The research selected three typical areas for plant investigation, including upper reaches of Gangnan Reservoir, the area between Gangnan and downstream of Huangbizhuang Reservoir, and Huangbizhuang Reservoir. The res...The research selected three typical areas for plant investigation, including upper reaches of Gangnan Reservoir, the area between Gangnan and downstream of Huangbizhuang Reservoir, and Huangbizhuang Reservoir. The results showed that affected by water, plant species, species diversity and species richness were all decreasing in varying degrees as the distance with watercourse upper reaches was increasing, but the ratio of Anthropochory plants was growing. The research finally proposed countermeasures, including increasing wetland area, constructing forests and artificial water landscape of Hutuo River and reinforcing watercourse compre- hensive management.展开更多
Sampling and testing are conducted on groundwater depth and vegetation coverage in the 670 km2 of the Sangong River Basin and semi-variance function analysis is made afterwards on the data obtained by the application ...Sampling and testing are conducted on groundwater depth and vegetation coverage in the 670 km2 of the Sangong River Basin and semi-variance function analysis is made afterwards on the data obtained by the application of geo-statistics. Results showed that the variance curve of the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage displays an exponential model. Analysis of sampling data in 2003 indicates that the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage change similarly in space in this area. The Sangong River Basin is composed of upper oasis, middle ecotone and lower sand dune. In oasis and ecotone, influenced by irrigation of the adjoining oasis, groundwater level has been raised and soil water content also increased compared with sand dune nearby, vegetation developed well. But in the lower reaches of the Sangong River Basin, because of descending of groundwater level, soil water content decreased and vegetation degenerated. From oasis to abandoned land and desert grassland, vegetation coverage and groundwater level changed greatly with significant difference respectively in spatial variation. Distinct but similar spatial variability exists among the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage in the study area, namely, the vegetation coverage decreasing (increasing) as the groundwater depth increases (decreases). This illustrates the great dependence of vegetation coverage on groundwater depth in arid regions and further implies that among the great number of factors affecting vegetation coverage in arid regions, groundwater depth turns out to be the most determinant one.展开更多
We investigated whether species richness, diversity and density of understory herbaceous plants differed along logging(gap) and grazing(primarily by cattle) disturbance gradients, and sought to identify drivers of ric...We investigated whether species richness, diversity and density of understory herbaceous plants differed along logging(gap) and grazing(primarily by cattle) disturbance gradients, and sought to identify drivers of richness, diversity and density of understory vegetation of logged sites. A factorial experiment was conducted in the mixed conifer forest of Gidakom in Western Bhutan. Levels of the logging treatment included small(0.15 – 0.24 ha), medium(0.25 – 0.35 ha) and large(0.36 – 1.31 ha) gaps. The grazing treatment included grazed(primarily by cattle) and ungrazed(where herbivores were excluded by a fence) plots nested within each gap. Data were collected from 12 gaps(4 replicates at each level of logging) using the point intercept method. Shannon Weaver Diversity and Margalef's indices were used to estimate species diversity and describe species richness, respectively. Soil samples were analyzed for pH and nutrients. The interaction effect of logging and grazing was significant(p≤0.001) only on species diversity. Relative to ungrazed areas, species diversity was significantly higher(0.01≤p≤0.05) in medium grazed gaps. Under grazed conditions, soil P was negatively correlated with gap size and species diversity. While species diversity was positivelycorrelated(0.01≤p≤0.05) with soil N in grazed plots species richness was positively correlated(0.001≤p≤0.01) with soil N in ungrazed plots. Relative density of Yushania microphylla and Carex nubigena were higher under ungrazed conditions. Our study suggests that the combined effect of cattle grazing and logging results in higher species diversity of understory vegetation in medium and grazed gaps in mixed conifer forests of Bhutan,whereas increase or decrease in relative density of major species is determined primarily by the independent effects of grazing and logging. From management perspective, forest managers must refrain from creating large gaps to avoid loss of nutrients(mainly P and N), which may eventually affect tree regeneration. Managers intending to maintain understory vegetation diversity must consider the combined effects of grazing and logging, ensuring low to moderate grazing pressure.展开更多
The shallow groundwater in Shendong mining area was broken because of large-scale underground mining activities. Selecting 32201 working-face as research area, analyzed the change rule of groundwater level and aquifer...The shallow groundwater in Shendong mining area was broken because of large-scale underground mining activities. Selecting 32201 working-face as research area, analyzed the change rule of groundwater level and aquifer thickness under mining impact with a large number of water level observation data. Then, the impacts of groundwater level change on vegetation were analyzed by the relationship theory of arid area groundwater and vegetation. The results show that the aquifer structure and the water condition of supply flow and drainage are changed by the water proof mining. The groundwater level recovere only a little compared with the original groundwater level in two years. But the great change of groundwater level do not have notable influences on vegetation of this mining area, and further study indicates that there are certain conditions where groundwater level change impacted on vegetation. When the influence of groundwater level change was evaluated, the plant ecological water level, warning water level and spatial distribution character of original groundwater and mining-impacted groundwater-level change should be integrated.展开更多
