The Effect of Expected Water Shortage on Net Primary Productivity and Rain Use Efficiency in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin

Abstract

Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, originating in Turkey and cutting through both Syria and Iraq, have experienced drastic reductions in water flows in recent years due to increasing water demand, hydro-engineering projects, and climate change. The decline in water flows has led to decreased agricultural yields. Iraq reported its worst cereal harvest in a decade in 2009, indicating that with a decline in water supplies, a potential food security problem emerges. This study, therefore, addressed the effect of water availability on (1) Net Primary Productivity (NPP) and (2) Rain Use Efficiency (RUE) in the Tigris-Euphrates (T-E) basin. Results displayed that NPP increases significantly from the arid and semi-arid sites in the south to the wetter sites in the north, meaning that NPP increases with precipitation, evaporation, and growing season and decreases with temperature. In contrast, RUE decreases significantly from the arid and semi-arid sites in the south to the wetter sites in the north.