water areas in the basin shranked by approximately 33%. From October 2019 to June 2020, the water areas remained at a relatively low and stable level. Starting from July 2020, the water areas rapidly increased and recovered to the high levels seen in 2018, followed by continued fluctuations. Further analysis using the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index revealed that the basin experienced a drought event from 2018 to 2019, followed by a wet event in 2020. These climatic conditions were associated with the observed significant changes in water area. This study demonstrates the capability of Sentinel-1 dual satellite observations to monitor large-scale changes in water areas, particularly in capturing rapid and precise responses to environmental changes. Our findings underscored the importance and urgency of enhancing the fine-scale monitoring and management of DWSR under the influence of climate change and extreme events. The results provided a scientific basis for improving water resource management and ecological protection, optimizing water resource allocation, and ensuring the security of regional drinking water resources.

Abstract:Climate is the main driver of wetland formation and development, and water gains or losses caused by climate change can pose a serious threat to wetland vegetation. Quantifying the response characteristics of wetland vegetation to wet and dry states is important for wetland ecological restoration. The Naoli River wetland complex is an important freshwater marsh concentration area in China, which is representative of temperate wetlands in the world. This paper analyzed the evolution of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) in the Naoli River Wetland Group Reserve from 2003 to 2023, taking the wetland vegetation in the reserve as the study object. The study period was divided into drought, wet and flood periods according to the dry and wet status, based on which the response characteristics of NDVI to the cumulative and lagged effects of SPEI were revealed. The results showed that from 2003 to 2023, the NDVI of the wetland in the Naoli River Wetland Reserve showed a fluctuating growth trend, with a growth rate of 0.003/10 a, and the meteorological conditions showed a trend from drought to wet. During the drought period, the response time of wetland NDVI in Naoli River and Dongsheng Nature Reserves to SPEI cumulative effect and lag effect was shorter (2 months), and the response time of wetland NDVI in Qixing River and Sanhuanpao Nature Reserves to SPEI cumulative effect (9 months) and lag effect (4-6 months) was longer. During the wet period and the flood period, the wetland NDVI in each wetland reserve was subject to the cumulative effect of SPEI (9 months) and the lag effect (9-10 months, 9-11 months).When the meteorological conditions were mildly dry and wet (-1.15＜SPEI＜1.20 ) and changed from wet to dry, wetland NDVI was positively correlated with SPEI. When the drought and wet intensity were large (SPEI≤ -1.15, SPEI≥1.20 ) and changed from dry to wet, wetland NDVI was negatively correlated with SPEI. This study provide reference value for the in-depth study of the response characteristics of wetland vegetation to meteorological conditions, and provide scientific basis for wetland ecological protection and restoration work.

Abstract:The Xinjiang-Tibet Road (G219), located in the western part of the Tibetan Plateau, is an important transportation route connecting Xinjiang and Tibet. There are numerous mountains along the route, including the Himalayas, Gangdisê, Karakorum and Western Kunlun, where glacial lakes are widely developed and the road is susceptible to potential glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Based on Landsat ETM+ and Sentinel-2 MSI images, a combination of the normalized difference water index method and manual visual revision was employed to extract boundaries of glacial lakes within the basins where the Xinjiang-Tibet Road passes in 2000 and 2022. Furthermore, we analyzed the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of glacial lakes in this region and assessed their GLOF hazards as well as potential affected road sections. The results showed that: (1) In 2022, there were a total of 1412 glacial lakes covering an area 141.13 km² within these basins. From 2000 to 2022, both the number and area of glacial lakes with an area of ≥0.01 km² showed an increasing trend, with an increase of 98 (7.46%) and 2.16 km² (1.56%), respectively. The number and area of glacial lakes below an altitude of 4500 m remained relatively stable, while those above an altitude of 5000 m experienced rapid growth. (2) The GLOF hazard assessment of 70 moraine-dammed glacial lakes with an area of ＞0.1 km² identified 13 very high, 24 high, 13 medium and 20 low cases. Moreover, ten sections along the Xinjiang-Tibet Road that were found susceptible to hazardous GLOFs, especially R1 (K514+210-K514+770), R2 (K793+190-K802+250), R4 (K1286+690-K1287+880), R8 (K1684+900-K1685+380) and R9 (K1786+110-K1801+700). The strengthening of glacial lake dynamic monitoring in upstream of these sections and implementation of corresponding control measures are highly recommended.