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The northeastern Tibetan Plateau is located in a climatic junction, which is considered an ideal region to explore the interactions between the summer monsoons and the westerly circulation patterns. However, to date, the needed long-term precipitation-based isotopic dataset is too limited to predict the interactions and patterns. This paper presents an evaluation of hydrometeorological processes and climate dynamics in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau based on a 7-yr precipitation isotope dataset covering the summer monsoon periods from 2012 to 2018. Results illustrated remarkable seasonal isotopic variability, characterized by lower δ18O and δ2H values in June with an average of −10‰ and −66.7‰, respectively. Higher δ18O and δ2H values in July averaged −6.7‰ and −39.5‰, respectively. This clear isotopic variability is largely related to seasonal changes of moisture sources and hydrometeorological processes. These precipitation isotopic values were primarily determined by the amount of precipitation, relative humidity, and convective activity, but showed no correlation with air temperature. Backward trajectory model results showed that Xinjiang, northern China, the Arctic, central Asia, and the South China Sea (SCS) were the primary sources of precipitation for the study site with varying seasonal contributions. The maritime moisture source of the SCS primarily resulted in the lowest precipitation δ18O values during the prevailing summer monsoon, which is mainly as a result of the strong convective activity and rainout processes along the air trajectory. The higher average deuterium excess (d-excess) value of precipitation in September indicated continental sources from central Asia (e.g., 75.4%) as land vapor recycling increases d-excess concentration in the atmosphere. These findings provide further insights into the main factors of precipitation isotopic variability related to atmospheric processes along the trajectory and the relevant factors in the monsoon regions. Significance Statement Recently, scientists and policy makers have become aware that Tibetan hydroclimate variability provides evidence of changes in regional and global circulation patterns that may result in the intensification of climate-driven extremes. However, these studies largely depend on crucial paleoclimate records of past precipitation isotopes in monsoon regions, which contain great uncertainties because of the complex relationship between climatic variability and precipitation isotopes. This study first presented a 7-yr isotopic dataset to understand the hydrological processes and climate dynamics controlling the isotopic variability in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. The findings reveal important factors on the isotopic variability associated with atmospheric processes and their key climatic variables, which can enhance our interpretation of the paleoclimate records in monsoon regions.

Climate change scenarios established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have developed a significant tool for analyzing, modeling, and predicting future climate change impacts in different research fields after more than 30 years of development and refinement. In the wake of future climate change, the changes in forest structure and functions have become a frontier and focal area of global change research. This study mainly reviews and synthesizes climate change scenarios and their applications in forest ecosystem research over the past decade. These applications include changes in 1) forest structure and spatial vegetation distribution, 2) ecosystem structure, 3) ecosystem services, and 4) ecosystem stability. Although climate change scenarios are useful for predicting future climate change impacts on forest ecosystems, the accuracy of model simulations needs to be further improved. Based on existing studies, climate change scenarios are used in future simulation applications to construct a biomonitoring network platform integrating observations and predictions for better conservation of species diversity.

Long-term continuous monitoring of precipitation isotopes has great potential to advance our understanding of hydrometeorological processes that determine stable isotope variability in the monsoon regions. This study presents 4-yr daily precipitation isotopes from Yungui Plateau in southwestern China that are influenced by Indian summer monsoon and East Asian monsoon. The local meteoric water line (LMWL;δ2H = 8.12δ18O + 11.2) was first established at the Tengchong (TC) site, which was close to the global meteoric water line (GMWL;δ2H = 8δ18O + 10), indicating little secondary subcloud evaporation in the falling rain. Precipitationδ18O values exhibited significant inverse relationships with precipitation amount (r= −0.42), air temperature (r= −0.43), and relative humidity (r= −0.41) with lower correlation coefficients throughout the entire period, which indicated that precipitation isotopic variability in TC could not be well explained by the local meteorological factors but influenced by other combined factors of regional precipitation amount and upstream rainout. Precipitationδ18O values showed a clear V-shaped trend throughout the observation period, characterized by higherδ18O values during the premonsoon period whereas lower values during the postmonsoon period. This seasonal variation of precipitationδ18O values was associated with the seasonal movement of the intertropical convergence zone and seasonal changes in moisture transport. Combined with backward trajectory analysis, precipitationδ18O values were estimated by a Rayleigh distillation model showing that upstream rainout processes from the Bay of Bengal (BoB) toward land (Myanmar) and recycling moisture over land were key factors affecting the isotopic compositions of the TC precipitation. These findings could enhance our understanding of atmospheric dynamics and moisture source in the monsoon regions and will potentially facilitate the interpretation of numerous isotopic proxy records from this region.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe variability of the summer monsoon and its onset, duration, and failure directly determine the strong rainfall and drought in a given region and have great impacts on regional societies and agriculture. To better understand this variability, this study presented a 4-yr daily dataset of precipitation isotopes on the Yungui Plateau of southwestern China to explore atmospheric processes and moisture sources that drive isotopic variability in this region. Precipitationδ18O exhibited remarkably seasonal variability, with higher values in premonsoon period and lower values in the postmonsoon period. During the Indian summer monsoon period, moisture sources primarily originated from the BoB toward the TC site, experiencing rainout processes and local moisture recycling over land using a Rayleigh fractionation model. These findings shed new light on the temporal variations of precipitation stable isotopes and facilitate our understanding of hydrological cycle in the monsoon regions.

