Environmental dependence of nonlinear relationships between fractional vegetation cover and ecosystem services based on the constraint line approach
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Afforestation is often portrayed as a panacea for ecosystem service (ES) degradation and climate change, yet it is criticized for overlooking potential risks, highlighting the limited understanding of its effects across contexts. This study aimed to reveal the environmental dependence of nonlinear ES responses to fractional vegetation cover, in order to provide guidance for landscape management and decision-making. We quantified the spatiotemporal changes in FVC and three ESs, as well as the correlations between them, on the Loess Plateau from 2000 to 2022, using various quantitative assessment models, the Mann– Kendall test, and Pearson correlation analysis. We further used constraint-line methods to identify nonlinear FVC– ES relationships and threshold effects across precipitation gradients and geomorphological types. FVC is strongly positively associated with carbon sequestration and soil retention (in >80% of the region), but shows a positive association with water yield in only 36.5% of the region. Plateau-wide FVC thresholds are substantially higher than those in arid and semi-arid zones and in plains. Ignoring this discrepancy risks setting unrealistically high restoration targets in drylands. Precipitation exerts a much stronger control on FVC thresholds than geomorphology, and its marginal effect declines with increasing precipitation. These findings clarify how vegetation restoration affects ecosystem services and provide a basis for ecological restoration strategies on the Loess Plateau and in arid and semi-arid regions worldwide.
Date Issued
2026-12-01
Date Acceptance
2026-06-08
Citation
Earth Systems and Environment, 2026, 10 (9), pp.12649-12665
ISSN
2509-9426
Publisher
Springer
Start Page
12649
End Page
12665
Journal / Book Title
Earth Systems and Environment
Volume
10
Issue
9
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1007/s41748-026-01273-6
Subjects
Ecosystem Services
Fractional Vegetation Cover
Threshold
Multi-Scale
Loess Plateau
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2026-06-15