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\begin{document}

\title{Assessing impacts of ecological restoration projects on water
conservation function in the Taihang Mountain area, China}



\author[1]{Jintong Liu}%
\author[1]{Feng Wang}%
\author[2]{Wei Deng}%
\author[1]{Tonggang Fu}%
\author[1]{Hui Gao}%
\author[1]{Fei Qi}%
\affil[1]{Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology Center for Agricultural Resources Research}%
\affil[2]{Sichuan Normal University}%


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  \date{May 25, 2024}


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\begin{abstract}
The ecological restoration projects (ERPs)
sig{[}1{]}(\#fn-0002)nificantly affect the water conservation function
(WCF) of the Taihang Mountain area. However, a comprehensive
understanding of the ecological effects of water conservation (WC) in
different ecological engineering (EE) areas still needs to be improved,
which limits the optimization and implementation of ERPs in semi-arid
climate areas. In this study, we employed the integrated valuation of
ecosystem services and trade-offs (InVEST) model to evaluate the
differences in WCF among different ERPs in the Taihang Mountain area.
Additionally, we used the structural equation model (SEM) to explore the
influence of various factors on WCF, including EE factors. The results
showed the following: (1) The total amount of WC in the Taihang Mountain
area increased yearly from 2000 to 2020, with an 85.25\% increase in 21
years. The WCF showed a trend of transferring to a higher level. (2) The
forest recovery (FR) project showed the highest average WC, followed by
the grassland recovery (GR) project. FR and GR together provided 61.12\%
of the WC amount in the EE area. The cropland recovery (CR) project
increased the WC by 22.85\% compared with the non-ecological engineering
area. The WC capacity of the 21-year artificial forest could only reach
70.92\% of the natural forest. FR was found to be the most potential
ecological restoration type, while CR and GR were the most effective.
(3) The enhancement of WCP in the study area resulted from multiple
factors. The composite variable SEM revealed four main factors affecting
WC (R \textsuperscript{2} = 0.427), ranked as follows: climate change
\textgreater{} site conditions \textgreater{} EE \textgreater{}
society-economy (0.390 \textgreater{} 0.247 \textgreater{} 0.177
\textgreater{} 0.043), of which the EE factor accounted for 20.65\%.
Precipitation and root depth were the most critical factors affecting
WCP, according to the random forest model. (4) The impact of EE on WC
varied with altitude, and the effect of the hilly zone was 1.5 times
that of the sub-alpine zone. Therefore, the WC effect of ERPs is
different due to different types and regions. EE measures should be
optimized according to the actual situation to cope with the uncertainty
of WC caused by probable extreme climate in the future. Overall, our
study provides scientific support for evaluating the impact of ERPs on
WCF in semi-arid areas of China.%
\end{abstract}%



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\verb`Manuscript-WILEY-WANG20230818.doc`  available at \url{https://authorea.com/users/654508/articles/660878-assessing-impacts-of-ecological-restoration-projects-on-water-conservation-function-in-the-taihang-mountain-area-china}

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