%0 Journal Article
%T Spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of the crop water use efficiency in watersheds based on the water footprint.
%A Yang Y
%A Gao H
%J Environ Monit Assess
%V 196
%N 7
%D 2024 Jun 15
%M 38879715
%F 3.307
%R 10.1007/s10661-024-12803-y
%X Climate change has exacerbated the contradiction between water scarcity and sustainable agricultural development. Assessing the crop water use efficiency and its influencing factors could provide a decision-making reference to realize Sustainable Development Goal 2. By analyzing the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of the crop water footprint, the blue water footprint, green water footprint, and grey water footprint were introduced into the super efficiency slack-based measure model to evaluate the crop water use efficiency in basins. The influence of the driving factors was examined by using the geographic detector model. The situation in the provinces along the Yellow River Basin from 2005 to 2020 was used as a verification case. The results indicated that (1) during the study period, crop water use in the basin was mainly based on the blue water footprint, accounting for approximately 55% of the total water footprint, the grey water footprint, accounting for approximately 30% of the total water footprint, and the green water footprint, accounting for the lowest proportion, at approximately 15%. (2) The crop water use efficiency exhibited a spatial distribution pattern of high values in the east and low values in the west, with obvious upstream provinces<midstream provinces<downstream provinces regional characteristics. (3) The driving factors of crop water use efficiency changes could be ranked as follows: effective irrigation rate (0.75) > disposable income of rural residents (0.71) > population urbanization rate (0.65) > degree of agricultural mechanization (0.63) > agricultural disaster rate (0.61). Furthermore, the interaction effects between the driving factors were greater than the effects of the single factors. The study provides an important reference for understanding the changes, driving mechanisms, and impacts of crop water use efficiency in basin areas. It promotes green agricultural transformation and development to address climate change and alleviate the pressure on water resources.