Zonation patterns of riparian vegetation have been sampled and described in mountain streams in two catchments in the Hottentots-Holland Mountains, Western Cape, South Africa. Six main vegetation types that differ in ...Zonation patterns of riparian vegetation have been sampled and described in mountain streams in two catchments in the Hottentots-Holland Mountains, Western Cape, South Africa. Six main vegetation types that differ in structure and species composition, are dominant along these river banks: Aquatic vegetation, Wetbanks, Palmiet, Scrub, Forest and Shrubland(Fynbos). The study aims to correlate the vegetation patterns to flooding patterns, in particular the inundation frequency and stream power. A problem arises: because these catchments are ungauged, like most mountain catchments, with the only weirs at the downstream end of the catchment. Discharge data at the weirs are extrapolated to the sites upstream by multiplication with a factor based on the size of the subcatchment that drains through a sample site. In this way, recurrence intervals for floods in mountain streams are derived. Discharges at sites are also calculated using bed roughness(Manning's n) and slope in straight sections with uniform flow conditions. Stream power is derived from the discharges calculated in this manner. The combination of stream power and recurrence intervals explains the occurrence of most vegetation types occurring on the banks, except for one type: Afromontane Forest. This type is probably more dependent on other factors, such as protection from fire and the depth of the groundwater table.展开更多
The small autonomous platform with a thin line array is an important tool for underwater acoustic mobile surveillance.Generally,only one-dimensional(1-D)direction-of-arrival(DOA)of the source signal can be estimated u...The small autonomous platform with a thin line array is an important tool for underwater acoustic mobile surveillance.Generally,only one-dimensional(1-D)direction-of-arrival(DOA)of the source signal can be estimated using a thin towed line array.In this work,the two-dimensional(2-D)DOA estimation is achieved by the thin line array towed by a small autonomous platform due to its flexible maneuver.Two perpendicular tow paths are formed through the fast turning of this array.An L-shaped array is formed by the same towed array on these two tow paths at different times.Using the array on these two straight paths,two 1-D DOAs of the source signal are obtained respectively,and then the 2-D DOA based on the formed L-shaped array can be estimated.The effectiveness of proposed approach is verified by numerical simulations and its theoretical error is analyzed.展开更多
Most currently existing investigations on the observability of passive guidance systems can only provide a qualitative result. In this paper, a quantitative method, which utilizes Cramér-Rao lower bound in the es...Most currently existing investigations on the observability of passive guidance systems can only provide a qualitative result. In this paper, a quantitative method, which utilizes Cramér-Rao lower bound in the estimability analysis of closed-loop guidance systems with bearings-only measurements, is proposed. The new method provides an intuitive result for observability of the guidance system through graphical analysis. As a demonstration, a numerical example is presented, in which the degrees of observability of the guidance systems under two commonly used guidance laws are compared by using the new approach.展开更多
Iron-rich groundwater flowing into wetlands is a worldwide environmental pollution phenomenon that is closely associated with the stability of wetland ecosystems. Combined with high phosphorus(P) loading from agricult...Iron-rich groundwater flowing into wetlands is a worldwide environmental pollution phenomenon that is closely associated with the stability of wetland ecosystems. Combined with high phosphorus(P) loading from agricultural runoff, the prediction of the evolution of wetland vegetation affected by compound contamination is particularly urgent. We tested the effects of anaerobic iron-rich groundwater discharge in a freshwater marsh by simulating the effect of three levels of eutrophic water on native plants(Glyceria spiculosa(Fr. Schmidt.) Rosh.). The management of wetland vegetation with 1–20 mg/L Fe input is an efficient method to promote the growth of plants, which showed an optimum response under a 0.10 mg/L P surface water environment. Iron-rich groundwater strongly affects the changes in ecological niches of some wetland plant species and the dominant species. In addition, when the P concentration in a natural body of water is too high, the governance effect of eutrophication might not be as expected. Under iron-rich groundwater conditions, the δ^(13)C values of organs were more depleted, which can partially explain the differences in δ^(13)C in the soil profile. Conversely, the carbon isotope composition of soil organic carbon is indicative of past changes in vegetation. The results of our experiments confirm that iron-rich groundwater discharge has the potential to affect vegetation composition through toxicity modification in eutrophic environments.展开更多
