Water resource problems in Taihu basin became serious with the development of society and economy.In order to evaluate the water ecosystem services of Taihu basin and to provide a theoretical basis for watershed management

this study divided water resources of Taihu basin into seven districts based on the statistics data

land-use data and hydrological information

and then evaluated and analyzed the water ecosystem services and their spatial variability.The results show that the water supply volume of Taihu basin was 3.70×1010 m3/a

aquatic product yield was 6 681.180 t/a

transportation capacity of passenger and freight travel were 4.604×108 person/(km·a) and 2.90×1011 t/(km·a)

respectively

water storage capacity was 4.53×109 m3/a

flood control capacity was 7.69×109 m3/a

carbon fixation and oxygen release rates were 4.28×106 t/a and 1.14×107 t/a

respectively

water purification capacity was 6.30×109 t/a

and sand transport and land reclamation rates were 1.22×106 t/a and 189.851 hm2/a

respectively.The total value of water ecosystem services was 9.10×1010 yuan/a.The order of various services in terms of value was as following

tourismtransportationwater storage and flood controlwater purificationcarbon sequensation and oxygen releasewater supplyaquatic productsand transport and land reclamation.The average ecosystem service value per unit area of Taihu basin was 19.22 yuan/(m2·a).The order of various districts in terms of average service value was as following

PuxiWuchengWest ZhejiangHangjiahuHuxiYangchengTaihu.