Soil heavy metal contamination is crucial due to menacing food safety and mortal health. At present, with the fast advancement of urbanization and industrialization, heavy metals are increasingly released into the soil by anthropogenic activities, and the soil ecosystem contamination around the Danjiangkou Reservoir is directly associated with water quality security of the reservoir. In this paper, using 639 soil samples from the Danjiangkou Reservoir, Henan Province, China, we studied a variety of space distribution characteristics of heavy metals in soil. Geographic information system analysis (GIS), geo-accumulation index (I_geo), contamination factor (CF), principal component analysis (PCA) model, and positive matrix factorization (PMF) model were used together to recognize and quantify the distribution, contamination, and origin of heavy metals. We uncovered an exceptional variety of heavy metal concentrations among the tested soils: the mean arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) concentrations (14.54, 0.21, 18.69, 81.69, 898.42, 39.37, 79.50, 28.11, 0.04 mg/kg, respectively, in the topsoil (0–20 cm depth)), all exceed their background values. The mean I_geo value and CF values of these trace elements are both in descending order: Cd > Co > Mn > Ni > Pb > Zn > Cr > As > Hg. Cd was the highest contributor to the assessment of heavy metal pollution, with an average I_geo value over three, indicating that the study area is modestly contaminated by Cd. The PCA analysis and PMF model revealed three potential sources, including natural sources (PC1) for Cr, Co, Mn and Ni; agricultural sources (PC2) for Cd, Zn and Hg; and industrial emissions and transportation sources (PC3) for Pb. This study displays a map of heavy metal contamination in the eastern area topsoil of the Danjiangkou Reservoir, showing the most severe pollutant is Cd, which poses a threat to the water quality security of Danjiangkou Reservoir and provides a significant source identification for future contamination control.

The natural oases in the plain area of the northwest inland basin strongly depend on the groundwater depth. With the overexploitation and utilization of groundwater, natural oases are faced with the problems of serious degradation and rehabilitation. How to evaluate the degree of the degeneration crisis of groundwater ecological function has become one of the key scientific and technological problems to be solved. In this paper, the Shiyang River basin of Gansu Province was selected as a typical research area. The remote sensing interpretation, groundwater–soil ecology comprehensive investigation, and groundwater in situ monitoring were adopted to carry out the research. Based on the correlation analysis method of natural ecology and groundwater, the interactive relationship between the natural ecological environment and groundwater depth in different ecological types of the region were studied: (1) under the arid climate condition in northwest China, the relationships between the ecological situation and the groundwater depth in different ecological types of the region were obviously different, and as a result, the optimal or limit ecological water level of groundwater in different ecological types was also different; (2) in the natural wetland area, the suitable ecological water level of groundwater was between 0.5 m to 1.5 m, and the limit ecological water level was 8.0 m; in the natural vegetation area, the suitable ecological water level was between 3.0 m to 5.0 m, and the limit ecological water level was 10.0 m; and in the farmland area, the suitable ecological water level was between 2.0 m to 5.0 m, and the limit ecological water level was 2.0 m; (3) in order to effectively protect the natural ecology in different ecological types, a five-level early warning and control index system should be established for the ecological function degeneration crisis of groundwater. It may be beneficial to promote restoration and protection of the groundwater ecological function and natural ecology in the inland area of northwest China.

In arid and semi-arid areas, due to drought climate and shortage of water resources, groundwater is crucial for natural ecological protection and economic development. It serves a dual role as a resource function and an ecological function. However, with the continuous improvement of the exploitation and utilization of groundwater by human activities during rapid economic development, the phenomenon of groundwater overexploitation is becoming more and more serious, which has destroyed the natural balance of groundwater recharge and discharge. As a result, natural vegetation has lost the maintenance of the ecological function of groundwater, and a series of ecological and environmental problems have occurred, such as natural vegetation degradation, land desertification, sandstorms, and so on. In recent years, scholars have carried out research on groundwater resource management and optimization of water resource allocation, trying to solve the problem of water balance in arid regions. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive understanding and systematization regarding influencing factors and degeneration mechanisms related to groundwater’s ecological function. By summarizing and analyzing the previous research results, this paper summarizes the influencing factors, evaluation methods, existing problems and future directions of groundwater ecological function research in China to provide a reference for rational exploitation and utilization of groundwater and ecological protection. This paper is divided into four main contents. The first part introduces the definition of groundwater ecological function (GEF); the second part summarizes the research status of influencing factors of GEF, including the groundwater table depth, vegetation root system and lithologic structure of vadose zone, etc.; the third part analyzes the evaluation of groundwater ecological function; the fourth part discusses the existing problems in the study of groundwater ecological functions, and based on the above research the evaluation framework of GEF is proposed with the Shiyang River basin as a case study; and finally, it highlights the future research directions about GEF.

Vegetation root water uptake is one of the most central water transport processes along the soil-vegetation-atmosphere interface particularly in (semi-)arid ecosystems. The identification and quantification of root activities and water uptake patterns of arid vegetation remain challenging. This paper aims at the quantitative examination of water uptake behaviors of Nitraria, a prevalent desert species in arid environments, during the growth phase via a multivariate linear mixed model based on water stable isotopes, with a main focus on the time interval from a precipitation pulse. The observations indicate that the precipitation events exert periodic significant pulse-effects on vegetation water uptake through direct absorption (contribution of almost 75%) and activation of deep root activity at a certain depth. While in most occasions without rainfall, Nitraria relies on its extremely extensive shallow roots in surface-near lateral zone (contribution of about 60%) to extract massive soil as well as the hydraulic lifting mechanism to survive drought. Achievements would be beneficial to enhancing the understanding of entangled water transport processes and eco-hydrological feedbacks along soil-vegetation interface in arid ecosystems and contribute to a scientific allocation to water resources with the consideration of ecological protection.