Since the first stoma appeared about 400 million years ago, moisture exchange between lands and the atmosphere extends into the root zone. However, due to its invisibility from the surface, root distribution and its temporal variation are difficult to estimate, which greatly hinders investigation of root zone moisture dynamics, soil-plant water relations, and transpiration modelling. Plant water potential reflects dynamic water condition in vegetation, which is determined by moisture supply in the root zone, atmospheric demand, and plant physiological control. Thus, dynamic water potential can provide a “periscope” to observe root zone hydraulic conditions. Based on this hydraulic connection in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum (SPAC), plant individuals work very likely as “observation wells” to the whole root zone at predawn, and as “pumping test wells” in daytime. Meanwhile, stable isotopic composition of water in plant xylem approximately reflects the isotopic signature of bulk root accessible moisture. These hydraulic and isotopic root-zone periscopes provide information to estimate root-zone and plant hydraulic states and their dynamics, and hydraulic properties. In this presentation, we will show how this root-zone periscope concept, based on continuous monitoring of plant water potential, sapflow, and/or isotopic composition of xylem water, has been successfully applied in SPAC model development, root water uptake model improvement, transpiration model parameterisation, as well as investigation of ecohydrological separation.

The study on precipitation isotope variation can potentially improve the understanding of weather processes, regional water cycle and paleoclimate reconstruction in the subtropical monsoon region. Based on the measured stable isotope composition in precipitation (δ18Op) and daily precipitation from January 2010 to December 2021 in Changsha of the subtropical monsoon region of eastern China, the δ18Op variations, amount effect and local meteoric water line (LMWL) were analyzed and compared on daily, monthly and annual time scales, as well as under different precipitation intensities. The results showed that, on the daily time scale, δ18Op was significantly and negatively correlated with precipitation in the study area. Influenced by subcloud evaporation, small precipitation events (≤5 mm/d) could change the rainout level of precipitation isotopes. There were significant differences in the slope and intercept of the LMWL on different time scales, in different seasons and under different precipitation intensities. On the daily and monthly time scales, the slope and intercept of the LMWL in the cold half of the year were significantly smaller and larger than those in the warm half of the year, respectively, and the slope and intercept of the LMWL increased significantly with precipitation intensity, and then remained largely stable. On the annual time scale, the slope and intercept of the LMWL in the cold half of the year were smaller than those in the warm half of the year. The possible reasons for the differences in the LMWL on different time scales are the combined effects of seasonal differences in precipitation intensity and water vapor sources.

As regional heterogeneity on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau (QTP), the “greening rate” between alpine steppe in the west and alpine meadow ecosystems in the east is difference during the past several decades. To investigate the difference, the net photosynthetic rate (An) and the supply (mesophyll conductance ( g), stomatal conductance ( g)) and demand (the maximum rates of Rubisco carboxylase activity ( V) and photosynthetic electron transport ( J)) for CO of three plants functional types (PFTs) were measured. Other functional traits and influencing factors were compared among ecosystems along the altitudinal gradients of QTP. The An of the PFTs was simulated under potential future conditions. At high altitudes, grass was found to maintain a relatively stable An by decreasing V, J, and g, while slightly increasing g, compared with that at a low altitude. The An of sedge and shrubs increased with rising V, J and g and g values, resulting in a large increment in the An at low altitudes. Grass seemed to be less sensitive to the environment by reducing the supply of and holding onto CO , while sedge and shrub increased both. Grass and sedge should be divided into two PFTs rather than remaining as one based on their opposite physiological and morphological functions in response to climate change. The ecosystem at 3600 m was transitional. C was likely to be a more dominant factor than T in affecting the An of grass. The order of rising An in PFTs was shrub > sedge > grass and the An of alpine meadow was found to increase more under the two future climate scenarios.

In many arid ecosystems, vegetation frequently occurs in high-cover patches interspersed in a matrix of low plant cover. However, theoretical explanations for shrub patch pattern dynamics along climate gradients remain unclear on a large scale. This context aimed to assess the variance of the Reaumuria soongorica patch structure along the precipitation gradient and the factors that affect patch structure formation in the middle and lower Heihe River Basin (HRB). Field investigations on vegetation patterns and heterogeneity in soil properties were conducted during 2014 and 2015. The results showed that patch height, size and plant-to-patch distance were smaller in high precipitation habitats than in low precipitation sites. Climate, soil and vegetation explained 82.5% of the variance in patch structure. Spatially, R. soongorica shifted from a clumped to a random pattern on the landscape towards the MAP gradient, and heterogeneity in the surface soil properties (the ratio of biological soil crust (BSC) to bare gravels (BG)) determined the R. soongorica population distribution pattern in the middle and lower HRB. A conceptual model, which integrated water availability and plant facilitation and competition effects, was revealed that R. soongorica changed from a flexible water use strategy in high precipitation regions to a consistent water use strategy in low precipitation areas. Our study provides a comprehensive quantification of the variance in shrub patch structure along a precipitation gradient and may improve our understanding of vegetation pattern dynamics in the Gobi Desert under future climate change.

