Ecological water requirement of plant–soil systems along the Silk Road Economic Belt: A case study of the Guanzhong–Tianshui region, China

Abstract

“The Belt and Road” refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st‐Century Maritime Silk Road. In this paper, the Guanzhong–Tianshui region is selected as a case study, which is located at the starting point of the Silk Road Economic Belt. First, the spatial distribution maps of plant and soil types are obtained based on the TM remote sensing images and the soil texture data. The boundaries of the third‐level watershed are extracted based on the digital elevation model data. Then the corresponding mathematical models are used to evaluate the ecological water requirements of the plant–soil systems. Also, the spatial distribution characteristics are analysed at the landscape scale and the third‐level watershed scale. The results show that the spatial differences of ecological water requirement in the Guanzhong–Tianshui are obvious. At the plant–soil landscape scale, the ecological water requirement per unit area of the woodland‐clay loam is the highest, about 0.4777 m3/m2, while that of the grassland‐gravel loam is the lowest, about 0.2813 m3/m2. At the third‐level watershed scale, the ecological water requirement per unit area in the Weihe watershed (Jinghezhangjiashan above) is the highest, about 0.4123 m3/m2, while that in the Weihe watershed (Longmen to Sanmenxia) is the lowest, about 0.3002 m3/m2. The study offers scientific references for the regional ecological environment protection and ecosystem management.

The Development of “Internet +” Smart Environmental Protection Multi-Environment Perception System

“…e author discusses its usefulness in assessing long-term effects, impacts on nontarget organisms, and protecting species. In [19], the author obtained the spatial distribution map of plants and soil types based on TM remote sensing images and soil texture data, and then used the corresponding mathematical model to evaluate the ecological water demand of the plant-soil system [20]. In [21], the author uses the theory of landscape security pattern and the minimum cumulative resistance model to build a comprehensive landscape security pattern.…”

Central China Orogen along the Silk Road (Part 2): Mineral deposits, hydrocarbons, geohazards, and environments

“…In the final thematic set on Environments , the first paper by Fu et al () examines the magnetostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental records archived in Cenozoic sediments in the Jianzha Basin, and how uplift in NE Tibetan Plateau caused changes in East Asian Summer Monsoon rainfall, whilst the paper by L. Wang, Zhang, Liu, Han, and Mao () considers the ecological water requirement of plant–soil systems along the Silk Road Economic Belt, focusing on the Guanzhong‐Tianshui region. The paper by Chen, Fan, and Liu () evaluates millennial‐scale climate change during the Holocene inferred from grain‐size analysis of sediments in Inner Mongolia, Northern China.…”

Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Vegetation Water Consumption in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas against the Background of Returning Farmland to Forestland

“…Replacing NDVI with water consumption can better reflect the comprehensive impact of meteorological drought on vegetation. At present, the calculation methods of vegetation water consumption mainly include the area quota method [11][12][13], the phreatic evaporation method [14][15][16][17][18], the plant evapotranspiration method [19][20][21], the water balance method [22,23], the biomass method [24,25], and the calculation method based on remote sensing technology [26][27][28][29]. Because the research on vegetation water consumption in China is relatively insufficient, a method combining the potential evapotranspiration of vegetation method with the soil moisture and plant area calculation method can be applied to the desert, grassland, forests, and other ecosystems to approximate the ecological water demand of vegetation in the region with relatively comprehensive basic data [2].…”