Abstract: The variation of water level is the main environmental factor controlling the growth of aquatic vegetation. It is of significance to understand its influences on aquatic vegetation coverage in sub-lakes under different hydrolo-gical control modes. Taking the free connected sub-lake Bang Lake and locally controlled sub-lake Dahuchi Lake of Poyang Lake as a case and based on remote sensing cloud computing platform of the Google Earth Engine (GEE), we used the pixel binary model to estimate aquatic vegetation coverage from 2000 to 2019, and analyzed the temporal and spatial differentiation characteristics, and the variation trend was simulated by combining the method of Sen+M-K. We analyzed the water level change characteristics during the study period and the relationship between the hydrological parameters and the aquatic vegetation coverage area of sub-lakes with different hydrological connectivity was explored by setting up the water level fluctuation parameters. The results showed that the aquatic vegetation coverage of Bang Lake was more susceptible to water level changes, while Dahuchi Lake was more stable. The aquatic vegetation was patchily and sporadically distributed in the years with low vegetation coverage. In the years with high vegetation coverage, it was distributed in a ring-like pattern, spreading from the center of the lake to the shore. The aquatic vegetation coverage of Bang Lake was more likely influenced by water level fluctuation rate, while the aquatic vegetation coverage of Dahuchi Lake was more likely influenced by the flooding duration of 17 m characteristic water level. The flooding duration of 19 m characteristic water level had a strong negative correlation with the aquatic vegetation coverage of Bang Lake and Dahuchi Lake. The trend of aquatic vegetation in Bang Lake was dominated by stabilization and slight improvement, while that in Dahuchi Lake was dominated by stabilization and significant degradation. Our results could help to further understand the dynamics of water hydrological ecosystem with different hydrological connectivity and provide a reference for lake management and conservation.

Key words: hydrological connectivity, water level change, aquatic vegetation coverage, Google Earth Engine