Canopy conductance (Gc) largely regulates carbon/water cycling and land–atmosphere interactions, but quantifying Gc using eddy flux data is limited by the difficulty of partitioning plant transpiration (T) and surface evaporation (E). We introduced an underlying water use efficiency (uWUE) method to partition evapotranspiration (ET) in an oasis maize ecosystem, and cross–compared with the Shuttleworth and Wallace (SW) model, the lysimeter and isotope measurements. We then estimated surface conductance (Gs) by ET and Gc by T partitioned using the uWUE method, followed by a performance evaluation on the Jarvis model parameterized with both Gs and Gc. The results showed that T/ET estimated by the uWUE method was close to the isotope method in the peak growing season of 2012, it showed similar seasonal variations with the lysimeter/eddy covariance method and the SW model throughout this growing season. Daily T partitioned by the uWUE method was in good agreement with the SW model from 2012 to 2015 (r2 = 0.91). Additionally, Gc had more significant seasonal variations than Gs. The Jarvis model parameterized with Gc exhibited superior performance than those with Gs. Our study suggests that the uWUE method can exclude influences of nonstomatal conductances, and will have great potential to provide more reasonable parameterization for simulation of plant stomata.

Plant transpiration depends on environmental conditions, and soil water availability is its primary control under water deficit conditions. In this study, we improve a simplified process‐based model (hereafter “BTA”) by including soil water potential (ψₛₒᵢₗ) to explicitly represent the dependence of plant transpiration on root‐zone moisture conditions. The improved model is denoted as the BTA‐ψ model. We assessed the performance of the BTA and BTA‐ψ models in a subtropical monsoon climate and a Mediterranean climate with different levels of water stress. The BTA model performed reasonably in estimating daily and hourly transpiration under sufficient water conditions, but it failed during dry periods. Overall, the BTA‐ψ model provided a significant improvement for estimating transpiration under a wide range of soil moisture conditions. Although both models could estimate transpiration (sap flow) at night, BTA‐ψ was superior to BTA in this regard. Species differences in the calibrated parameters of both models were consistent with leaf‐level photosynthetic measurements on each species, as expected given the physiological basis of these parameters. With a simplified representation of physiological regulation and reasonable performance across a range of soil moisture conditions, the BTA‐ψ model provides a useful alternative to purely empirical models for modelling transpiration.

Mulching is a common and effective practice to artificially reduce evaporation for the purposes of water conservation in arid/semiarid ecosystems. Few studies have quantified the effects of plastic mulch on evapotranspiration (ET) partitioning impacted by different biophysical processes between bare and mulch-covered soil within a soil-mulch–plant-atmosphere continuum. Here, we partitioned ET flux into bare soil evaporation (Ebs), mulch-covered soil evaporation (Ems) and transpiration (T) in an oasis cropland ecosystem that was partially covered by plastic film, using an improved multisource energy balance model. The modeled water/energy fluxes agreed well with those measured by the eddy covariance. The modeled surface temperatures of both bare soil and mulch-covered soil were also consistent with measured fluxes, with a high R2 (0.81). During the growing season, the mean fractional contribution to total ET was 21 ± 12%, 6 ± 4%, and 73 ± 14% for Ebs, Ems and T, respectively. Comparisons of modeled output with and without considering mulching effects indicate that mulching increases the T/ET by decreasing E (0.02 ± 0.02 mm h−1), with a mean value of 7.2% and a range of 0–16% during the growing season. Mulching also increases soil temperature, while decreasing available energy at the land surface. These results show that the effects of mulching on ET partitioning varied with leaf development and were more sensitive during periods characterized by a lower leaf area index (e.g., the initial growing period and the period after clear cutting). Without considering mulch effects, the ET (E/ET) flux would be an overestimate, mainly because soil resistance and the availability of soil water would be underestimated. This study highlights the potential of plastic film mulch as a viable management option for soil water conservation and improving soil temperature, which is crucial for plant growth in arid and semiarid ecosystems.

