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Spatiotemporal dynamics of ecosystem water use efficiency over the Chinese Loess Plateau base on long-time satellite data

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Abstract

Ecosystem water use efficiency (eWUE), defined as the ratio between carbon gains and water loss from the system, has been recognized as an important characteristic of carbon and water balances. The long-lasting “Grain for Green” Program (GFGP) initiated in 1999 in China’s Loess Plateau (CLP) is a large-scale ecological program in the world, which aims to improve the CLP’s ecosystem resilience by enhancing vegetation cover and productivity. Understanding how the GFGP can affect eWUE is imperative to ensuring sustainable water resources and to promoting sustainable management strategies. In this study, we evaluated the spatiotemporal variability of growing-season eWUE and examined its response to both climate change and vegetation coverage from 1982 to 2017. Our results indicate that growing-season eWUE, gross primary productivity (GPP), and evapotranspiration (ET) in CLP area increased significantly from 1982 to 2017. Specifically, eWUE, GPP, and ET increased more rapidly after China established the program. The most significant growth area of eWUE was found in main areas conducting GFGP project, including the Loess hilly and gully area (LHGA). Spatially, eWUE, GPP, and ET in the growing season increased from northwest to southeast, and higher eWUE was found in areas with high vegetation cover. The spatial and temporal variability of eWUE was related to vegetation cover (expressed as leaf area index, LAI) and climatic variability. Significant positive correlations were observed between growing-season LAI, temperature, and eWUE, because the LAI and temperature have a greater effect on photosynthesis than ET. Our results suggested that the GFGP was the main driving force that causes the spatial-temporal variability of eWUE in CLP.

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Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the “National Earth System Science Data Center, National Science & Technology Infrastructure of China (http://www.geodata.cn)” for the data support.

Funding

The work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42071246), the Ministry of education of Humanities and Social Science Project (No. 18YJCZH257), and a grant from State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mining and Geomatics, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan, 056038, China

    Anzhou Zhao, Dongli Wang & Anbing Zhang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100101, China

    Anzhou Zhao

  3. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 88003, USA

    Qiuyan Yu

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  1. Anzhou Zhao
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  2. Qiuyan Yu
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Contributions

Anzhou Zhao proposed a new idea about the response of cropland eWUE to drought. Qiuyan Yu helped with the review of this manuscript. Dongli Wang designed the experiments and carried them out. Anbing Zhang reviewed and edited this manuscript. Anzhou Zhao prepared the manuscript with contributions from all co-authors.

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Correspondence to Anzhou Zhao.

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Zhao, A., Yu, Q., Wang, D. et al. Spatiotemporal dynamics of ecosystem water use efficiency over the Chinese Loess Plateau base on long-time satellite data. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 2298–2310 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15801-6

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