{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,14]],"date-time":"2026-02-14T05:42:20Z","timestamp":1771047740066,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,9]],"date-time":"2022-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1662681600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["42141007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["42141007"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2021CG0045"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021CG0045"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["41471430"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41471430"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Special funds for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region","award":["42141007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["42141007"]}]},{"name":"Special funds for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region","award":["2021CG0045"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021CG0045"]}]},{"name":"Special funds for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region","award":["41471430"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41471430"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["42141007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["42141007"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["2021CG0045"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021CG0045"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["41471430"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41471430"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Grain for Green Project (GGP) has considerably improved the vegetation cover of the Loess Plateau, as well as changed the carbon and water coupling process of local vegetation to a certain extent. Water use efficiency (WUE) is a crucial measure for evaluating ecosystem responses to global climate change and is a key indicator of the carbon\u2013water coupling between terrestrial ecosystems and the environment. A comprehensive understanding of the impact of vegetation reconstruction on WUE on the Loess Plateau is of great significance to the vegetation growth and contribution to sustainable of the Loess Plateau. In recent years, scholars have gained a more comprehensive understanding of the distribution and drivers of WUE on the Loess Plateau. However, through the study of carbon and water coupling in the Loess Plateau, it is found that the effects of different vegetation restoration levels on WUE are still to be studied in depth in terms of spatial and temporal heterogeneity and long timeseries. In this paper, we analyzed the trends of Normalized Difference vegetation cover (NDVI) and WUE from 2001 to 2010 and 2011 to 2020, respectively, to research at the WUE of the vegetation in this area in relation to vegetation restoration. It was found that the Loess Plateau\u2019s vegetation WUE rose from 2001 to 2020 at a rate of 0.023 g C kg\u22121 H2O per year, and that the increase from 2011 to 2020 was more significant than the growth from 2000 to 2010. The Loess Plateau\u2019s area with a growing trend in vegetation water use rate increased from 77.12% in 2001\u20132010 to 88.63% in 2011\u20132020, with the majority of the increased area occurring in the northeastern Inner Mongolia region. After 20 years of the reforestation project, the area where NDVI and WUE increased simultaneously accounted for 71.54% of the Loess Plateau, the area where NDVI increased but WUE decreased accounted for 10.95% of the Loess Plateau, and the area where NDVI increased but WUE decreased accounted for 7.15% of the Loess Plateau. The correlation between temperature precipitation and WUE was not significant for the whole Loess Plateau, further indicating that the increase in vegetation cover was the main reason for the increase in vegetation water efficiency. Therefore, the effect of vegetation cover on WUE should be fully considered when vegetation restoration is carried out on the Loess Plateau.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs14184513","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,13]],"date-time":"2022-09-13T04:05:41Z","timestamp":1663041941000},"page":"4513","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Distribution and Driving Force of Water Use Efficiency under Vegetation Restoration on the Loess Plateau"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Ruixue","family":"Ma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing 100083, China"},{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"}]},{"given":"Dacheng","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2736-9102","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ximin","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing 100083, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9745-3150","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiaojing","family":"Yao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"}]},{"given":"Shenshen","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"}]},{"given":"Hongsen","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing 100083, China"}]},{"given":"Bingxuan","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Scientific and Technological Innovation and Development Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100045, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"32","article-title":"Effects of forest on water circle on the Loess Plateau","volume":"5","author":"Yushan","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Nat. Resour."