Shrub encroachment has emerged as a global phenomenon over the past century. Multiple drivers have been put forward to explain the increased shrub dominance in various ecosystems around the world. However, the potential role of phenology in regulating shrub encroachment is not well understood. We address this issue using 3-year continuous monitoring of the phenology of coexisting shrubs and grasses combined with observations of ecohydrological processes (water uptake) and soil conditions (root zone soil moisture, soil texture, and soil temperature) at four study sites in Inner Mongolia, China, with shrub coverage of Caragana microphylla ranging from 0%, to 6.8%, 26.8% and 34.2%. Along such an encroachment gradient, shrubs exhibited progressively earlier onsets and later ends of the growing season, with an overall extension in growing season length by 15 days to 22 days in the later stages of shrub encroachment. Conversely, the coexisting grasses showed earlier occurrences both in spring and autumn phenological phases, which resulted in a phenological gap between shrubs and grasses. Thus, a positive feedback could exist between these phenological changes and shrub encroachment. In shrub patches, soils were wetter, with finer texture, and with more suitable temperatures for plant survival and development, which favored the lengthening of growing season of shrubs. The longer growing seasons are associated with longer periods of water use and photosynthesis for shrubs, and better opportunities for water uptake, with the overall effect of facilitating shrub growth and further expansion.

Long-term continuous monitoring of precipitation isotopes has great potential to advance our understanding of mechanisms that determine stable isotope variability in hydrological processes of monsoon regions. This study presents a 4-year daily data set of precipitation isotopes from Yungui Plateau of southwest China, influenced by southwest monsoon and East Asian monsoon. The local meteoric water line [LMWL, δ2H=8.12 (±0.04) δ18O+11.2(±0.4)] was established at the Tengchong (TC) site, which was similar to the global meteoric water line (GMWL, δ2H=8 δ18O+10) indicating little secondary sub-cloud evaporation in the falling rain. Precipitation δ18O exhibited significant inverse relationships with precipitation amount (r = -0.42) and air temperature (r = -0.43) throughout the entire period, which indicated that precipitation isotopic variability largely depended on the local meteorological conditions. Precipitation δ18O values are characterized by remarkably seasonal variability: In the summer monsoon period, moisture sources primarily originated from BoB source towards TC site experiencing local moisture recycling over land. The air masses were derived from the northern region of Africa and East Asia with the longest transporting distance and cyclonic activity over the source region in the Fall-winter period characterized with the depleted δ18O values. Precipitation δ18O at the TC site was estimated by a Rayleigh fractionation model considering rainout over BoB and land (Myanmar) during the vapor advection, and local recycling processes consistent with the observed precipitation δ18O values. These findings enhance our understanding of hydrological cycle in the Southwest monsoon regions and will potentially facilitate the interpretation of numerous isotopic proxy records from this region.

The demand for social and economic development has promoted research into water resources. The combined effects of natural conditions and human activities on regional water resource usage are not well understood. The sustainable utilization of water resources was assessed in terms of supply (e.g., precipitation) and demand (e.g., ecological water resources footprint (EFw)) sides in Hunan Province, China, from 2010 to 2019. The results showed that: (1) on the supply side, water resources were increased across Hunan Province. The spatial patterns of total water resources are significantly heterogeneous, with high values in the east and south, which are mainly affected by precipitation; (2) on the demand side, evapotranspiration was great in areas with high vegetation coverage. The EFw was high in relatively developed areas. The mean percentage of agricultural EFw remained dominant at approximately 60% with a steady decreasing trend, while that of eco-environmental EFw increased; and (3) the sustainable utilization of water resources in Hunan Province is generally rational. Moreover, the potential for water resource development and utilization is really significant in eastern and southern Hunan Province. The findings are beneficial in providing an important scientific basis for policymaking relating to the efficient utilization of regional water resources.

Desert environments are characterized by limited and highly variable rainfall, which is an intermittent source of water critical to the evolution of the structure and functioning of desert ecosystems. The present study was to assess the effects of different amounts of rainfall received through discrete rainfall events and of the ecophysiological responses for Reaumurica soongorica along multiple average precipitation (MAP) gradient. A field experiment was performed under seven simulated rainfall amounts (0 - 40 mm) with Reaumurica soongorica at respective High-P (120 mm), Middle-P (67 mm), and Low-P (35 mm) sites along middle and lower reach of Heihe River Basin in July, 2015. Pre-dawn plant water potential (ψpd), the rates of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance were measured synchronously. Results showed that: photosynthetic response of R.soongorica to rainfall pulse was significant different. The mean daily leaf gas exchange and maximum photosynthesis rate (Pn-max) of R.soongorica were decreased obviously with decreasing MAP. Vapour pressure deficit (VPD) was the predominant factor for gas exchange limiting. Under the control of VPD, stomatal conductance was pregressively reduced with decreasing ψpd, which was functioned as limiting Pn-max and further increasing water use efficiency (WUE). However, when MAP was declined below 35 mm, the response of stomatal conductance to ψpd was weakened, from which Pn-max began to increase again. 2 to 4 days hystereric response of R.soongorica ψpd to various rainfall events was found in High-P. Stomatal conductance was then increased linearly with increasing ψpd, from which Pn-max was also enhanced linearly. While weakly response of ψpd to similar rainfall events was observed in Low-P, where stomatal conductance and Pn-max was maintained stable after rain. Mentioned above, the effective rainfall pluse, induced by obvious physiological response of R. soongorica, was 3.63-6.73 mm and 6.73-10.09 mm for Linze and Ejina, respective. Our results provided comprehensively understanding in the consequences of long-term variability in rainfall for the physiology of desert plants and species dynamics in desert ecosystems.

