Based on hydrological characteristics of the Poyang Lake basin

the model for computation of the minimum ecological water requirement is developed. The water level with frequency of 95% is defined as the minimum water level. The drainage area of the Poyang Lake basin is computed as 1503.9 km

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based on the relations between water level and drainage area. The evaporation is decided to compute the lake water surface evaporation and the value is 483.09 mm and the minimum ecological water consumption is 0.73 billion m

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. Moreover

methods of the instream ecological water requirements

the minimum monthly average streamflow

monthly minimum streamflow

Tennant method and 90% guaranteed minimum monthly average streamflow are used to compute the minimum ecological water requirement of the outflow from the Poyang Lake basin as 77.71 billion m

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and the minimum ecological water requirement of the Poyang Lake basin is 78.44 billion m

3

The results of this study are of great importance for conservation of ecological environment

aquatic ecological environment and water resources management within the Poyang Lake basin.