Journal article
Evolution of the human-water relationships in the Heihe River basin in the past 2000 years
Z Lu, Y Wei, H Xiao, S Zou, J Xie, J Ren, A Western
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences | Published : 2015
Abstract
This paper quantitatively analyzed the evolution of human-water relationships in the Heihe River basin of northern China over the past 2000 years by reconstructing the catchment water balance by partitioning precipitation into evapotranspiration and runoff. The results provided the basis for investigating the impacts of societies on hydrological systems. Based on transition theory and the rates of changes of the population, human water consumption and the area of natural oases, the evolution of human-water relationships can be divided into four stages: predevelopment (206 BC-AD 1368), take-off (AD 1368-1949), acceleration (AD 1949-2000), and the start of a rebalancing between human and ecolo..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of China
Awarded by Natural Science Foundation of China
Awarded by Australian Research Council
Awarded by Commonwealth of Australia under the Australia-China Science and Research Fund
Awarded by National Science and Technology Support projects
Funding Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of China (project no. 2013DFG70990), the Natural Science Foundation of China (project nos. 91125007, 91125025, 91225302, and 91225301), the Australian Research Council (project nos. DP120102917 and FT130100274), the Commonwealth of Australia under the Australia-China Science and Research Fund (project no. AC-SRF800), the National Science and Technology Support projects (project no. 2011BAC07B05), and the technology innovation team of the China Academy of Science (Cross and Cooperation). We thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.