Analyzing the phosphorus flow characteristics in the largest freshwater lake (Poyang Lake) watershed of China from 1950 to 2020 through a bottom-up approach of watershed-scale phosphorus substance flow model.

Understanding the historical patterns of phosphorus (P) cycling is essential for sustainable P management and eutrophication mitigation in watersheds. Currently, there is a lack of long-term watershed-scale models that analyze the flow of P substances and quantify the socioeconomic patterns of P flow. This study adopted a watershed perspective and incorporated crucial economic and social subsystems related to P production, consumption, and emissions throughout the entire life cycle. Based on this approach, a bottom-up watershed P flow analysis model was developed to quantify the P cycle for the first time in the Poyang Lake watershed from 1950 to 2020 and to explore the driving factors that influence its strength by analyzing multi-year P flow results. In general, the P cycle in the Poyang Lake watershed was no longer a naturally dominated cycle but significantly influenced by human activities during the flow dynamics between 1950 and 2015. Agricultural intensification and expansion of large-scale livestock farming continue to enhance the P flow in the study area. Fertilizer P inputs from cultivation account for approximately 60% of the total inputs to farming systems, but phosphate fertilizer utilization continues to decline. Feed P inputs have continued to increase since 2007. The expansion of large-scale farming and the demand for urbanization are the main factors leading to changes in feed P input patterns. The P utilization rate for livestock farming (PUEa) is progressively higher than international levels, with PUEa increasing from 0.64% (1950) to 9.7% (2020). Additionally, per capita food P consumption in the watershed increased from 0.67 kg to 0.80 kg between 1950 and 2020. The anthropogenic P emissions have increased from 1.67 × 104 t (1950) to 8.73 × 104 t (2020), with an average annual growth rate of 2.41%. Watershed-wide P pollution emissions have increased by more than five-fold. Population growth and agricultural development are important drivers of structural changes in P flows in the study area, and they induce changes in social conditions, including agricultural production, dietary structure, and consumption levels, further dominating the cyclic patterns of P use, discharge, and recycling. This study provides a broader and applicable P flow model to measure the characteristics of the P cycle throughout the watershed social system as well as provides methodological support and policy insights for large lakes in rapidly developing areas or countries to easily present P flow structures and sustainably manage P resources.