Wang et al. (2026) Drivers of Shrinkage in Daihai Lake Based on Influence of Climate Change, Vegetation Variation and Agricultural Water Saving on ET

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Land
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-03-25
• Authors: Dewang Wang, Ping He, Jie Xu, Liping Hou
• DOI: 10.3390/land15040532

Research Groups

Not available from the provided text.

Short Summary

This study investigated the impact of vegetation dynamics on Daihai Lake shrinkage, finding that forest expansion and its associated evapotranspiration, alongside climate change, are significant drivers, and recommends shrub-grass combined restoration for sustainability.

Objective

• To analyze changes in the water budget across different vegetation types in the Daihai Lake Basin and examine the relationships between environmental factors (climate change, afforestation projects, and water-saving irrigation) and lake shrinkage, with a focus on the impact of vegetation dynamics.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Daihai Lake Basin, China.
• Temporal Scale: Past four decades (approximately 1980s-2020s), with specific analysis of afforestation since 2000.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Correlation analysis.
• Data sources: Remote sensing-derived precipitation and evapotranspiration (ET) data.

Main Results

• Forest cover expanded by 69.42 km² since 2000, accounting for 73.95% of the total forest area.
• Forest evapotranspiration (ET) demonstrated the strongest negative correlation with lake area (r = -0.89, p < 0.001) among all vegetation types.
• Grasslands were identified as the primary water-surplus vegetation, contributing 81.34% to the basin’s total water surplus.
• The synergistic effects of precipitation reduction, temperature increase, and enhanced ET from forest expansion drove the shrinkage of Daihai Lake.

Contributions

• Quantified the previously under-examined impact of vegetation dynamics, specifically forest expansion and its associated evapotranspiration, on Daihai Lake shrinkage.
• Provided scientific evidence highlighting the need for science-based vegetation management in arid and semi-arid regions.
• Recommended a specific ecological restoration approach (shrub-grass combined restoration) to enhance the sustainability of ecological restoration in water-limited regions.

Funding

Not available from the provided text.

Citation

@article{Wang2026Drivers,
  author = {Wang, Dewang and He, Ping and Xu, Jie and Hou, Liping},
  title = {Drivers of Shrinkage in Daihai Lake Based on Influence of Climate Change, Vegetation Variation and Agricultural Water Saving on ET},
  journal = {Land},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/land15040532},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/land15040532}
}