Drivers of the water use efficiency changes in China during 1982–2015

Abstract

This study investigates the drivers of water use efficiency (WUE), a key metric of water resources management, and its changes over eight regions across China from 1982 to 2015 based on gross primary production (GPP) and actual evapotranspiration (AET) datasets. The order of seasonal change of WUE from large to small is autumn, summer, spring and winter. The drivers include seven variables, air temperature, specific humidity, precipitation, short-wave radiation, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), soil moisture and CO2. Our analysis suggests that the sensitivity of annual average NDVI to WUE changes was high nationwide, but there were some differences in seasonal scales. The annual average contribution of air temperature and CO2 affecting WUE change was relatively high in China's largest area (SW, SE, E, NP). Other influencing factors were only relatively high in the local area. Seasonally, NDVI is the driving factor with the highest contribution rate in summer and autumn for NC and NW region. The seasonal contribution rates of driving factors in other regions are significantly different. For the study period (1982–2015), the shrubland ecosystem had the highest annual WUE followed by forest and cropland. The WUE of the farmland ecosystem was higher than that of the grassland ecosystem in most areas.