Zhang et al. (2025) Regional greening intensifies transpiration water consumption but enhances the positive feedback process between vegetation and precipitation

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Hydrology
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-10-30
• Authors: Xufang Zhang, Yunhe Yin
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.134483

Research Groups

• Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
• University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Short Summary

This study quantifies the hydrological impacts of regional greening in the Yellow River Basin, revealing that while vegetation restoration intensifies transpiration and overall evapotranspiration, it also significantly enhances the precipitation recycling ratio and generates additional precipitation, suggesting an underestimation of regional vegetation carrying capacity.

Objective

• To quantify the impacts of dynamic vegetation change on evapotranspiration (ET) and precipitation in the Yellow River Basin.
• To understand the hydrological response mechanisms and the positive feedback loop between vegetation and precipitation induced by large-scale vegetation restoration.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Yellow River Basin
• Temporal Scale: Multi-year analysis, with trends reported annually (e.g., mm per year).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Modified Priestley-Taylor Jet Propulsion Laboratory model (PT-JPL), Dynamic Recycling Model (DRM), Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model.
• Data sources: Model simulations comparing dynamic vegetation change (DV) and no dynamic vegetation change (NO_DV) scenarios.

Main Results

• The modified PT-JPL model, incorporating differences in soil evaporation and canopy transpiration under varying vegetation cover types, offered higher precision.
• The evapotranspiration (ET) difference between dynamic and no-dynamic vegetation scenarios showed an increasing trend of 4.51 mm per year.
• Vegetation restoration significantly suppressed soil evaporation while substantially enhancing canopy transpiration.
• Vegetation restoration led to an increase of 1.68 % in the annual mean precipitation recycling ratio.
• Vegetation restoration generated an additional 1.81 mm of precipitation per year.
• Mechanistic analysis revealed that vegetation restoration creates favorable hydrological conditions that enhance precipitation.

Contributions

• Provides a significant contribution to understanding the hydrological response mechanisms and the positive feedback loop induced by large-scale vegetation restoration.
• Highlights that the vegetation carrying capacity in some regions may be underestimated due to the positive feedback on precipitation.
• Introduces a modified PT-JPL model with improved precision for estimating ET components under varying vegetation cover.

Funding

• Not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Zhang2025Regional,
  author = {Zhang, Xufang and Yin, Yunhe},
  title = {Regional greening intensifies transpiration water consumption but enhances the positive feedback process between vegetation and precipitation},
  journal = {Journal of Hydrology},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.134483},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.134483}
}