As a critical link connecting groundwater and vegetation, the vadose zone’s lithological structural heterogeneity directly influences soil water distribution and vegetation growth. A comprehensive understanding of the ecological effects of the vadose zone can provide scientific evidence for groundwater ecological protection and natural vegetation conservation in arid regions. This study, taking the Minqin Basin in the lower reaches of China’s Shiyang River as a case, reveals the constraining effects of vadose zone lithological structures on vegetation water supply, root development, and water use strategies through integrated analysis, field investigations, and numerical simulations. The findings highlight the critical ecological role of the vadose zone. This role primarily manifests through two mechanisms: regulating capillary water rise and controlling water-holding capacity. They directly impact soil water supply efficiency, alter the spatiotemporal distribution of water deficit in the root zone, and drive vegetation to develop adaptive root growth patterns and stratified water use strategies, ultimately leading to different growth statuses of natural vegetation. During groundwater level fluctuations, fine-grained lithologies in the vadose zone exhibit stronger capillary water response rates, while multi-layered lithological structures (e.g., “fine-over-coarse” configurations) demonstrate pronounced delayed water release effects. Their effective water-holding capacities continue to exert ecological effects, significantly enhancing vegetation drought resilience.

Zinc is an essential trace element for human and plant growth and development. Exploiting naturally Zn-rich soil resources represents an important pathway to develop green characteristic agriculture, improve the nutritional quality of agricultural products, and advance agricultural sustainability aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs2, 3 and 15). To clarify the geochemical characteristics and bioavailability of soil zinc in cultivated lands of the mid-low hilly region in southwestern Henan, and to scientifically evaluate the exploitation potential of Zn-rich land resources, this study selected the farming area of Fangcheng County, Henan Province, as its research object. Based on 1:50,000 land-quality geochemical survey data, 1602 topsoil samples and 61 paired wheat-grain–root-zone soil samples were collected. Multiple statistical approaches, including descriptive statistics, Universal Kriging spatial interpolation, Pearson correlation analysis and segmented regression, were adopted to systematically investigate Zn concentrations, spatial-distribution patterns, element paragenesis relationships and wheat Zn-accumulation characteristics in cultivated soils. Furthermore, the resource potential of Zn-rich land was assessed according to the Specification for Delineation and Identification of Natural Zn-Rich Land (DD2025-04). The results showed the following: (1) The mean Zn concentration of topsoil was 72.3 mg/kg (N = 1602, after removing 3σ outliers), which was higher than the national soil background value (67 mg/kg). With a coefficient of variation of 23.0%, soil Zn exhibited moderate enrichment and relatively uniform distribution. Its spatial pattern was dominated by geomorphic types, showing a north-high–south-low trend. Significant Zn-enrichment advantages were found in hilly areas, yellow-cinnamon soils, and regions covered by alluvial–proluvial and residual-slope parent materials, whereas Zn concentrations were markedly low in strongly alkaline soils. (2) Soil Zn was significantly positively correlated with Cd (r = 0.62), Cu (r = 0.51), V (r = 0.54) and Fe₂O₃ (r = 0.57), and moderately positively correlated with Se (r = 0.41) and Mo (r = 0.43). These correlations indicate homologous soil-forming parent-material sources and Zn-adsorption–enrichment mechanisms mediated by Fe-Mn oxides. The paragenetic relationship between soil Zn and Cd implies that heavy-metal ecological risks should be considered simultaneously during Zn-rich-land exploitation to guarantee ecological sustainability of cultivated land. (3) The average Zn concentration in wheat grains was 28.48 mg/kg, and the mean bioconcentration factor (BCF) was 0.42 (N = 61, averaged from individual sample-pair ratios), demonstrating a moderate Zn-accumulation capacity of wheat. Only a moderate correlation existed between total soil Zn and wheat-grain Zn, suggesting that high total soil Zn concentrations do not necessarily produce high-Zn crops. (4) Soil pH regulated Zn bioavailability: BCF was positively correlated with pH for samples with pH < 6.5 (R² = 0.116, p = 0.013), while a non-significant negative trend was observed for the subgroup pH ≥ 6.5 (R² = 0.269, p = 0.153). Wheat presented relatively high Zn-accumulation potential under neutral-pH conditions. Nevertheless, the observational dataset cannot confirm pH = 6.5 as a strict optimum threshold, which needs further validation through field-controlled experiments. Either extremely acidic or alkaline conditions may reduce available Zn supply via Zn leaching loss or hydroxide precipitation. (5) In accordance with DD2025-04, Zn-rich soils accounted for 21.85% of the study area, and Zn-enriched wheat grains occupied 21.31%, indicating abundant reserves of Zn-rich land resources. These findings can provide geochemical support for the scientific utilization of Zn-rich cultivated land, industrial layout of Zn-enriched wheat, and precise cultivated-land quality management in the hilly areas of southwestern Henan, promoting sustainable utilization of soil resources and nutrition-sensitive agricultural development.