Abstract: As the biggest inland freshwater lake in China, Bosten Lake provides important ecosystem services to the arid area that is poor in water resources. Ecosystem services valuation of Bosten Lake can reveal the direct contribution of Bosten Lake to human welfare using visible economic data, thus creating economic incentives (e.g. ecological compensation) to protect Bosten Lake. In this paper, we established the final ecosystem services valuation system based on the interactions between regional water resources and socioeconomic conditions. We then evaluated the ecological economic value from nine final ecosystem services provided by Bosten Lake in 2012 using market price method, replacement cost method, individual travel cost method, and contingent valuation method. The total estimated value of the ecosystem services from Bosten Lake was 91.89×10⁸ Yuan RMB in 2012, among which the values of runoff regulation, and recreation and tourism were 77.60×10⁸ and 8.44×10⁸ Yuan, respectively, accounting for 93.63% of the total value evaluated. According to the valuation, the nine final ecosystem services were ranked in a descending order as: runoff regulation, recreation and tourism, oxygen release, raw material products, carbon sequestration, aquatic products, non-use value, water resources provision, and water purification. The evaluation results reflect the multiple contributions of Bosten Lake to the sustainability of regional socioeconomic development, which will help increase awareness on the multiple ecosystem services from Bosten Lake, and inform managers on creating ecological compensation mechanisms. The evaluation methods and evaluation parameters in this study will also provide guidance to establish monitoring programs to study the influence of alternative ways of water resources allocation on human wellbeing, and provide important directions on coordinating multiple contradictories among ecology, economy, and society in the processes of water resources development.

Key words: Xiangshan Bay, thermal discharge, size spectra, power plant, zooplankton