Relations between physical and ecosystem service flows of freshwater are critical for water resource security in large dryland river basin

Abstract

Freshwater ecosystem services are the link between ecological systems and social systems, which is an important guarantee of the freshwater safety particularly in dryland regions. However, more quantitative research has been based on the freshwater ecosystem services of static situations, and less on the flow conditions. We established a comprehensive modeling framework for the analysis of water security pattern based on the physical flow (PF) and ecosystem service flow (ESF) of freshwater. The results for Yellow River Basin showed that the water-scarce area have reduced in the past two decades. The PF of freshwater relieves water stress on an average of 52.1 % of the static water in scarce areas per year. The problem in water-deficient areas meanly lies on the water supply side. These results highlight the importance of PF from the upstream to downstream, which is critical for formulating sustainable management strategies in safeguarding long-term regional freshwater resource security.