Detecting ecosystem water use efficiency responses to drought from long-term remote sensing data

Ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE) is a key indicator of the coupled water-carbon cycle. Understanding the cumulative and lagged effects of drought on global ecosystem WUE is crucial for assessing and responding to hydroclimatic disturbances. However, the spatial patterns and mechanisms of drought...

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Main Authors: Xingjiao Yu, Qi Yin, Tiantian Zhao, Kainan Chen, Long Qian, Wen’e Wang, Xiaotao Hu, Baozhong Zhang
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Sprog:engelsk
Udgivet: Elsevier 2025-08-01
Serier:Ecological Indicators
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author Xingjiao Yu
Qi Yin
Tiantian Zhao
Kainan Chen
Long Qian
Wen’e Wang
Xiaotao Hu
Baozhong Zhang
author_facet Xingjiao Yu
Qi Yin
Tiantian Zhao
Kainan Chen
Long Qian
Wen’e Wang
Xiaotao Hu
Baozhong Zhang
author_sort Xingjiao Yu
collection DOAJ
description Ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE) is a key indicator of the coupled water-carbon cycle. Understanding the cumulative and lagged effects of drought on global ecosystem WUE is crucial for assessing and responding to hydroclimatic disturbances. However, the spatial patterns and mechanisms of drought impacts on global WUE remain unclear. In particular, studies investigating the responses of different climate zones and biomes to drought under the framework of multi-scale standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) are still limited. Therefore, This study integrates global-scale WUE data with the multi-temporal SPEI to systematically quantify the lagged and cumulative effects of drought on WUE. The research consists of three main steps: First, pixel-level sliding − window correlation analysis is employed to identify the most significant correlations between WUE and SPEI, thereby quantitatively determining the duration of drought-induced lagged and cumulative effect. Second, both SPEI and its slope are incorporated to investigate how moisture gradients regulate the WUE response mechanism. Finally, the resilience index is used to classify and evaluate the recovery capacity of terrestrial ecosystems. The results indicated that both cumulative (48.44 %) and lagged (66.98 %) effects of drought on WUE were widespread, especially in grasslands (GRA), shrublands (CSH) and savannas (SAV), with cumulative effects ranging from 4.04 to 5.87 months and lagged effect concentrated between 5 and 7 months. In terms of climatic regions, the highest proportions of cumulative and lagged effect were observed in arid and semi-arid areas, with cumulative effect accounting for 40.67 % and 39.75 %, respectively, and lagged effect representing 74.70 % and 59.24 %, respectively. Further analysis revealed the different regulatory pathways of WUE response to SPEI and SPEI slope. The positive intensity of WUE was negatively correlated with SPEI and its slope, while the negative intensity exhibited the opposite pattern. The coupling characteristics of positive and negative effect along the moisture gradient revealed the spatiotemporal compensation mechanism of the ecosystem carbon–water cycle under drought conditions. This study provides critical insights into the long-term effect of drought on ecosystems, helps to predict dynamic changes in water availability under climate change.
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spelling doaj-art-8378d406862946d6b0f13471f595cef02025-07-04T04:46:11ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2025-08-01177113734Detecting ecosystem water use efficiency responses to drought from long-term remote sensing dataXingjiao Yu0Qi Yin1Tiantian Zhao2Kainan Chen3Long Qian4Wen’e Wang5Xiaotao Hu6Baozhong Zhang7Key Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR China; College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR ChinaKey Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR China; College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR ChinaKey Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR China; College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR ChinaKey Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR China; College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR ChinaKey Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR China; College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR ChinaKey Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR China; College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR China; Corresponding author.Key Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR China; College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest AF University, Yangling 712100, PR ChinaState Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, PR China; National Center for Efficient Irrigation Engineering and Technology Research-Beijing, Beijing 100048, PR ChinaEcosystem water use efficiency (WUE) is a key indicator of the coupled water-carbon cycle. Understanding the cumulative and lagged effects of drought on global ecosystem WUE is crucial for assessing and responding to hydroclimatic disturbances. However, the spatial patterns and mechanisms of drought impacts on global WUE remain unclear. In particular, studies investigating the responses of different climate zones and biomes to drought under the framework of multi-scale standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) are still limited. Therefore, This study integrates global-scale WUE data with the multi-temporal SPEI to systematically quantify the lagged and cumulative effects of drought on WUE. The research consists of three main steps: First, pixel-level sliding − window correlation analysis is employed to identify the most significant correlations between WUE and SPEI, thereby quantitatively determining the duration of drought-induced lagged and cumulative effect. Second, both SPEI and its slope are incorporated to investigate how moisture gradients regulate the WUE response mechanism. Finally, the resilience index is used to classify and evaluate the recovery capacity of terrestrial ecosystems. The results indicated that both cumulative (48.44 %) and lagged (66.98 %) effects of drought on WUE were widespread, especially in grasslands (GRA), shrublands (CSH) and savannas (SAV), with cumulative effects ranging from 4.04 to 5.87 months and lagged effect concentrated between 5 and 7 months. In terms of climatic regions, the highest proportions of cumulative and lagged effect were observed in arid and semi-arid areas, with cumulative effect accounting for 40.67 % and 39.75 %, respectively, and lagged effect representing 74.70 % and 59.24 %, respectively. Further analysis revealed the different regulatory pathways of WUE response to SPEI and SPEI slope. The positive intensity of WUE was negatively correlated with SPEI and its slope, while the negative intensity exhibited the opposite pattern. The coupling characteristics of positive and negative effect along the moisture gradient revealed the spatiotemporal compensation mechanism of the ecosystem carbon–water cycle under drought conditions. This study provides critical insights into the long-term effect of drought on ecosystems, helps to predict dynamic changes in water availability under climate change.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25006648DroughtWater use efficiency (WUE)Cumulative effectsLagged effectsSPEI
spellingShingle Xingjiao Yu
Qi Yin
Tiantian Zhao
Kainan Chen
Long Qian
Wen’e Wang
Xiaotao Hu
Baozhong Zhang
Detecting ecosystem water use efficiency responses to drought from long-term remote sensing data
Ecological Indicators
Drought
Water use efficiency (WUE)
Cumulative effects
Lagged effects
SPEI
title Detecting ecosystem water use efficiency responses to drought from long-term remote sensing data
title_full Detecting ecosystem water use efficiency responses to drought from long-term remote sensing data
title_fullStr Detecting ecosystem water use efficiency responses to drought from long-term remote sensing data
title_full_unstemmed Detecting ecosystem water use efficiency responses to drought from long-term remote sensing data
title_short Detecting ecosystem water use efficiency responses to drought from long-term remote sensing data
title_sort detecting ecosystem water use efficiency responses to drought from long term remote sensing data
topic Drought
Water use efficiency (WUE)
Cumulative effects
Lagged effects
SPEI
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25006648
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