Land use and vegetation conditions shape the dynamics of ecosystem resilience in an arid and semi-arid region: evidence from the Fenhe River Basin, China
Abstract
Quantifying the spatiotemporal dynamics of watershed ecosystem resilience (ER) is crucial for ecological regulation and sustainable watershed management. In this study, long-term time-series remote sensing datasets were utilized to comprehensively characterize the spatiotemporal variations of ER in the Fenhe River Basin (FRB), China and particular emphasized on the role of vegetation cover in slowing the decline of ER. Specifically, two core ecosystem service indicators, namely carbon storage (CS) and habitat quality (HQ), as well as land use metrics were used to established a proxy for ER evaluation. The results demonstrated that CS and HQ exhibited spatially consistent distribution patterns across the basin, featuring high values in peripheral regions and low values in the central core area. Temporally, both CS and HQ exhibited slight degradation during the study period. The average CS decreased by 0.16 ton, while HQ dropped by 0.04, which correspondingly led to an overall decline in regional ER and severe fragmentation of high-resilience ecological zones. Land use transitions and fractional vegetation cover (FVC) were identified as the predominant coupled factors controlling the temporal fluctuations of ER. Importantly, this study identified a notable spatial mismatch between regional area and the spatiotemporal variations of integrated ecosystem services (i.e., CS and HQ) and ER, demonstrating that the loss of critical ecosystem service functions in core basin regions constitutes the primary driver of regional ER degradation. The improvement in vegetation conditions, reflected by an increase in vegetation coverage from 0.52 to 0.66, could not reverse the inherent degradation trajectory yet significantly mitigated the decline in ER. This study provides a robust remote sensing-based analytical framework and reliable scientific references for ecosystem health monitoring, vegetation restoration, and sustainable watershed governance, particularly in the semi-arid regions.
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BibTeX
@article{xie2026land,
title = {{Land use and vegetation conditions shape the dynamics of ecosystem resilience in an arid and semi-arid region: evidence from the Fenhe River Basin, China}},
author = {Chengjie Xie and Yingzheng Zeng and Chuandong He and Lei Wang and Xiaoyu Li and Guangbo Lu and Lifeng Shi and Zhongnan Chen and Yuwei Wang and Tian Xie},
journal = {Frontiers in Plant Science},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3389/fpls.2026.1990444},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1990444},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Land use and vegetation conditions shape the dynamics of ecosystem resilience in an arid and semi-arid region: evidence from the Fenhe River Basin, China
AU - Chengjie Xie
AU - Yingzheng Zeng
AU - Chuandong He
AU - Lei Wang
AU - Xiaoyu Li
AU - Guangbo Lu
AU - Lifeng Shi
AU - Zhongnan Chen
AU - Yuwei Wang
AU - Tian Xie
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/02
JO - Frontiers in Plant Science
DO - 10.3389/fpls.2026.1990444
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1990444
AB - Quantifying the spatiotemporal dynamics of watershed ecosystem resilience (ER) is crucial for ecological regulation and sustainable watershed management. In this study, long-term time-series remote sensing datasets were utilized to comprehensively characterize the spatiotemporal variations of ER in the Fenhe River Basin (FRB), China and particular emphasized on the role of vegetation cover in slowing the decline of ER. Specifically, two core ecosystem service indicators, namely carbon storage (CS) and habitat quality (HQ), as well as land use metrics were used to established a proxy for ER evaluation. The results demonstrated that CS and HQ exhibited spatially consistent distribution patterns across the basin, featuring high values in peripheral regions and low values in the central core area. Temporally, both CS and HQ exhibited slight degradation during the study period. The average CS decreased by 0.16 ton, while HQ dropped by 0.04, which correspondingly led to an overall decline in regional ER and severe fragmentation of high-resilience ecological zones. Land use transitions and fractional vegetation cover (FVC) were identified as the predominant coupled factors controlling the temporal fluctuations of ER. Importantly, this study identified a notable spatial mismatch between regional area and the spatiotemporal variations of integrated ecosystem services (i.e., CS and HQ) and ER, demonstrating that the loss of critical ecosystem service functions in core basin regions constitutes the primary driver of regional ER degradation. The improvement in vegetation conditions, reflected by an increase in vegetation coverage from 0.52 to 0.66, could not reverse the inherent degradation trajectory yet significantly mitigated the decline in ER. This study provides a robust remote sensing-based analytical framework and reliable scientific references for ecosystem health monitoring, vegetation restoration, and sustainable watershed governance, particularly in the semi-arid regions.
SN - 1664-462X
ER -