Pu et al. (2026) Coupling Hydrological Scenarios and Water Footprints for Multi-Objective Cropping-Structure Optimization in the Middle and Lower Shiyang River Basin

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Identification

• Journal: Plants
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-19
• Authors: Yuhong Pu, Guangping Qi, Yubin Zhang, Yanxia Kang, Yayu Wang, Zhongxia Tang, Haohao Dang, Fusen Yang, Demin Fu
• DOI: 10.3390/plants15182863

Research Groups

• Institute of Hydrology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Department of Agricultural Engineering, Northwest A&F University

Short Summary

This study investigates the impact of hydrological fluctuations on cropping-structure optimization in arid inland river basins and proposes a multi-objective optimization framework to improve water resource management.

Objective

• Investigate how hydrological conditions affect agricultural water-supply boundaries and crop yields in arid inland river basins.
• Develop a multi-objective optimization framework for cropping-structure adjustment under different hydrological scenarios.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Middle and lower reaches of the Shiyang River Basin, China
• Temporal Scale: 1995–2024

Methodology and Data

• Models used: NSGA-III coupled with entropy-weighted TOPSIS
• Data sources: Runoff series (1995–2024), crop yield data

Main Results

• Unit water footprints generally increased as hydrological conditions shifted from wet to extremely dry.
• Cropping-structure adjustments led to a decrease in net economic return under deteriorating hydrological conditions.

Contributions

• This study provides a quantitative basis for scenario- and county-specific cropping-structure optimization and water-resource regulation in arid inland river basins.
• The proposed multi-objective optimization framework can help improve water resource management under different hydrological scenarios.

Funding

• National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52109251)
• Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province, China (Grant No. 2022SF-109)

Citation

@article{Pu2026Coupling,
  author = {Pu, Yuhong and Qi, Guangping and Zhang, Yubin and Kang, Yanxia and Wang, Yayu and Tang, Zhongxia and Dang, Haohao and Yang, Fusen and Fu, Demin},
  title = {Coupling Hydrological Scenarios and Water Footprints for Multi-Objective Cropping-Structure Optimization in the Middle and Lower Shiyang River Basin},
  journal = {Plants},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/plants15182863},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15182863}
}