The precipitation recharge coefficient(PRC), representing the amount of groundwater recharge from precipitation, is an important parameter for groundwater resources evaluation and numerical simulation. It was usually ...The precipitation recharge coefficient(PRC), representing the amount of groundwater recharge from precipitation, is an important parameter for groundwater resources evaluation and numerical simulation. It was usually obtained from empirical knowledge and site experiments in the 1980 s. However, the environmental settings have been greatly modified from that time due to land use change and groundwater over-pumping, especially in the Beijing plain area(BPA). This paper aims to estimate and analyze PRC of BPA with the distributed hydrological model and GIS for the year 2011 with similar annual precipitation as long-term mean. It is found that the recharge from vertical(precipitation + irrigation) and precipitation is 291.0 mm/yr and 233.7 mm/yr, respectively, which accounts for 38.6% and 36.6% of corresponding input water. The regional mean PRC is 0.366, which is a little different from the traditional map. However, it has a spatial variation ranging from –7.0% to 17.5% for various sub-regions. Since the vadose zone is now much thicker than the evaporation extinction depth, the land cover is regarded as the major dynamic factor that causes the variation of PRC in this area due to the difference of evapotranspiration rates. It is suggested that the negative impact of reforestation on groundwater quantity within BPA should be well investigated, because the PRC beneath forestland is the smallest among all land cover types.展开更多
The relationship between the groundwater and the surface eco-environment in arid area is very close. In this paper, the authors extracted normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and vegetation conditional rat...The relationship between the groundwater and the surface eco-environment in arid area is very close. In this paper, the authors extracted normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and vegetation conditional ratio (VCR) from MODIS images, and analyzed the relationships among NDVI, VCR and the measured data of groundwater of the same location in the research region. Based on this, the depth of groundwater suitable for vegetation growth in the upper-middle reaches of the Yellow River basin has been calculated. The results show that the depth of groundwater suitable for vegetation growth in the research region ranges from 0.8 to 4.5m, and the optimal groundwater depth is 1.2m. The method developed in this study is applicable to research the relationship between the groundwater and land surface vegetation environment on large-scale in arid area.展开更多
Evapotranspiration(ET) and its controlling mechanism over the desert riparian forests in arid regions are the important scientific basis for the water resources managements of the lower reaches of the inland rivers of...Evapotranspiration(ET) and its controlling mechanism over the desert riparian forests in arid regions are the important scientific basis for the water resources managements of the lower reaches of the inland rivers of China. Nearly three years of continuous measurements of surface ET, soil water content at different depths and groundwater table over a typical Tamarix spp. stand and a typical Populus euphratica stand were conducted in the lower reach of the Tarim River. The ET seasonal trends in the growing season were controlled by plant phenology, and ET in non-growing season was weak. The diurnal variations of ET resulting from the comprehensive effects of all atmospheric factors were significantly related with reference ET. The spatial pattern of ET was determined by vegetation LAI, more vegetation coverage, more ET amount. Groundwater is the water source of surface ET, and the soil water in shallow layers hardly took part in the water exchange in the groundwatersoil-plant-air system. The temporal processes of ET over the Tamarix stand and the Populus stand were similar, but the water consumption of the well-grown Populus euphratica was higher than that of the well-grown Tamarix spp. Further analysis indicates that plant transpiration accounts for most of the surface ET, with soil evaporation weak and negligible; groundwater table is a crucial factor influencing ET over the desert riparian forests, groundwater influences the processes and amounts of ET by controlling the growth and spatial distribution of desert riparian forests; quantifying the water stress of desert riparian forests using groundwater table is more appropriate, rather than soil water content. Based on the understanding of ET and water movements in the groundwater-soil-plant-air system, a generalized framework expressing the water cycling and its key controlling mechanism in the lower reaches of the inland rivers of China is described, and a simple model to estimate water requirements of the desert riparian forests is presented.展开更多
基金Supported by Hebei Provincial Natural Science Foundation(D2012302007)Science and Technology Project of Hebei Academy of Sciences(14111)~~
文摘The research selected three typical areas for plant investigation, including upper reaches of Gangnan Reservoir, the area between Gangnan and downstream of Huangbizhuang Reservoir, and Huangbizhuang Reservoir. The results showed that affected by water, plant species, species diversity and species richness were all decreasing in varying degrees as the distance with watercourse upper reaches was increasing, but the ratio of Anthropochory plants was growing. The research finally proposed countermeasures, including increasing wetland area, constructing forests and artificial water landscape of Hutuo River and reinforcing watercourse compre- hensive management.
