Abstract
It is known that evapotranspiration (ET) differs before and after vegetation change in watersheds. However, impacts of vegetation change on ET remain incompletely understood. In this paper, we investigated the process-specific, nonclimatic contribution (mainly vegetation coverage changes) to ET at grid, sub-basin, and basin scales using observation and remote sensing data. The Poyang Lake Basin was selected as the study area, which experienced a fast vegetation restoration from 1983 to 2014. Our results showed that vegetation cover change produced contrasting effects on annual ET in magnitude and direction during shifts from a less covered to a more covered stage. At the early stage (1983–1990), with vegetation cover of 30%, vegetation cover change produced negative effects on ET over the basin. At the middle stage (1990–2000), the vegetation coverage increased at a fast pace and the negative effects gradually shifted to positive. At the late stage (2000–2014), the vegetation coverage remained high (over 60%) and maintained a positive relationship with ET. In summary, the vegetation effects are collaboratively influenced by both vegetation coverage and its change rate. Our findings should be helpful for a comprehensive understanding of complicated hydrological responses to anthropogenic revegetation.
Highlights
Evapotranspiration (ET), including transpiration and evaporation, represents terrestrial water consumption [1]
Our results demonstrate that vegetation restoration overall favors annual runoff yield, and its water retention plays a positive role in supplying water resources for the Poyang Lake Basin and downstream areas of the Yangtze River as well
The results showed that the average g0 was 0.0091 ± 0.0025 m S−1, 0.0069 ± 0.0034 m S−1, 0.0033 ± 0.0031 m S−1, and 0.0033 ± 0.0021 m S−1 for evergreen broadleaf forest (EBF), mixed forest (MF), Woody savanna (WSV) and CRP, respectively
Summary
Evapotranspiration (ET), including transpiration and evaporation, represents terrestrial water consumption [1]. It is the crucial component which couples water cycle and energy balance, and is a subject of focus in the field of global change. Vegetation cover change can alter the radiation allocations in soil, and influence soil evaporation [6]. All these additive and/or offsetting effects will determine the total amount of evapotranspiration in response to vegetation cover change at the basin or regional scale
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