Editorial: Water and ecological systems: Response, management, and restoration

Abstract

Climate change and human activities have induced significant alterations in global hydrological and ecological systems, leading to different hydrological responses and water demands in different regions. In order to better manage water resources and restore ecological systems, it is important to understand how these responses are affected by global change. The articles in this Research Topic explore various aspects of the hydrological and ecological response to global change and their implications for water resources management and ecological restoration. This Research Topic features 14 articles that cover a wide range of topics in the field of water resources and ecology. The main themes of the issue include water supply, ecological impact, vegetation responses, industrial structure, hydrological drought, water consumption patterns, bibliometric analysis, allocation of water resources, river temperature analysis, effects of total dissolved gas, food web structure and function, coal ash loaded nano iron, spatial patterns of macrobenthos taxonomic and functional diversity, and response relationships between environmental DNA and biomass. Some of the specific studies that address these themes include "A new method for estimating multi-source water supply considering joint probability distributions under uncertainty" which explores a new method for water supply estimation, "Analysis on the ecological impact of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the Yellow River Delta wetland and coastal areas" which examines the impact of a reservoir on the environment, and "Study on the propagation probability characteristics and prediction model of meteorological drought to hydrological drought in the basin based on copula function" which investigates the relationship between meteorological drought and hydrological drought. These studies demonstrate the breadth and depth of research in the field of water resources and ecology and provide valuable insights for further exploration and understanding and can be divided into four categories (i) water supply and distribution, (ii) environmental impacts and evaluation, (iii) water quality and drought analysis, (iv) biodiversity and food web analysis, and (v) bibliometric analysis and water treatment and technology.