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A plant's foliar uptake of dew can mitigate the adverse effects caused by drought stress. However, in grassland ecosystems, it is inconclusive whether the dew condensation characteristics of plants at different heights are consistent. In this study, we wanted to know whether plant height had a significant effect on the formation of dew. In addition, we wanted to understand the difference of dew formation between C3 plant Leymus chinensis (LC) and C4 plant Cleistogenes squarrosa (CS) which have different heights and can succeed each other in the community. In nine dew nights, we measured the amount of dew formed on simulated condensation surface (different heights) and two plants at the same time. The results showed that in the height range of 5–80 cm, the dew amount increases with the canopy height, but its increase rate gradually slows down and approaches zero. The shorter CS (5–15 cm) has a similar dew amount (0.095 mm) as LC (40–70 cm) due to its compact structure of the leaves with pubescence and the more stable micro-meteorological conditions. The CS can obtain more potential dew per unit organic matter, and this may be one of the potential mechanisms for the succession from LC communities to CS communities under drought stress.

The scarcity of water resources is becoming a global focus, and water conservation has become one of the most crucial service functions in the water security and sustainable development of ecosystems. Hulunbuir forest–steppe ecotone, as an important water conservation area in the northeastern provinces of China, plays an irreplaceable role in Northeastern China. However, the water yield and water conservation are rarely understood in the ecotone. In this study, the InVEST model was employed to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of water yield and water conservation from 2000 to 2020. Meanwhile, we explored the response of water conservation to climatic factors and human disturbance. The results demonstrated that water yield and water conservation presented a decreasing trend in the first decade and then increased. The land use transfer obvious from 2000 to 2010, and most vegetation types were converted into unused land. This transition intensified reduction of water conservation. The main factor affecting the water conservation was climate Precipitation had the greatest impact on water conservation. The findings of this study have great and important implications for regional sustainable water resource management and ecological protection policies and provide a convenient method for evaluating water conservation in other areas that are lacking climate, hydrology, and geological data.

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