Assessment of Water Conservation Services Based on the Method of Integrating Hydrological Observation Data According to Different Ecosystem Types and Regions

Abstract

Water conservation is an essential indicator of the hydrological regulation capacity of terrestrial ecosystems. At the regional scale, the water conservation capacity of an ecosystem is typically assessed using the water balance model (WBM). However, the estimation of the runoff depth relies heavily on rainfall data and the ecosystem runoff coefficient look-up table, which introduces uncertainties in the assessment results. To address this issue, this study constructed a new method for quantifying the spatiotemporal distribution pattern of runoff depth based on the ecosystem type and regional spatial heterogeneity characteristics using runoff observation data from hydrological observation stations. We use this new method to evaluate the water conservation capacity of the ecosystem on a regional scale and compare and analyze the differences between the new and old methods in terms of connotation, data format, and evaluation results. Finally, we discuss the advantages and potential applications of the new method.

Spatiotemporal Evolution Characteristics and Driving Factors of Water Conservation Service in Jiangxi Province from 2001 to 2020

“…Water conservation functions were originally discussed in terms of forest hydrology [15,16], and many studies have been conducted in various countries to assess water conservation functions at different regional scales [17][18][19], as well as in different ecosystems [9,20] and land-use types [11,21]. Traditional assessment methods focus on integrated water storage [22], water balance [23], and soil water storage [24].…”