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"24","article-title":"Analysis of temporal and spatial changes of vegetation cover in the Yellow River Basin from 2000 to 2010","volume":"33","author":"Yuan","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Ecol."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"88","article-title":"Analysis of Seasonal Dynamics of Vegetation Change in Shaanxi Province Based MODIS NDVI Time Series Data","volume":"28","author":"Bei","year":"2007","journal-title":"Chin. J. Agrometeorol."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1016\/0033-5894(91)90015-W","article-title":"Magnetic susceptibility evidence of monsoon variation on the Loess Plateau of central China during the last 130,000 years","volume":"36","author":"An","year":"1991","journal-title":"Quat. Res."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.1016\/0341-8162(91)90012-M","article-title":"Late quaternary dust flow on the chinese Loess Plateau","volume":"18","author":"An","year":"1991","journal-title":"Catena"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"257","DOI":"10.1093\/treephys\/16.1-2.257","article-title":"Water use efficiency of short-rotation Salix viminalis at leaf, tree and stand scales","volume":"1\u20132","author":"Lindroth","year":"1996","journal-title":"Tree Physiol."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"437","article-title":"Dew is a major factor affecting vegetation water use efficiency rather than a source of water in the eastern Mediterranean area","volume":"46","author":"Alpert","year":"2010","journal-title":"Water Resour. Res."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.1016\/j.agrformet.2011.04.008","article-title":"How climate and vegetation type influence evapotranspiration and water use efficiency in Canadian forest, peatland and grassland ecosystems","volume":"153","author":"Black","year":"2012","journal-title":"Agric. For. Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2366","DOI":"10.1111\/gcb.12873","article-title":"Change in terrestrial ecosystem water-use efficiency over the last three decades","volume":"21","author":"Huang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Glob. Change Biol."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7483","DOI":"10.1038\/srep07483","article-title":"How is water-use efficiency of terrestrial ecosystems distributed and changing on Earth?","volume":"4","author":"Tang","year":"2014","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"581","DOI":"10.1007\/s00442-014-3027-2","article-title":"Comparing integrated stable isotope and eddy covariance estimates of water-use efficiency on a Mediterranean successional sequence","volume":"176","author":"Scartazza","year":"2014","journal-title":"Oecologia"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"559","DOI":"10.1007\/s00704-020-03103-9","article-title":"Spatiotemporal patterns of water use efficiency in China and responses to multi-scale drought","volume":"140","author":"Zhao","year":"2020","journal-title":"Theor. Appl. Climatol."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.colsurfb.2006.11.036","article-title":"Mutual physiological genetic mechanism of plant high water use efficiency and nutrition use efficiency","volume":"57","author":"Cao","year":"2007","journal-title":"Colloids Surf. B Biointerfaces"},{"key":"ref_14","first-page":"702","article-title":"Analysis of spatial and temporal evolution of vegetation cover on Loess Plateau based on AVHRR and MODIS NDVI data","volume":"34","author":"Zhang","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Appl. Sci."},{"key":"ref_15","first-page":"9","article-title":"Spatial and temporal evolution of vegetation cover in response to climate in the Loess Plateau region","volume":"17","author":"Xin","year":"2007","journal-title":"Adv. Nat. Sci."},{"key":"ref_16","first-page":"413","article-title":"Net Primary Productivity Increased on the Loess Plateau Following Implementation of the Grain to Green Program","volume":"8","author":"Fang","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Resour. Ecol."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhang, X., Zhang, L., Zhao, J., Rustomji, P., and Hairsine, P. (2008). Responses of streamflow to changes in climate and land use\/cover in the Loess Plateau, China. Water Resour. Res., 44.","DOI":"10.1029\/2007WR006711"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1019","DOI":"10.1038\/nclimate3092","article-title":"Revegetation in China\u2019s Loess Plateau is approaching sustainable water resource limits","volume":"6","author":"Feng","year":"2016","journal-title":"Nat. Clim. Change"},{"key":"ref_19","first-page":"202","article-title":"Effects of the climate and climatic productivity in the Loess Plateau of China on global climate change","volume":"23","author":"Yao","year":"2005","journal-title":"Agric. Res. Arid. Areas"},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Wang, Y., Fan, J., Shao, M., and Bai, Y. (2008). Analysis of effects of climate change on reference evapotranspiration on the Loess Plateau in recent 50 years. Trans. Chin. Soc. Agric. Eng."