Abstract
Terrestrial ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE) is an important indicator for coupling plant photosynthesis and transpiration, and is also a key factor linking the carbon and water cycles between the land and atmosphere. However, under the combination of climate change and human intervention, the change in WUE is still unclear, especially on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Therefore, satellite remote sensing data and process-based terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) are used in this study to investigate the spatiotemporal variations of WUE over the TP from 2001 to 2010. Then, the effects of land use and land cover change (LULCC) and CO2 fertilization on WUE from 1981–2010 are assessed using TBMs. Results show that climate change is the leading contributor to the change in WUE on the TP, and temperature is the most important factor. LULCC makes a negative contribution to WUE (−20.63%), which is greater than the positive contribution of CO2 fertilization (11.65%). In addition, CO2 fertilization can effectively improve ecosystem resilience on the TP. On the northwest plateau, the effects of LULCC and CO2 fertilization on WUE are more pronounced during the driest years than the annual average. These findings can help researchers understand the response of WUE to climate change and human activity and the coupling of the carbon and water cycles over the TP.
摘 要
陆地生态系统水分利用效率 (WUE) 是衡量陆地生态系统碳水耦合程度的关键指标, 也是描述植被在不同生长环境中水分适应策略的一个重要参数. 本文利用卫星遥感数据和陆地生物圈模式 (TBMs) 的多模型集合模拟, 研究了青藏高原水分利用效率的时空演变规律, 并定量评估了土地利用和土地覆盖变化 (LULCC) 以及 CO2施肥对水分利用效率的影响. 结果表明, 气候变化是影响青藏高原水分利用效率变化的主要因素, 土地利用和土地覆盖变化和 CO2施肥对水分利用效率的贡献分别为 −20.63% 和 11.65%. 此外, CO2 施肥可以有效地提高青藏高原的生态系统恢复力; 在青藏高原西北地区, 土地利用和土地覆盖变化和 CO2 施肥对水分利用效率的影响在最干旱的年份更为明显. 本研究有助于更好地理解青藏高原的生态水文过程及其影响机制, 并可为区域生态建设提供科学依据.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP) (Grant No. 2019QZKK0206), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA20100300), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (2021073), the National Key Scientific and Technological Infrastructure project “Earth System Science Numerical Simulator Facility” (EarthLab), the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2020JJ4074), and the Open Fund Project of Key Lab of Virtual Geographic Environment (Nanjing Normal University), Ministry of Education (2021VGE04).
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Article Highlights
• The contributions of CO2 fertilization and land use land cover change (LULCC) to water use efficiency (WUE) are quantitatively assessed.
• Land use land cover change (LULCC) makes a negative contribution to water use efficiency (WUE), while there is an opposite effect from CO2 fertilization.
• Temperature is the most important climate factor in determining the changes of water use efficiency (WUE).
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Jia, B., Luo, X., Wang, L. et al. Changes in Water Use Efficiency Caused by Climate Change, CO2 Fertilization, and Land Use Changes on the Tibetan Plateau. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 40, 144–154 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-022-2172-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-022-2172-5
Keywords
- water use efficiency
- gross primary productivity
- evapotranspiration
- Tibetan Plateau
- carbon and water cycle