Water use efficiency in terrestrial ecosystem over East Asia: Effects of climate regimes and land cover types

Abstract

Water use efficiency (WUE) is an environmental factor to account for the metabolism of terrestrial ecosystems using various climate systems and vegetation types. It is estimated by the ratio of gross primary productivity (GPP) to evapotranspiration (ET), the largest carbon and water fluxes with respect to plant respiration. In this study, the WUE was calculated using GPP and ET from the community land model version 4.0 (CLM4.0), inclusive of the prognostic carbon-nitrogen model in the community earth system model (CESM). The estimated WUE in East Asia was analyzed for climate zones, land cover types, and water- and energy-limited zones, with aridity index (AI). Spatial variations from 2001 to 2015 in annual WUE gradually increased as latitude decreased, though small year-to-year differences appeared between monthly GPP and ET. Monthly WUE was lower in summer than fall because the water loss rate in summer was higher than the carbon assimilation increase. The WUE under arid conditions (AI<0.5) was lower than under humid conditions. The GPP, ET, and WUE were higher in the forest, savannas, cropland, and permanent wetland with dense vegetation or abundant water resources than in other land cover types. The WUE was lower in water-limited zones than in energy-limited zones due to the low amount of water to use for the physical processes of GPP and ET. Based on this study, we identified general spatial and temporal variations of carbon fluxes in East Asia with various climate zones and land cover types.