Compounding effects of human activities and climatic changes on coexistence of oasis-desert ecosystems: Prioritizing resilient decision-making for a riskier world

作者：Xinwei Yin, Wei Liu, Meng Zhu, Jutao Zhang, Qi Feng, Haiyang Xi, Linshan Yang, Tuo Han, Wenju Cheng, YingQing Su, BaiTing Zhang, Yuanyuan Xue, Zexia Chen, Lingge Wang · 发表于：Research in Cold and Arid Regions · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1016/j.rcar.2023.12.002 · 被引用次数：13 · 研究领域：Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics、Soil erosion and sediment transport、Ecosystem dynamics and resilience

Water-salt balance is critical for the stable coexistence of salt-affected and groundwater-fed oasis-desert ecosystems. Yet, a comprehensive investigation of how soil salinization and groundwater degradation threaten the coexistence of oasis-desert ecosystems is still scarce, especially under the compounding effects of human activities and climatic changes. Here, we assessed the impacts of irrigated agriculture on hydrological regimes in oasis-desert systems, investigated the spatio-temporal variations of soil salinization in irrigated cropland, and evaluated the implications of the interplays of soil salinization and groundwater degradation on the coexistence of oasis-desert ecosystems in northwestern China, based on meaningful modelling approaches and comprehensive measurements over 1995–2020. The results showed that the irrigation return flow coefficient decreased sharply from 0.21±0.09 in the traditional irrigation period to 0.09±0.01 in the water-saving irrigation period. The continuous drop in groundwater tables and significant degradation of groundwater quality are occurring throughout this watershed. The eco-environmental flows are reaching to their limit with watershed closures (i.e., the drainage from the oasis region into the desert region is being weakened or even eliminated), although these progressions were largely hidden by regional precipitation and streamflow variability. The process of salt migration and accumulation across different landscapes in oasis-dese...