In recent decades, terrestrial vegetation in the northern hemisphere (NH) has been exposed to warming and more extremely high temperatures. However, the consequences of these changes for terrestrial vegetation growth remain poorly quantified and understood. By examining a satellite-based vegetation index, tree-ring measurements and land-surface model simulations, we discovered a consistent convex pattern in the responses of vegetation growth to temperature exposure (TE) for forest, shrub and grass in both the temperate (30°−50° N) and boreal (50°−70° N) NH during the period of 1982−2012. The response of vegetation growth to TE for the three vegetation types in both the temperate and boreal NH increased convergently with increasing temperature, until vegetation type-dependent temperature thresholds were reached. A TE beyond these temperature thresholds resulted in disproportionately weak positive or even strong negative responses. Vegetation growth in the boreal NH was more vulnerable to extremely high-temperature events than vegetation growth in the temporal NH. The non-linear responses discovered here provide new insights into the dynamics of northern terrestrial ecosystems in a warmer world.

Desert environments are characterized by limited and highly variable rainfall, which is an intermittent source of water critical to the evolution of the structure and functioning of desert ecosystems. The present study was the first to assess the effects of different amounts of rainfall received through discrete rainfall events and of their seasonality on two little-studied desert shrubs, namely Reaumurica soongorica and Nitria sphaerocarpa, in an arid inland river basin in north-western China. Pulse rainfall events were simulated at the following magnitudes (amount of water in millimeters per rainfall event): 0, 5, 10, 15, 25, and 40 mm on two days in 2016, 24th June (early growing season) and 4th August (middle growing season), respectively. The rainfall effects were measured in terms of the following parameters: plant uptake of rainwater by plants as assessed by δ18O in the water within plant tissue, pre-dawn plant water potential, and the rates of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance. N. sphaerocarpa shows faster response to simulated pulse rainfall events than R. soongorica, and the response of both species was quicker in the middle- than in early- growing season. Water uptake increased non-linearly with the amounts of rainfall, reaching a plateau at about 25 mm in R. soongorica and 20 mm in N. sphaerocarpa. The accumulative carbon gain relative to the controlled experiment increased with the amounts of rainfall, the increase being greater in the middle growing season. Our results clearly show that both the seasonality and the amounts of rainfall in discrete rainfall events took great impacts on response of plant ecophysiological activities and such responses are species dependent. The challenge ahead is to understand the consequences of long-term variability in rainfall for the physiology of desert plants and species dynamics in desert ecosystems.

The world’s aquatic ecosystems yield numerous vital services, which are essential to human existence but have deteriorated seriously in recent years. By studying the mechanisms of interaction between ecosystems and habitat processes, the constraining factors can be identified, and this knowledge can be used to improve the success rate of ecological restoration initiatives. At present, there is insufficient data on the link between hydrological, water quality factors and the changes in the structure of aquatic communities to allow any meaningful study of driving factors of aquatic ecosystems. In this study, the typical monitoring stations were selected by fuzzy clustering analysis based on the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of water ecology in Jinan City, the first pilot city for the construction of civilized aquatic ecosystems in China. The dominant species identification model was used to identify the dominant species of the aquatic community. The driving effect of hydrological and water quality factors on dominant species was analyzed by Canonical Correspondence Analysis. Then, the principal factors of aquatic ecosystem dependence were selected. The results showed that there were 10 typical monitoring stations out of 59 monitoring sites, which were representative of aquatic ecosystems, 9 dominant fish species, and 20 dominant invertebrate species. The selection of factors for aquatic ecosystem dependence in Jinan were highly influenced by its regional conditions. Chemical environmental parameters influence the temporal and spatial variation of invertebrate much more than that of fish in Jinan City. However, the methodologies coupling typical monitoring stations selection, dominant species determination and driving factors identification were certified to be a cost-effective way, which can provide in-deep theoretical and technical directions for the restoration of aquatic ecosystems elsewhere.

