Abstract:A central issue in hydrology today is to establish relationships between hydrological and biological processes in ecosystems. Water availability is a sparse and often restricting factor for plant production in the Arid Regions of Northwest China (ARNC). Owing to the analogy between the transpiration and CO_2 diffusion processes, water shortage may limit CO_2 assimilation and reduce the photosynthetic process. While for the low vegetation density and high soil evaporation, the water use efficiency is very lo...