Ecological water requirements for the source region of China's Yangtze River under a range of ecological management objectives

Abstract

Consumptive and non-consumptive ecological water requirements are quantified to meet different management objectives of terrestrial and wetland ecosystems in the source region of the Yangtze River. Consumptive uses are summed, while the rule of compatibility is used to estimate non-consumptive ecological water requirements. The volume of water needed to compensate for evaporative losses in terrestrial ecosystems is determined based on the complementary relationship between actual and potential evapotranspiration. For the riverine habitats, 89.6% of the natural river discharge should be maintained in order to maintain the aquatic ecosystems of the source region in their current state.

Keywords:

• Ecological water requirements
• water resources management
• water consumption
• water availability
• source region
• Yangtze River

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51079005), the National Basic Research Program of China (973) (Grant 2011CB411905), and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (No. IRT0809). The author would like to thank the National Meteorological Information Center of the China Meteorological Administration for providing meteorological data.