Knowledge of crop root water uptake (RWU) is critical for understanding agricultural water management. However, the mechanisms underlying the RWU of alpine crops in rainfed cropland remain poorly understood. This study investigated seasonal variations in water uptake of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) and highland barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) coupled with dual stable isotope tracers at different growth stages. The method of direct inference showed that the soil depth layer from which water was predominantly taken up by roots was 0–30 cm. More specifically, oilseed rape and highland barley exhibited different RWU patterns: oilseed rape had the high flexible performance and could revert to deep soil layers (30–60 cm) as the main water source according to soil water availability due to short-term droughts at the peak growth stage. In contrast, water uptake by highland barley was primarily derived from both shallow and middle soil layers (

Intense human activity has led to serious degradation of basin water ecosystems and severe reduction in the river flow available for aquatic biota. As an important water ecosystem index, environmental flows (e-flows) are crucial for maintaining sustainability. However, most e-flow measurement methods involve long cycles, low efficiency, and transdisciplinary expertise. This makes it impossible to rapidly assess river e-flows at basin or larger scales. This study presents a new method to rapidly assessing e-flows coupling UAV and ground monitorings. UAV was firstly used to calculate river-course cross-sections with high-resolution stereoscopic images. A dominance index was then used to identify key fish species. Afterwards a habitat suitability index, along with biodiversity and integrity indices, was used to determine an appropriate flow velocity with full consideration of the fish spawning period. The cross-sections and flow velocity values were then combined into AEHRA, an e-flow assessment method for studying e-flows and supplying-rate. To verify the results from this new method, the widely used Tennant method was employed. The root-mean-square errors of river cross-sections determined by UAV are less than 0.25 m, which constitutes 3–5% water-depth of the river cross-sections. In the study area of Jinan city, the ecological flow velocity (V E ) is equal to or greater than 0.11 m/s, and the ecological water depth (H E ) is greater than 0.8 m. The river ecosystem is healthy with the minimum e-flow requirements being always met when it is close to large rivers, which is beneficial for the sustainable development of the water ecosystem. In the south river channel of Jinan, the upstream flow mostly meets the minimum e-flow requirements, and the downstream flow always meets the minimum e-flow requirements. The north of Jinan consists predominantly of artificial river channels used for irrigation. Rainfall rarely meets the minimum e-flow and irrigation water requirements. We suggest that the water shortage problem can be partly solved by diversion of the Yellow River. These results can provide useful information for ecological operations and restoration. The method used in this study for calculating e-flow based on a combination of UAV and ground monitoring can effectively promote research progress into basin e-flow, and provide an important reference for e-flow monitoring around the world.

Understanding the responses of different plant species to changes in available water sources is critical for accurately modeling and predicting species dynamics. Our study aimed to explore whether there were differences in water-use strategies between the two coexisting shrubs (Reaumuria soongorica and Nitraria sphaerocarpa) in response to different amounts of summer precipitation. We conducted 3 years of field observations at three sites along an aridity gradient from the middle to lower reaches of the Heihe River basin, northwestern China. Stable oxygen composition (δ18O) in plant xylem water, soil water and groundwater were analyzed concurrently with ecophysiological measurements at monthly intervals during the growing seasons. Water source for coexisting R. soongorica and N. sphaerocarpa did not differ at the sites with high precipitation, but significantly differed in more arid locations. The N. sphaerocarpa was more sensitive to summer precipitation than R. soongorica in terms of predawn water potential, stomatal conductance and foliage carbon-isotope discrimination. The plants relying on groundwater maintained consistent water use strategies, but not plants that took up precipitation-derived water. We also found that the difference in water source uptake between the coexisting species was more apparent in more arid locations.

Snow is a crucial component of the cryosphere and its has been experiencing a significant decline for the Northern Hemisphere (NH) (35–90°N) snow cover extent (SCE) in March-April over the 1948–2012 period. However, the causes of this historical snow cover decline are still uncertain. Here, based on the Global Land Data Assimilation System version 2.0 (GLDAS) reanalysis reanalyzed snow cover extent (SCE) and climate model simulations that separate different anthropogenic forcings, we attribute changes of spring SCE over the NH to anthropogenic and natural climate forcings using an optimal fingerprint technique. We find that fingerprints from greenhouse-gases (GHG) and stratospheric aerosols can be clearly detected in the historical SCE records, whereas natural forcing has not contributed to the long-term SCE trend in a discernible way. The GHG-induced warming is primarily responsible for the NH SCE decline, which, however, has been partly offset (by ∼16%) by aerosol-induced climatic cooling. Our findings confirm the negative effect of warming on SCE changes yet highlight the positive role of aerosols in slowing SCE decline over the past 65 years.