基金National 973 Program for Basic Research No.G1999043506
文摘Sampling and testing are conducted on groundwater depth and vegetation coverage in the 670 km2 of the Sangong River Basin and semi-variance function analysis is made afterwards on the data obtained by the application of geo-statistics. Results showed that the variance curve of the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage displays an exponential model. Analysis of sampling data in 2003 indicates that the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage change similarly in space in this area. The Sangong River Basin is composed of upper oasis, middle ecotone and lower sand dune. In oasis and ecotone, influenced by irrigation of the adjoining oasis, groundwater level has been raised and soil water content also increased compared with sand dune nearby, vegetation developed well. But in the lower reaches of the Sangong River Basin, because of descending of groundwater level, soil water content decreased and vegetation degenerated. From oasis to abandoned land and desert grassland, vegetation coverage and groundwater level changed greatly with significant difference respectively in spatial variation. Distinct but similar spatial variability exists among the groundwater depth and vegetation coverage in the study area, namely, the vegetation coverage decreasing (increasing) as the groundwater depth increases (decreases). This illustrates the great dependence of vegetation coverage on groundwater depth in arid regions and further implies that among the great number of factors affecting vegetation coverage in arid regions, groundwater depth turns out to be the most determinant one.
基金support of the Government of Austria with funds routed through the sterreischer Austauschdienst(OeAD)
文摘We investigated whether species richness, diversity and density of understory herbaceous plants differed along logging(gap) and grazing(primarily by cattle) disturbance gradients, and sought to identify drivers of richness, diversity and density of understory vegetation of logged sites. A factorial experiment was conducted in the mixed conifer forest of Gidakom in Western Bhutan. Levels of the logging treatment included small(0.15 – 0.24 ha), medium(0.25 – 0.35 ha) and large(0.36 – 1.31 ha) gaps. The grazing treatment included grazed(primarily by cattle) and ungrazed(where herbivores were excluded by a fence) plots nested within each gap. Data were collected from 12 gaps(4 replicates at each level of logging) using the point intercept method. Shannon Weaver Diversity and Margalef's indices were used to estimate species diversity and describe species richness, respectively. Soil samples were analyzed for pH and nutrients. The interaction effect of logging and grazing was significant(p≤0.001) only on species diversity. Relative to ungrazed areas, species diversity was significantly higher(0.01≤p≤0.05) in medium grazed gaps. Under grazed conditions, soil P was negatively correlated with gap size and species diversity. While species diversity was positivelycorrelated(0.01≤p≤0.05) with soil N in grazed plots species richness was positively correlated(0.001≤p≤0.01) with soil N in ungrazed plots. Relative density of Yushania microphylla and Carex nubigena were higher under ungrazed conditions. Our study suggests that the combined effect of cattle grazing and logging results in higher species diversity of understory vegetation in medium and grazed gaps in mixed conifer forests of Bhutan,whereas increase or decrease in relative density of major species is determined primarily by the independent effects of grazing and logging. From management perspective, forest managers must refrain from creating large gaps to avoid loss of nutrients(mainly P and N), which may eventually affect tree regeneration. Managers intending to maintain understory vegetation diversity must consider the combined effects of grazing and logging, ensuring low to moderate grazing pressure.