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"87","DOI":"10.1016\/j.agrformet.2015.05.002","article-title":"Spatiotemporal vegetation cover variations associated with climate change and ecological restoration in the Loess Plateau","volume":"209","author":"Sun","year":"2015","journal-title":"Agric. For. Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2018.12.031","article-title":"Coupled estimation of 500 m and 8-day resolution global evapotranspiration and gross primary production in 2002\u20132017","volume":"222","author":"Zhang","year":"2019","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1311","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foreco.2009.10.009","article-title":"Model estimates of net primary productivity, evapotranspiration, and water use efficiency in the terrestrial ecosystems of the southern United States during 1895\u20132007","volume":"259","author":"Tian","year":"2010","journal-title":"For. Ecol. Manag."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Rui, G., Li, F., He, W., Yang, S., and Sun, G. (2010, January 22\u201325). Spatial and Temporal Variability of Annual Precipitation during 1958\u20132007 in Loess Plateau, China. Proceedings of the Computer & Computing Technologies in Agriculture Iv-ifip Tc 12 Conference, Nanchang, China."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gooch, J.W. (2011). Coefficient of Variation. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Polymers, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4419-6247-8_15183"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kumari, S., Nie, J., Chen, H.-S., Ma, H., Stewart, R., Li, X., Lu, M.-Z., Taylor, W.M., and Wei, H. (2012). Evaluation of Gene Association Methods for Coexpression Network Construction and Biological Knowledge Discovery. PLoS ONE, 7.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0050411"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"597","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1466-8238.2010.00608.x","article-title":"Increased water-use efficiency during the 20th century did not translate into enhanced tree growth","volume":"20","author":"Canadell","year":"2011","journal-title":"Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr."},{"key":"ref_28","first-page":"14","article-title":"A Review of Studies on Dried Soil Layers in the Loess Plateau","volume":"31","author":"Wang","year":"2016","journal-title":"Adv. Earth Sci."},{"key":"ref_29","first-page":"569","article-title":"Effect of Returning Farmland to Forest (Pasture) and Changes of Precipitation on Soil Erosion in the Yanhe Basin","volume":"42","author":"Xie","year":"2009","journal-title":"Sci. Agric. Sin."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3907","DOI":"10.5194\/essd-13-3907-2021","article-title":"The 30 m annual land cover dataset and its dynamics in China from 1990 to 2019","volume":"13","author":"Yang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Earth Syst. Sci. Data"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1624","DOI":"10.1109\/LGRS.2014.2302796","article-title":"Toward the Use of the MODIS ET Product to Estimate Terrestrial GPP for Nonforest Ecosystems","volume":"11","author":"Yang","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Zhang, J., and Yan, J. (2017). Characteristics of NDVI changes under the different vegetation types in Shaanxi Province from 1982 to 2013. J. Arid. Land Resour. Environ."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"56","DOI":"10.1016\/j.catena.2016.05.022","article-title":"The relationships between grasslands and soil moisture on the Loess Plateau of China: A review","volume":"145","author":"Zhang","year":"2016","journal-title":"Catena"},{"key":"ref_34","first-page":"1429","article-title":"Physical and chemical properties of soil bio-crust on rehabilitated grassland in hilly Loess Plateau of China","volume":"17","author":"Zhao","year":"2006","journal-title":"Chin. J. Appl. Ecol."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"135","DOI":"10.3390\/rs70100135","article-title":"The Performances of MODIS-GPP and -ET Products in China and Their Sensitivity to Input Data (FPAR\/LAI)","volume":"7","author":"Zhengjia","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"247","DOI":"10.3319\/TAO.2018.09.07.01","article-title":"Estimation of water use efficiency in the terrestrial ecosystems of the Yangtze River Delta region, China","volume":"30","author":"Wang","year":"2019","journal-title":"Terr. Atmos. Ocean. Sci."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/14\/18\/4513\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T00:28:42Z","timestamp":1760142522000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/14\/18\/4513"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,9]]},"references-count":36,"journal-issue":{"issue":"18","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9]]}},"alternative-id":["rs14184513"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs14184513","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,9]]}}}