Assessing the large-scale plant–water relations in the humid, subtropical Pearl River basin of China

Vegetation interacts closely with water resources. Conventional field studies of plant–water relations are fundamental for understanding the mechanisms of how plants alter and adapt to environmental changes, while large-scale studies can be more practical for regional land use and water management towards mitigating climate change impacts. In this study, we investigated the changes in the total water storage (TWS), aridity index (AI) and vegetation greenness, productivity, and their interactions in the Pearl River basin since April 2002. Results show an overall increasing trend of vegetation greenness and productivity, especially in the middle reaches where TWS also increased. This region dominated by croplands was identified as the hot spot for changes and interactions between water and vegetation in the basin. Vegetation was more strongly affected by TWS than precipitation (P) at both the annual and monthly scales. Further examination showed that the influence of TWS on vegetation in dry years was stronger than wet years, while the impact of P was stronger in wet years than dry years; moreover, vegetation productivity responded slower but stronger to atmospheric dryness in dry years than wet years. The lag effects resulted in nonlinearity between water and vegetation dynamics. This study implies that vegetation in the basin uses rainwater prior to water storage until the soil becomes dry, and their dynamics indicate that vegetation development is subject to water availability, and that vegetation is not dominant in reducing water availability.