文摘The shallow groundwater in Shendong mining area was broken because of large-scale underground mining activities. Selecting 32201 working-face as research area, analyzed the change rule of groundwater level and aquifer thickness under mining impact with a large number of water level observation data. Then, the impacts of groundwater level change on vegetation were analyzed by the relationship theory of arid area groundwater and vegetation. The results show that the aquifer structure and the water condition of supply flow and drainage are changed by the water proof mining. The groundwater level recovere only a little compared with the original groundwater level in two years. But the great change of groundwater level do not have notable influences on vegetation of this mining area, and further study indicates that there are certain conditions where groundwater level change impacted on vegetation. When the influence of groundwater level change was evaluated, the plant ecological water level, warning water level and spatial distribution character of original groundwater and mining-impacted groundwater-level change should be integrated.
基金supported by funding from the National Research Foundation to C. Boucher and the VSB Funds (the Netherlands) to E. Siebenadditional funding from the Water Research Commission
文摘Zonation patterns of riparian vegetation have been sampled and described in mountain streams in two catchments in the Hottentots-Holland Mountains, Western Cape, South Africa. Six main vegetation types that differ in structure and species composition, are dominant along these river banks: Aquatic vegetation, Wetbanks, Palmiet, Scrub, Forest and Shrubland(Fynbos). The study aims to correlate the vegetation patterns to flooding patterns, in particular the inundation frequency and stream power. A problem arises: because these catchments are ungauged, like most mountain catchments, with the only weirs at the downstream end of the catchment. Discharge data at the weirs are extrapolated to the sites upstream by multiplication with a factor based on the size of the subcatchment that drains through a sample site. In this way, recurrence intervals for floods in mountain streams are derived. Discharges at sites are also calculated using bed roughness(Manning's n) and slope in straight sections with uniform flow conditions. Stream power is derived from the discharges calculated in this manner. The combination of stream power and recurrence intervals explains the occurrence of most vegetation types occurring on the banks, except for one type: Afromontane Forest. This type is probably more dependent on other factors, such as protection from fire and the depth of the groundwater table.
基金National Key Research and Development Plan Project(No.2020YFB2010800)National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.61971307,61905175,51775377)。
文摘The small autonomous platform with a thin line array is an important tool for underwater acoustic mobile surveillance.Generally,only one-dimensional(1-D)direction-of-arrival(DOA)of the source signal can be estimated using a thin towed line array.In this work,the two-dimensional(2-D)DOA estimation is achieved by the thin line array towed by a small autonomous platform due to its flexible maneuver.Two perpendicular tow paths are formed through the fast turning of this array.An L-shaped array is formed by the same towed array on these two tow paths at different times.Using the array on these two straight paths,two 1-D DOAs of the source signal are obtained respectively,and then the 2-D DOA based on the formed L-shaped array can be estimated.The effectiveness of proposed approach is verified by numerical simulations and its theoretical error is analyzed.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60104003 and 60374024).
文摘Most currently existing investigations on the observability of passive guidance systems can only provide a qualitative result. In this paper, a quantitative method, which utilizes Cramér-Rao lower bound in the estimability analysis of closed-loop guidance systems with bearings-only measurements, is proposed. The new method provides an intuitive result for observability of the guidance system through graphical analysis. As a demonstration, a numerical example is presented, in which the degrees of observability of the guidance systems under two commonly used guidance laws are compared by using the new approach.
基金Under the auspices of National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2016YFA0602303,2016YFC0500408)National Key Research and Development Program of China(2016YFC0500408)+2 种基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41771120,41271107,41471079)Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology,Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.IGA-135-05)the CPSF-CAS Joint Foundation for Excellent Postdoctoral Fellows(No.20150010)
文摘Iron-rich groundwater flowing into wetlands is a worldwide environmental pollution phenomenon that is closely associated with the stability of wetland ecosystems. Combined with high phosphorus(P) loading from agricultural runoff, the prediction of the evolution of wetland vegetation affected by compound contamination is particularly urgent. We tested the effects of anaerobic iron-rich groundwater discharge in a freshwater marsh by simulating the effect of three levels of eutrophic water on native plants(Glyceria spiculosa(Fr. Schmidt.) Rosh.). The management of wetland vegetation with 1–20 mg/L Fe input is an efficient method to promote the growth of plants, which showed an optimum response under a 0.10 mg/L P surface water environment. Iron-rich groundwater strongly affects the changes in ecological niches of some wetland plant species and the dominant species. In addition, when the P concentration in a natural body of water is too high, the governance effect of eutrophication might not be as expected. Under iron-rich groundwater conditions, the δ^(13)C values of organs were more depleted, which can partially explain the differences in δ^(13)C in the soil profile. Conversely, the carbon isotope composition of soil organic carbon is indicative of past changes in vegetation. The results of our experiments confirm that iron-rich groundwater discharge has the potential to affect vegetation composition through toxicity modification in eutrophic environments.
