Table 1 Classification and description of microhabitat Land-cover along Dianchi Lake

Water area

Open water area (OA)

Covered without macrophytes

Macrophyte cover (MC)

Covered with the macrophytes, dominant by Eichhornia crassipes and Pistia stratiotes

Land area

Building area (BA)

Covered by obviously anthropogenic buildings, dams, roads, trails, etc.

Small pond cover (SP)

Ponds located outside the bank, usually formed by the derelict fish-ponds, water depth>10 cm

Mud flood area (MF)

Bare land in wet condition, water depth ≤ 10 cm, the largest one was occasionally formed by an restoration engineer for water purification with the mud relocating to bank side

Low grassland cover (LG)

Short grass species coverage such as Alternanthera philoxeroides, Phragmites australis, Acorus calamus and Zizania latifolia. Generrally, in wet condition and height < 2 m

High grassland cover (HG)

High grass species coverage such as Saccharum spontaneum and Pennisetum purpureum, in dry condition and height ≥ 2 m

Dry forest cover (DF)

Forest in dry condition, generally in the well-manage parks refer to the nursery gardens/orchards/forest remnants.

Wetland forest cover (WF)

Forest in wet condition, generally dominant by the introduced species Taxodium hybrid ‘zhongshanshan’

Cultivated land cover (CL)

Active farmlands generally included rice paddies/vegetable lands/cornfields

Waste lands cover (WL)

Inactive farmlands, generally dry with much weed species coverage such as Artemisia argyi and Bidens pilosa

Shrub cover (SB)

Shrub coverage, dominant by Pyracantha crenatoserrata and Dichotomanthus tristaniaecarpa