Enhanced coupling of light use efficiency and water use efficiency in arid and semi-arid environments

Abstract

Both light use efficiency (LUE) and water use efficiency (WUE) play essential roles in ecosystem production. The extent to which ecosystem production is affected by the coupling between LUE and WUE remains unclear. In this study, we used data from flux measurements and weather stations in the Heihe River Basin, China, along a strong climatic gradient to quantify the relationship between LUE and WUE. Variations of LUE explained up to 85% of the variations of WUE. The contribution of LUE to WUE increased with increasing water stress. Pearson’s correlation coefficient between LUE and WUE increased from −0.12 to +0.63 with decreasing LUE. The coordination between LUE and WUE was essential to explaining the insensitive of WUE and GPP with increasing water stress. These results suggest that ecosystems enhance the coordination between light and water use when water stress is high. They enhance our understanding of the drought resilience of ecosystems and reduce uncertainties associated with the carbon cycle in drylands.