Drylands are the homes to over one-third of the world’s population, and are vulnerable to anthropogenic climate change. Based on climate projections, recent studies reported a substantial expansion of global drylands in the coming decades and attributed that expansion to future warming. However, the expansion of drylands contradicts a widespread vegetation greening and a slight runoff increase in dryland ecosystems in the same climate models. Here we re-examine changes in global drylands for the coming century and at two future warming targets (1.5 °C and 2 °C warming relative to the preindustrial level) based on outputs of climate models who participated in the Fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). In addition to aridity index (AI) that has been widely used to measure the atmospheric aridity, we also assess changes in drylands from the hydrologic and agro-ecological perspectives, using runoff (Q) and leaf area index (LAI) as indicators, respectively. Our results show that when the impact of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]) on vegetation water consumption is considered in the estimation of potential evapotranspiration (EP) and AI, the expansion of atmospheric drylands is at a much slower rate (~0.16% per decade under RCP4.5 and ~0.30% per decade under RCP8.5) than previously reported. Moreover, the additional 0.5 °C warming does not lead to an evident further expansion of atmospheric drylands. In terms of hydrologic and agro-ecological drylands, both of them show significant shrinks over the coming decades, suggesting reduced hydrologic and agro-ecological aridity in the region. Finally, contrasting with previous perceptions, our results demonstrate that warming only plays a minor role in altering global drylands from all three perspectives. Increases in net radiation are primarily responsible for the expansion of atmospheric drylands, and increases in P and [CO2]-induced increases in vegetation water use efficiency are the key drivers of changes in hydrologic and agro-ecological drylands.

Winter snow is an important driver of tree growth in regions where growing-season precipitation is limited. However, observational evidence of this influence at larger spatial scales and across diverse bioclimatic regions is lacking. Here, we investigated the interannual effects of winter (here defined as previous October to current February) snow depth on tree growth across temperate China over the period of 1961-2015, using a regional network of tree ring records, in situ daily snow depth observations, and gridded climate data. We report uneven effects of winter snow depth on subsequent growing-season tree growth across temperate China. There shows little effect on tree growth in drier regions that we attribute mainly to limited snow accumulation during winter. By contrast, winter snow exerts important positive influence on tree growth in stands with high winter snow accumulation (e.g., in parts of cold arid regions). The magnitude of this effect depends on the proportion of winter snow to pre-growing-season (previous October to current April) precipitation. We further observed that tree growth in drier regions tends to be increasingly limited by warmer growing-season temperature and early growing-season water availability. No compensatory effect of winter snow on the intensifying drought limitation of tree growth was observed across temperate China. Our findings point toward an increase in drought vulnerability of temperate forests in a warming climate.

The tight linkage between photosynthesis (An) and soil respiration (Rs) has been verified in many terrestrial ecosystems. However, it remains unclear whether this linkage occurs in desert ecosystems, where water is considered an important trigger of carbon cycling. A field experiment was performed under seven simulated rainfall amounts (0, 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, and 40 mm) with two co-existing desert plants (Reaumuria soongorica and Nitraria sphaerocarpa) in June (early growing season, EGS) and August (middle growing season, MGS) in 2016. An, Rs, predawn water potential (Ψpd), soil temperature (Ts) and soil moisture (Swc) were measured for each treatment or control plot for 3 weeks. Our objective was to examine the effects of rainfall pattern on Rs and physiological responses of the two plants and the relationships between Rs and biotic and abiotic factors. No obvious variations in Ψpd or An were found under small rainfall events. However, when the rainfall amount exceeded 10 mm, both plants responded strongly, and the response patterns of Rs showed trends similar to those of An, which varied between species and seasons. Moreover, rain additions of 3–40 mm significantly increased Rs, and the relative changes in Rs (ΔRs) of both species were much larger in the EGS than in the MGS. Importantly, abiotic factors may have controlled the variations in Rs under small rain events while An played a more important role in regulating the variations in Rs when the rainfall amount exceeded 10 mm for both species, suggest that the rainfall pattern–driven changes in Rs composition interact with physiological activity and abiotic factors to regulate the response of Rs to rainfall variability in desert ecosystems. Thus, climate change in the coming decades may lead to carbon sequestration by desert plants, which may cause desert ecosystems to act as carbon sinks.

Vegetation water use is closely related to its biophysical functioning and is often under stress from various environmental factors. However, commonly used root water uptake models only consider the stress from root zone moisture availability. There is a need to incorporate the stress from both the above-ground factors and root zone water condition. In this study, a newly developed coupled supply- and demand-induced (S&D) root water uptake model is examined with measurements on two tree species, Guihua in the subtropical monsoon climate and Drooping Sheoak in the Mediterranean climate. The results show that the S&D model outperforms a supply-constraint water stress function (the S-shape model) for both studied species. The S&D model predicts 67% and 84% temporal variability in the measured water stress for Guihua and Drooping Sheoak, respectively. The improvement of the S&D model over the S-shape model is more significant for Guihua than for Drooping Sheoak, which might be associated with the specific climate conditions. A two-step parameterization approach is adopted in this study for the S&D model, and is recommended for future applications. These results further support the validity of the S&D model, and should be considered for the root water uptake modeling.

