Abstract. The frequency and intensity of drought is increasing dramatically with global warming. Yet, few studies have characterized drought from its impact on the ecosystem services, the mechanisms through which ecosystems support life. As a result, little is known about the implications of increased drought on resource management. This case study characterizes drought by linking climate anomaly with the change in precipitation-runoff relationships, in the Loess Plateau of China, a water-limited region where re-vegetation in the area makes drought a major concern. We analyze droughts with duration greater than 5 years and annual precipitation anomalies more negative than −5 %, we found that continuous precipitation shifts is able to change watershed water balance in the water limited area, multi-year drought caused the precipitation-runoff relationship to change with a significantly descending trend (p
Trading-off ecosystem services for better ecological restoration: A case study in the Loess Plateau of China
