Changes in Water Use Efficiency Caused by Climate Change,CO2 Fertilization,and Land Use Changes on the Tibetan Plateau

Terrestrial ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE) is an important indicator for coupling plant photosynthesis and transpiration, and is also a key factor linking the carbon and water cycles between the land and atmosphere. However, under the combination of climate change and human intervention, the change in WUE is still unclear, especially on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Therefore, satellite remote sensing data and process-based terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) are used in this study to investigate the spatiotemporal variations of WUE over the TP from 2001 to 2010. Then, the effects of land use and land cover change (LULCC) and CO₂ fertilization on WUE from 1981–2010 are assessed using TBMs. Results show that climate change is the leading contributor to the change in WUE on the TP, and temperature is the most important factor. LULCC makes a negative contribution to WUE (–20.63%), which is greater than the positive contribution of CO₂ fertilization (11.65%). In addition, CO₂ fertilization can effectively improve ecosystem resilience on the TP. On the northwest plateau, the effects of LULCC and CO₂ fertilization on WUE are more pronounced during the driest years than the annual average. These findings can help researchers understand the response of WUE to climate change and human activity and the coupling of the carbon and water cycles over the TP.