Divergent responses of ecosystem water use efficiency to environmental drivers in arid versus humid regions.

Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity and Explanatory Factors of Ecosystem Functions and Services in Inner Mongolia

Arid and semi-arid ecosystems are being reshaped by climate variability and human interventions, but increases in individual ecosystem indicators do not necessarily translate into coherent gains in ecosystem multifunctionality. Inner Mongolia is a representative region for examining this issue because it spans a sharp transition from humid forested mountains to arid grassland, desert, and plateau systems and serves as an important ecological security barrier in northern China. Using multi-source remote sensing, meteorological, ecological observation, land-use, and socioeconomic data, we assessed changes in net primary productivity, soil conservation, water conservation, habitat quality, and a comprehensive ecological benefit index from 2001 to 2020. We found that ecosystem service capacity did not follow a uniform recovery trajectory. High values were persistently concentrated in the northeastern forested mountains, whereas western arid regions remained the main low-value areas. Temporal changes also differed among indicators: soil conservation increased most clearly, water conservation fluctuated strongly between years, NPP varied unevenly among ecological regions, and habitat quality changed only slightly at the regional scale. The integrated index further revealed a contrast that single indicators could not fully capture: the Loess Plateau–Loess Hilly Subregion and the Yinshan Mountains showed the strongest gains in comprehensive ecological benefits, whereas the Greater Khingan Mountains, despite having the highest baseline value, showed a decline. Spatial explanatory-factor analysis indicated that vegetation water consumption and precipitation showed high conditional spatial explanatory power for NPP, water conservation, habitat quality, and CEBI, whereas soil conservation was more strongly associated with nonlinear enhancement among factors; these q-statistics represent spatial associations rather than independent causal effects. These findings support region-specific management: maintain the stability of high-value northeastern forests, match restoration density to water availability in western drylands, and evaluate grazing and erosion-control measures using multiple services rather than vegetation greenness alone.

Assessing spatiotemporal changes in water-related ecosystem services using quickflow and baseflow indicators in a data-scarce Himalayan watershed

Integrating Water Use Efficiency Dynamics into Ecological Function Zoning: Patterns, Drivers, and Trade-offs.

Rapid climate changes pose significant challenges to regional ecosystem stability. Ecological function zoning (EFZ) is essential for spatial management, and Water Use Efficiency (WUE), which links carbon and water cycles, serves as a critical dynamic indicator to enhance zoning adaptability. This study developed a dynamic EFZ framework for the Fuyang River watershed. The spatiotemporal trends of WUE (2001-2020) were first quantified using calibrated vegetation and hydrological models. These dynamic trends were then integrated with four indicators (ecological sensitivity, soil erosion, habitat quality and land use type) using a Self-Organizing Map (SOM) to delineate functional zones. Furthermore, the driving factors and spatial interactions were analyzed using the XGBoost model and Geographically Weighted Regression. Results revealed that WUE exhibited a dominant increasing trend across most areas of the watershed, particularly in shrublands. The NDVI trend exerted widespread spatial dominance across the watershed, confirming that vegetation restoration is the primary driver of the WUE increase. Consequently, the watershed was classified into three distinct zones: the Ecological Conservation Zone in the western mountains, characterized by high sensitivity but increasing WUE; the Agricultural Production Zone in the central plains; and the Urban Development Zone, defined by habitat degradation and declining WUE. Mechanistically, natural restoration in the conservation zone promoted synergies between WUE and ecological quality, whereas intensive management in the agricultural zone led to trade-offs between production and soil conservation. This study demonstrates the necessity of incorporating dynamic process indicators into spatial planning and provides a scientific basis for adaptive ecological management.

Ecosystem Services of Freshwater Swamp Forests: Mechanisms of Hydrological Regulation and Impacts of Global Environmental Change

Freshwater swamp forests (FSFs) are flood-prone ecosystems on nutrient-rich alluvial soils that provide important ecosystem services, yet remain underrepresented in wetland research and management. This integrative review synthesizes current knowledge on FSFs with emphasis on three interconnected themes: (i) ecological definition, classification, and hydrological dynamics; (ii) the role of microtopography and evapotranspiration in regulating water storage and fluxes; and (iii) potential responses of these coupled processes to climate change. Although the “sponge” metaphor is seldom explicitly applied to FSFs, the reviewed literature consistently shows that water retention, delayed release, and vegetation-mediated fluxes are functionally linked, albeit often studied separately. Fine-scale surface heterogeneity, particularly hummocks and depressions, emerges as a key mechanism promoting water redistribution, groundwater recharge, and the persistence of localized refugia and microhabitats. At the same time, climate change-driven shifts in precipitation, drought frequency, heat stress, and disturbance regimes may weaken these regulatory functions and reduce ecosystem resilience. We therefore propose the “sponge–pump framework” as a conceptual model linking hydrological storage (“sponge”) and vegetation-driven water fluxes (“pump”) to explain how FSFs regulate water movement, support biodiversity, and contribute to ecosystem services across spatial and temporal scales. The framework also highlights the need for standardized quantification, broader geographic coverage, and greater integration of microtopographic processes in wetland conservation, restoration, and climate adaptation strategies.

Agricultural land-use composition modulates hydroclimatic coupling of 1 cropland water use efficiency under prolonged aridification: sub-watershed 2 evidence from Chile’s megadrought

Escalating drought sensitivity of a greening China

Introduction The sensitivity of vegetation to drought is a critical determinant of whether recurrent droughts will disrupt sustainable greening and climate change mitigation efforts. However, its potential spatiotemporal heterogeneity, shaped by both environmental and anthropogenic drivers, remains poorly understood. Methods Here, we employed multiscalar Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) to unfold the spatiotemporal patterns of drought across China since the 1980s. We then examined the sensitivity of land surface greenness to drought and its changes across drainage basins, agricultural regions, and plant functional types. Results China has experienced a notable aridification trend since the 1980s, primarily driven by intensified spring dryness across the northern drylands. Significant correlations between greenness variability and SPEI were observed across 29.09% to 44.37% of vegetated lands, with the spatial extent increasing along with the SPEI timescale (12 to 48 months). Critically, despite a widespread greening trend covering nearly 55% of vegetated lands, the sensitivity of greenness variability to multiscalar SPEI markedly escalated across 27.48%–39.67% of China. Discussion Our findings suggest that increasing drought sensitivity poses a growing potential constraint to the sustainability of vegetation greening in China, highlighting the urgent need for adaptive water resource management and ecosystem restoration strategies under a warming climate.