ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Ecol. Evol.
Sec. Conservation and Restoration Ecology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fevo.2025.1672495
This article is part of the Research TopicImpacts and Adaptations in Montane Ecosystems Facing Climate ChangeView all 5 articles
Spatiotemporal change of water use efficiency on different ecological restoration areas of Gansu, China
Provisionally accepted
- Gansu Open University, Lanzhou, China
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Water use efficiency (WUE) is an important indicator to characterize the carbon and water cycle of ecosystems. Using the Google Earth Engine platform, MODIS data were used to calculate WUE. Trend analysis, R/S analysis, partial correlation analysis, PLS-SEM, and other methods were used to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of WUE in Gansu province from 2001 to 2020, and to explore the impact of environmental factors on WUE. The results show that: (1) The annual average WUE in Gansu from 2001 to 2020 was 1.71 gCm−2mm−1, and the WUE showed an upward trend. (2) WUE is high in the southeast and low in the northwest, and the WUE in 77.5% of regions is in a state of continuous and stable change. (3) In 76.5% of the regions in Gansu, WUE was positively correlated with lagged SPEI, and the areas with a lag of 6 to 12 months accounted for 47.36%. (4) The total effect of vegetation factors is positive. The impact of climate on WUE through vegetation is 0.685 in Gansu.
Keywords: Water use efficiency, GIS, environmental factors, Hysteresis effect, Gansu
Received: 11 Aug 2025; Accepted: 14 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Wang, Zhou, Ma and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xinyou Wang, wangxiny@gsou.edu.cn
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