基金Under the auspices of Beijing Natural Science Foundation(No.8152012)National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41101033,41130744,41171335)
文摘The precipitation recharge coefficient(PRC), representing the amount of groundwater recharge from precipitation, is an important parameter for groundwater resources evaluation and numerical simulation. It was usually obtained from empirical knowledge and site experiments in the 1980 s. However, the environmental settings have been greatly modified from that time due to land use change and groundwater over-pumping, especially in the Beijing plain area(BPA). This paper aims to estimate and analyze PRC of BPA with the distributed hydrological model and GIS for the year 2011 with similar annual precipitation as long-term mean. It is found that the recharge from vertical(precipitation + irrigation) and precipitation is 291.0 mm/yr and 233.7 mm/yr, respectively, which accounts for 38.6% and 36.6% of corresponding input water. The regional mean PRC is 0.366, which is a little different from the traditional map. However, it has a spatial variation ranging from –7.0% to 17.5% for various sub-regions. Since the vadose zone is now much thicker than the evaporation extinction depth, the land cover is regarded as the major dynamic factor that causes the variation of PRC in this area due to the difference of evapotranspiration rates. It is suggested that the negative impact of reforestation on groundwater quantity within BPA should be well investigated, because the PRC beneath forestland is the smallest among all land cover types.
文摘The relationship between the groundwater and the surface eco-environment in arid area is very close. In this paper, the authors extracted normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and vegetation conditional ratio (VCR) from MODIS images, and analyzed the relationships among NDVI, VCR and the measured data of groundwater of the same location in the research region. Based on this, the depth of groundwater suitable for vegetation growth in the upper-middle reaches of the Yellow River basin has been calculated. The results show that the depth of groundwater suitable for vegetation growth in the research region ranges from 0.8 to 4.5m, and the optimal groundwater depth is 1.2m. The method developed in this study is applicable to research the relationship between the groundwater and land surface vegetation environment on large-scale in arid area.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41271050)the National Basic Research Program of China(Grant No.2010CB951002)
文摘Evapotranspiration(ET) and its controlling mechanism over the desert riparian forests in arid regions are the important scientific basis for the water resources managements of the lower reaches of the inland rivers of China. Nearly three years of continuous measurements of surface ET, soil water content at different depths and groundwater table over a typical Tamarix spp. stand and a typical Populus euphratica stand were conducted in the lower reach of the Tarim River. The ET seasonal trends in the growing season were controlled by plant phenology, and ET in non-growing season was weak. The diurnal variations of ET resulting from the comprehensive effects of all atmospheric factors were significantly related with reference ET. The spatial pattern of ET was determined by vegetation LAI, more vegetation coverage, more ET amount. Groundwater is the water source of surface ET, and the soil water in shallow layers hardly took part in the water exchange in the groundwatersoil-plant-air system. The temporal processes of ET over the Tamarix stand and the Populus stand were similar, but the water consumption of the well-grown Populus euphratica was higher than that of the well-grown Tamarix spp. Further analysis indicates that plant transpiration accounts for most of the surface ET, with soil evaporation weak and negligible; groundwater table is a crucial factor influencing ET over the desert riparian forests, groundwater influences the processes and amounts of ET by controlling the growth and spatial distribution of desert riparian forests; quantifying the water stress of desert riparian forests using groundwater table is more appropriate, rather than soil water content. Based on the understanding of ET and water movements in the groundwater-soil-plant-air system, a generalized framework expressing the water cycling and its key controlling mechanism in the lower reaches of the inland rivers of China is described, and a simple model to estimate water requirements of the desert riparian forests is presented.