Arid Zone Research ›› 2023, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (4): 563-572.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2023.04.05

• Land and Water Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Spatial differentiation mechanism of land cover and related changes in water-carbon variables in Wuding River Basin

LYU Jinxin1,2(),LIANG Kang1(),LIU Changming1,ZHANG Yihui1,2,LIU Lu1,2   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2022-03-22 Revised:2022-12-24 Online:2023-04-15 Published:2023-04-28

Abstract:

The Wuding River Basin is the key area for the implementation of the grain for green program on the Loess Plateau. Exploring the spatial differentiation mechanism of land cover and the characteristics of variation of related water-carbon variables is essential for supporting water and soil resources conservation and planning, along with serving the construction of regional ecological civilization. Here we used the linear tendency method, Mann-Kendall trend test, Pettitt test, and geodetector to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics and the factors driving the spatial differentiation of land cover in Wudinghe River Basin. In addition, from the perspective of land-water-carbon coupling, we analyzed the characteristics of variation of total primary productivity (GPP), actual evapotranspiration (ET), and water use efficiency (WUE). Three main results were as follows: (i) The total grassland, forest, and construction land increased significantly, while the cropland and barren land decreased significantly during 1990-2019. The area of forest and grassland increased mainly in the lower reaches of the basin and along Wuding River. (ii) Population density, precipitation, and temperature have a significant impact on the spatial pattern of land cover. On the whole, the influence of socioeconomic factors is greater than that of natural factors, but the influence of natural factors represented by precipitation and temperature is increasing. (iii) There is a good correlation between the variation of water-carbon variables and land cover change. Spatially, GPP, ET, and WUE are relatively high in the southeastern part of the basin where cropland, forest, and grassland are the main cover, while they are lower in the northwestern part of the basin where grassland and barren land are the main cover. In terms of time, GPP, ET, and WUE all showed increasing trends during 2001-2019. GPP and WUE increased significantly in most parts of the basin, while ET increased significantly mainly in its middle and lower reaches. In conclusion, under the implementation of the grain for green program and climate change, the forest and grass in Wudinghe River Basin have been restored and the ecology has been improved.

Key words: the Loess Plateau, land cover change, actual evapotranspiration, gross primary productivity, water use efficiency, geodetector