Ecosystem service water use efficiency: A new perspective for coordinating ecosystem services and water consumption in the Loess Plateau

IF 5 2区地球科学 Q1 WATER RESOURCES

Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies Pub Date : 2025-09-19 DOI:10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102770

Yanmin Teng , Chao Xu , Yuan Zhang , Meirong Su , Yangjian Zhang , Shiting Li , Qionghong Chen , Qianyuan Huang

{"title":"Ecosystem service water use efficiency: A new perspective for coordinating ecosystem services and water consumption in the Loess Plateau","authors":"Yanmin Teng , Chao Xu , Yuan Zhang , Meirong Su , Yangjian Zhang , Shiting Li , Qionghong Chen , Qianyuan Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102770","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study region</h3><div>The Loess Plateau (LP), China</div></div><div><h3>Study focus</h3><div>Ecological restoration on the LP has substantially enhanced ecosystem services (ESs), but at the cost of significant water resource depletion, highlighting the urgent need to improve water use efficiency. Based on the concept of ecosystem water use efficiency, we proposed a new indicator—Ecosystem Services Water Use Efficiency (ES_WUE), defined as the ratio of ESs to actual evapotranspiration. We assessed three key ESs—water erosion prevention, wind erosion prevention, and carbon sequestration—across the LP from 2000 to 2020, and quantified corresponding ES_WUE. Subsequently, we examined their spatiotemporal patterns, and explored key influencing factors using multiple statistical models.</div></div><div><h3>New hydrological insights for the region</h3><div>The ES_WUE extends traditional water use efficiency by integrating multiple ESs, enabling a holistic evaluation that supports sustainable and balanced ecological restoration planning. Results showed that vegetation coverage precipitation, aridity index, slope, and elevation were the primary factor influencing spatial variations in ES_WUE. Temporal changes in aridity index, potential evapotranspiration, and vegetation coverage were the main drivers of ES_WUE dynamics. Grassland expansion was found to positively contribute to the three ES_WUE. Moreover, ESs had a stronger influence than actual evapotranspiration on spatiotemporal variations in ES_WUE. This study offers a novel perspective for ecological restoration in water-limited regions, emphasizing reducing water consumption for enhancing ESs by focusing on ES_WUE.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":"62 ","pages":"Article 102770"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581825005993","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"WATER RESOURCES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Study region

The Loess Plateau (LP), China

Study focus

Ecological restoration on the LP has substantially enhanced ecosystem services (ESs), but at the cost of significant water resource depletion, highlighting the urgent need to improve water use efficiency. Based on the concept of ecosystem water use efficiency, we proposed a new indicator—Ecosystem Services Water Use Efficiency (ES_WUE), defined as the ratio of ESs to actual evapotranspiration. We assessed three key ESs—water erosion prevention, wind erosion prevention, and carbon sequestration—across the LP from 2000 to 2020, and quantified corresponding ES_WUE. Subsequently, we examined their spatiotemporal patterns, and explored key influencing factors using multiple statistical models.

New hydrological insights for the region

The ES_WUE extends traditional water use efficiency by integrating multiple ESs, enabling a holistic evaluation that supports sustainable and balanced ecological restoration planning. Results showed that vegetation coverage precipitation, aridity index, slope, and elevation were the primary factor influencing spatial variations in ES_WUE. Temporal changes in aridity index, potential evapotranspiration, and vegetation coverage were the main drivers of ES_WUE dynamics. Grassland expansion was found to positively contribute to the three ES_WUE. Moreover, ESs had a stronger influence than actual evapotranspiration on spatiotemporal variations in ES_WUE. This study offers a novel perspective for ecological restoration in water-limited regions, emphasizing reducing water consumption for enhancing ESs by focusing on ES_WUE.

查看原文本刊更多论文

生态系统服务用水效率：黄土高原生态系统服务与用水协调的新视角

研究区黄土高原（LP）生态修复显著增强了生态系统服务（ESs），但其代价是严重的水资源枯竭，凸显了提高水资源利用效率的迫切需要。基于生态系统水利用效率的概念，提出了生态系统服务水利用效率（ecosystem Services water use efficiency, ES_WUE）指标，其定义为生态系统服务水利用效率与实际蒸散发的比值。我们评估了2000 - 2020年LP的3个关键的ES_WUE，即防止水蚀、防止风蚀和碳固存，并量化了相应的ES_WUE。在此基础上，利用多元统计模型分析了其时空格局，并探讨了关键影响因素。ES_WUE通过整合多个ESs扩展了传统的水资源利用效率，实现了支持可持续和平衡的生态恢复规划的整体评估。结果表明，植被覆盖度、降水量、干旱指数、坡度和高程是影响ES_WUE空间变化的主要因子。干旱指数、潜在蒸散量和植被覆盖度的时间变化是土壤水分利用效率变化的主要驱动力。草地扩张对ES_WUE均有显著的正向贡献。蒸散量对土壤水分利用效率时空变化的影响强于实际蒸散量。本研究为水资源有限地区的生态恢复提供了一个新的视角，强调通过减少水资源消耗来提高生态效率。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies Earth and Planetary Sciences-Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)

CiteScore

6.70

自引率

8.50%

发文量

284

审稿时长

60 days

期刊介绍： Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies publishes original research papers enhancing the science of hydrology and aiming at region-specific problems, past and future conditions, analysis, review and solutions. The journal particularly welcomes research papers that deliver new insights into region-specific hydrological processes and responses to changing conditions, as well as contributions that incorporate interdisciplinarity and translational science.