水源涵养功能概念的生态和水文视角辨析

水源涵养是评价陆地生态系统服务功能的重要指标,然而学界对水源涵养功能概念和计算方法仍存在诸多争论。这一方面说明水源涵养功能评估具有重要的现实意义,同时也说明其概念的复杂性和模糊性,亟需从生态学和水文学的基本理论出发,厘清水源涵养功能概念的内涵和评估方法,促进科学决策和有效管理。研究水源涵养功能时,生态学家更关注陆地生态系统的蓄水能力（Smax）,而水文学家更关注流域的产流量（Q）,两者均具有合理性,但各有侧重,若不分别辨析,极易造成概念混淆。理论和数据分析表明,蓄水能力和产流量虽然联系紧密,但概念完全不同。陆地生态系统的Smax决定了流域对降水的分配：即蒸散发（绿水）和Q（蓝水）,Smax和Q在降水量一定的情况下往往存在此消彼长的关系。研究发现生态系统的根区蓄水能力（SRmax）是联系绿水和蓝水的核心要素,是水源涵养功能评估的关键变量。大尺度根区蓄水能力主要由气候决定,可借鉴工程水文中设计水库的累积曲线法,根据生态系统用水的生存策略通过气候反演。最后,本文提出3点建议：(1)在实践中分别评估生态系统的绿水和蓝水涵养功能;(2)进一步全面考虑冰川积雪、地下水等多要素的水源涵养功能;(3)...

Ecological and hydrological perspectives of the water retention concept

Water retention plays a critical role in terrestrial ecosystem service. However, regarding its definition and calculation, there is a long debate in academia, which illustrates its importance in practice, and simultaneously demonstrates the complexity and vagueness of this essential concept. Thus, there is an urgent need to clarify its definition and calculation method based on basic ecological and hydrological theories, and eventually promote science-based decision-making and integrated water management. Interestingly, we observed that for the same term of water retention function, ecologists intended to concern the terrestrial ecosystem's water storage capacity (S_max), while hydrologists concerned more about the water yield from the catchment (Q). Both perspectives have their own rationality, but with totally different vision and emphasis. By theorical discussion and data analysis, we found that water storage capacity (S_max) and water yield (Q) indeed have strong connection, but they are definitely two different concepts. The S_max of terrestrial ecosystem determined the separation of precipitation into either evaporation (green water) and Q (blue water). The size of S_max in most cases trades off with the amount of Q. We further revealed that the root zone storage capacity (S_Rmax) of ecosystem is at the heart of water retention function assessment, and plays a key role linking blue and green water. The S_Rmax is the result of ecosystem's adaption to its climate, and can be derived by the classic method to design reservoir, i.e. the Mass Curve Technique (MCT). Lastly, we gave three recommendations: (1) simultaneously evaluating green water retention capacity and blue water yield in practice; (2) further investigating the water retention functions of more water bodies, e.g. glacier, snow cover, and groundwater; (3) synergizing natural and artificial water retention capacities to enhance the water use efficiency in both the ecosystem and our economic-social system.