Ecological Indicators (Nov 2021)
Water-soil conservation services dynamic and its implication for landscape management in a fragile semiarid landscape
Abstract
Under the influence of climate change and human activities, the sustainable management of water and soil resources has been an important issue, especially in arid and semiarid regions. In this study, we first coupled the water-soil conservation service assessment with the ecohydrological processes modeling to simulate water-soil conservation services more accurately and credibly. Water yield (WY), soil retention (SR'), and sand fixation (SF) services as well as service-related efficiency indicators were applied for landscape management in the semiarid West Liaohe River Basin, China. Various analyses have showed that: (1) WY and SR' had a significant upward trend while SF had a significant downward trend. Water yield rate (WYR), soil retention rate (SRR), and sand fixation rate (SFR) increased, indicating that ecosystem services of water yield and erosion control were improved; (2) Precipitation had the greatest influence on WY and WYR, followed by the landscape patterns of grasslands and farmlands. SR' and SRR were mainly affected by terrain slope. Slope, digital elevation model (DEM), and air temperature promoted SRR but had opposite effect on SR'. Forest landscape mattered more to SR' than to SRR. Wind speed was the most important factor in affecting the dynamic of SF and SFR. Except for windspeed, SF was positively affected by soil sand content while SFR was positively affected by area and leaf area index (LAI) of forests; (3) There were significantly synergies between WY and SR' and between SRR and SFR. Trade-offs occurred between WY and SF but were insignificant between WYR and erosion control rate; (4) It’s recommended to increase grassland proportion above 60% in the northwestern basin, reduce the grassland aggregation to 75, increase forests in the southern basin, and enhance forest aggregation in the western mountainous areas and farmland aggregation in the central basin. The results of the study are instructive for other arid and semiarid regions to manage landscape in terms of promote soil–water service conservation.
