Zou et al. (2026) Unraveling the hydrological dimension of ecosystem resilience: Drought-induced responses of water retention and nonlinear drivers

Identification

• Journal: CATENA
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-15
• Authors: Yi Zou, Roberto Ranzi, Xuan Ji, Xuan Luo, Nguyen Hao Quang, Xinbei Liu, Jianxing Li, Yungang Li
• DOI: 10.1016/j.catena.2026.110590

Research Groups

• Institute of International Rivers and Eco-security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650504, China
• Department of Civil, Environmental, Architectural Engineering and Mathematics, Universit`a degli Studi di Brescia, Via Branze, 43, 25123 Brescia, Italy
• Laboratory of Environmental Sciences and Climate Change, Institute for Computational Science and Artificial Intelligence, Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City 70000, Viet Nam

Short Summary

This study proposes an assessment framework based on water retention to evaluate terrestrial ecosystem resilience during droughts. The results show a distinct spatial pattern in ecosystem resilience across the Yuanjiang-Red River Basin.

Objective

• Investigate the hydrological dimension of ecosystem resilience under drought conditions and identify key drivers of resilience in transboundary basins.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Basin-scale analysis of the Yuanjiang-Red River Basin (YRRB)
• Temporal Scale: 1973 to 2015

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model
• Data sources: Basin-scale hydrological variables, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, land-surface factors

Main Results

• A distinct "upstream-low, downstream-high" spatial pattern in ecosystem resilience was identified.
• Precipitation and potential evapotranspiration had the highest explanatory power for the spatial pattern of ERI.
• Nonlinear associations were found between forestland coverage and ERI, with an inverted U-shaped relationship.

Contributions

• This study highlights the importance of considering spatial vegetation-water relationships under different hydroclimatic conditions.
• The assessment framework based on water retention provides a new approach to evaluating terrestrial ecosystem resilience during droughts.

Funding

• This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52179201) and the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Transboundary Eco-security of Southwest China, Yunnan University.

Citation

@article{Zou2026Unraveling,
  author = {Zou, Yi and Ranzi, Roberto and Ji, Xuan and Luo, Xuan and Quang, Nguyen Hao and Liu, Xinbei and Li, Jianxing and Li, Yungang},
  title = {Unraveling the hydrological dimension of ecosystem resilience: Drought-induced responses of water retention and nonlinear drivers},
  journal = {CATENA},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.catena.2026.110590},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2026.110590}
}