In view of future changes in climate, it is important to better understand how different plant functional groups (PFGs) respond to warmer and drier conditions, particularly in temperate regions where an increase in both the frequency and severity of drought is expected. The patterns and mechanisms of immediate and delayed impacts of extreme drought on vegetation growth remain poorly quantified. Using satellite measurements of vegetation greenness, in-situ tree-ring records, eddy-covariance CO2 and water flux measurements, and meta-analyses of source water of plant use among PFGs, we show that drought legacy effects on vegetation growth differ markedly between forests, shrubs and grass across diverse bioclimatic conditions over the temperate Northern Hemisphere (NH). Deep−rooted forests exhibit a drought legacy response with reduced growth during up to 4 years after an extreme drought, whereas shrubs and grass have drought legacy effects of approximately 2 years and 1 year, respectively. Statistical analyses partly attribute the differences in drought legacy effects among PFGs to plant eco-hydrological properties (related to traits), including plant water use and hydraulic responses. These results can be used to improve the representation of drought response of different PFGs in land surface models, and assess their biogeochemical and biophysical feedbacks in response to a warmer and drier climate. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Soil water deficit is considered the dominant environmental constraint for plant transpiration (and photosynthesis) under water-limited conditions. Proper representation of soil water stress is thus critical for sound performance of both process-based and empirical models for transpiration simulation (e.g., process-based BTA-ψ and empirical modified Jarvis-Stewart model, hereafter MJS). However, very often process-based models suffer from a lack of data (such as water potential for the BTA-ψ model); empirical models are difficult to transfer the optimal form of environmental stress functions across sites. In this study, a hybrid model is proposed to address these two limitations. The model is a combination of the BTA model and an empirical function of volumetric soil water content (θ), and referred to as BTA-θ. The BTA-θ model is compared against the BTA and MJS models regarding their capability in simulating transpiration under subtropical humid climate zone and Mediterranean climate conditions at both daily and hourly resolutions. Three different water stress functions were adopted for BTA-θ and MJS to test the transferability of optimal response function across species and climatic zones. Overall, BTA-θ estimated transpiration reliably with the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency being larger than 0.5 at two sites for both wet and dry periods and outperformed BTA significantly under various soil moisture conditions. BTA-θ with different water stress functions performed comparably for each of the two climatic zones. The various forms of water stress function in BTA-θ had negligible effect on parameterization of the BTA equation. However, the MJS model constructed with three water stress functions performed variably and had a big influence on parameterization of other stress functions. These results suggest that the hybrid BTA-θ model is superior to the process-based BTA model in simulating transpiration under different levels of soil water deficit and is more robust than the purely empirical MJS model in selecting appropriate stress functions. BTA-θ provides a structure to incorporate other plant water stress data for transpiration modelling.

With the increasing temperature and intensified drought, global climate change has profound impacts on tree growth in temperate regions, which consequently regulates terrestrial-atmosphere biogeochemical processes and biophysical feedbacks. Thus, increasing numbers of studies have addressed the long-term annual trends in tree growth and their response to climate change at diverse spatial scales. However, the potential divergence in tree growth trends and growth variability (represented by coefficient of variance) in different seasons across large-scale climate gradients remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the tree growth trends and growth variability in different seasons across diverse drought conditions in forested regions over northeastern China during the period 1982&ndash, 2015, using both remote sensing observations and in situ tree-ring measurements. We found clear seasonal divergence in tree growth trends during 1982&ndash, 2015, and the apparent increase was mainly observed in spring and autumn, attributed mainly to the increase in spring temperature and autumn solar radiation, respectively, but not in summer. The magnitudes of increasing trends in tree growth decrease with the increase of the multi-year average dryness index (MAI) in semi-arid areas (1.5 &lt, MAI &lt, 4.0) in all seasons. We further revealed that the interannual variability in tree growth was much larger in the semi-arid regions than in the humid and semi-humid regions in all seasons, and tree growth variability was significantly and negatively correlated with the variations in temperature and water deficit. Our findings improve our understanding of seasonal divergence in tree growth trends and provide new insights into spatial patterns in forest vulnerability in a warmer and drier climate.

Jinan City is the first pilot city for the construction of a hydroecological civilisation in China. Fifty-eight representative river sampling stations were selected through field trips and surveys, and fish were sampled in the spring, summer, and autumn of 2015. An index of fish biological integrity in Jinan City was constructed and to evaluate the hydroecological health of rivers. Canonical correlation analysis was used to select key driving factors that affect the health of the fish community. The results show that the key physical factor affecting water quality was turbidity, the key chemical factor affecting water quality was chemical oxygen demand (COD) and the key hydrological factor affecting water quality was discharge. Of all the driving factors, COD had the greatest effect on the health of the fish community, followed by discharge and turbidity. Macropodus chinensis Bloch was sensitive to changes in COD; Saurogobio dumerili Bleeker and Pseudolaubuca engraulis Nichols were sensitive to the hydrological factors of discharge and flow velocity; and Saurogobio gymnocheilus Lo and Squaliobarbus ourriculus Richardson were sensitive only to discharge. COD and discharge had a strong effect on fish survival, whereas turbidity affected fish survival but was not a major factor affecting the spatial distribution of river health. The findings can provide a reference for aquatic ecological rehabilitation in developing countries.