Recent trends in vegetation greenness in China significantly altered annual evapotranspiration and water yield

Liu, Yibo; Xiao, Jingfeng; Ju, Weimin; Xu, Ke; Zhou, Yanlian; Zhao, Yuntai

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/094010

Cited by 126 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…At regional and continental scales, many studies based on satellite-derived data have established relationships between temporal and spatial changes in vegetation dynamics and climate change and variability [64][65][66][67][68]. For example, the mechanisms for the relationships of vegetation and climate warming in the Qinghai Tibet plateau have been extensively investigated.…”

Section: Effects Of Ai On the Increase In Vegetation Laimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evidence exists that extreme climate events impact a broad range of ecosystems [75][76][77]. Moreover, according to IPCC climate models, it is likely that such extreme events will become more frequent and more intense in the future, although there is considerable uncertainty in climate model predictions [64]. The increase in temperatures on the Qinghai Tibet plateau has been much greater than other regions of the world in recent decades [78,79], and there may be a trend with more warming in the future, but uncertainty in precipitation [10,80].…”

Section: Potential Extreme Climate Effect On Laimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detection of the Coupling between Vegetation Leaf Area and Climate in a Multifunctional Watershed, Northwestern China

et al. 2016

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Accurate detection and quantification of vegetation dynamics and drivers of observed climatic and anthropogenic change in space and time is fundamental for our understanding of the atmosphere-biosphere interactions at local and global scales. This case study examined the coupled spatial patterns of vegetation dynamics and climatic variabilities during the past three decades in the Upper Heihe River Basin (UHRB), a complex multiple use watershed in arid northwestern China. We apply empirical orthogonal function (EOF) and singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis to isolate and identify the spatial patterns of satellite-derived leaf area index (LAI) and their close relationship with the variability of an aridity index (AI = Precipitation/Potential Evapotranspiration). Results show that UHRB has become increasingly warm and wet during the past three decades. In general, the rise of air temperature and precipitation had a positive impact on mean LAI at the annual scale. At the monthly scale, LAI variations had a lagged response to climate. Two major coupled spatial change patterns explained 29% and 41% of the LAI dynamics during 1983-2000 and 2001-2010, respectively. The strongest connections between climate and LAI were found in the southwest part of the basin prior to 2000, but they shifted towards the north central area afterwards, suggesting that the sensitivity of LAI to climate varied over time, and that human disturbances might play an important role in altering LAI patterns. At the basin level, the positive effects of regional climate warming and precipitation increase as well as local ecological restoration efforts overwhelmed the negative effects of overgrazing. The study results offer insights about the coupled effects of climatic variability and grazing on ecosystem structure and functions at a watershed scale. Findings from this study are useful for land managers and policy makers to make better decisions in response to climate change in the study region.

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Section: Effects Of Ai On the Increase In Vegetation Laimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Potential Extreme Climate Effect On Laimentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of the Coupling between Vegetation Leaf Area and Climate in a Multifunctional Watershed, Northwestern China

et al. 2016

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“…Over the last three to four decades, using the satellite-observed leaf area index (LAI) or normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), several researchers have found that the vegetation greenness has been increasing in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere, especially in China [1][2][3]. Increased vegetation greenness, resulting from watershed management projects such as afforestation, reforestation, and improved agricultural practices, can improve terrestrial ecosystem productivity [4,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increased vegetation greenness, resulting from watershed management projects such as afforestation, reforestation, and improved agricultural practices, can improve terrestrial ecosystem productivity [4,5]. However, some studies have shown that vegetation greening can reduce watershed water yield (also referred to as streamflow or runoff); thus, it can reduce the water resources available for humans [1,6,7]. In fact, in arid and semi-arid areas, numerous studies have suggested that increased vegetation greenness can induce water demand conflicts, but few studies have investigated water yield responses on increased vegetation greenness in humid areas [4,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased Vegetation Greenness Aggravates Water Conflicts during Lasting and Intensifying Drought in the Poyang Lake Watershed, China

Tang

Cai

Gong

et al. 2018

Forests

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An increase in vegetation greenness can improve ecosystem productivity, but also reduce the water supply, creating the potential for conflicting water demands between ecosystems and humans. This problem has been well-assessed and is most evident in dry environments. However, in humid regions, the potential effects of vegetation greenness on water yields under drought conditions are not well understood. To address this gap, we focused on the Poyang Lake watershed in the humid region of southern China. Based on the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index and a satellite-derived leaf area index dataset during the growing seasons of 1984 to 2013, several typical dry growing seasons were selected as the study conditions. An existing Water Supply Stress Index model was modified to investigate how the changes in vegetation greenness affected water yield and to explore potentially conflicting water demands between ecosystems and humans under drought conditions. Our results showed that an increase of 20-80% in vegetation greenness generally resulted in a reduction of 3-27% in water yield under drought conditions. Large reductions in water yield mainly were observed in forested areas due to large increases in forest greenness. Moreover, increased vegetation greenness caused a 2 to 3 times greater reduction in water yield during continuing and intensifying droughts than during a short moderate drought period. Thus, in this study, during continuing and intensifying droughts, increased vegetation greenness can cause or aggravate water conflicts in sub-watersheds with high forest cover and high human water demands. Therefore, given the increasing frequency of extreme climatic events, afforestation with a targeted approach should be implemented as it would provide the most benefits. In addition, selective harvesting in forested areas with high density could be an effective strategy to maintain water supply in humid regions.

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“…Many studies have investigated the relationships between land use patterns and basin hydrology and have found that the characteristics of basin hydrology vary among land use patterns due not only to the type of LULC (Wang et al, 2012;Jian et al, 2015;Duan et al, 2016) but also to the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of LULC (Chu et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2013). However, debate exists among ecohydrologists regarding the effects of past and ongoing land use changes because of the spatial and temporal complexity of hydrological processes (Lørup et al, 1998;López-Moreno et al, 2011;Alkama et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal response of the water cycle to land use conversions in a typical hilly–gully basin on the Loess Plateau, China

Qiu

Wang

et al. 2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. The hydrological effects of the "Grain for Green" project (GFGP) on the Loess Plateau have been extensively debated due to the complexity of the water system and its multiple driving factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the response of the hydrological cycle to the GFGP measures based in a case study of the Yanhe Basin, a typical hilly-gully area on the Loess Plateau of China. First, we analyzed the land use and land cover (LULC) changes from 1990 to 2010. Then, we evaluated the effects of LULC changes and sloping land conversion on the main hydrological components in the basin using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The results indicated that cropland exhibited a decreasing trend, declining from 40.2 % of the basin area in 1990 to 17.6 % in 2010, and that the woodland and grassland areas correspondingly increased. With the land use changes from 1990 to 2010, the water yield showed a decreasing trend which was mainly due to decrease in surface runoff. In contrast, evapotranspiration (ET) showed an increasing trend over the same period, resulting in a persistent decrease in soil water. The conversion of sloping cropland to grassland or woodland exerted negative effects on water yield and soil water. Compared with the land use condition in 2010, the negative effects were most evident where cropland with a slope ≥ 15 • was converted to woodland, with decreases in surface runoff and soil water of 17.1 and 6.4 %, respectively. These results suggest that the expansive reforestation on sloping land in the loess hilly-gully region decreased water yield and increased ET, resulting in reduced soil water. The results of this study can be used to support sustainable land use planning and water resource management on the Loess Plateau in China.

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Recent trends in vegetation greenness in China significantly altered annual evapotranspiration and water yield

Cited by 126 publications

References 85 publications

Detection of the Coupling between Vegetation Leaf Area and Climate in a Multifunctional Watershed, Northwestern China

Detection of the Coupling between Vegetation Leaf Area and Climate in a Multifunctional Watershed, Northwestern China

Increased Vegetation Greenness Aggravates Water Conflicts during Lasting and Intensifying Drought in the Poyang Lake Watershed, China

Spatiotemporal response of the water cycle to land use conversions in a typical hilly–gully basin on the Loess Plateau, China

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