Abstract: Water shortage is becoming a global concern with climate change and socioeconomic development. Water conservation function of forests plays a key role in stabilizing regional water supply since forests can redistribute precipitation by interception, throughfall, stemflow, and soil water storage, with great implications for social-ecological system sustainable development. Because of high forest coverage, Qinling region is an important ecological security barrier and a significant water conservation area in China. However, few studies have been conducted to explore the water conservation function of forests in the Qinling region, leading to a vague understanding of its water conservation capacity. We summarized the concepts of water conservation and the evaluation methods of water conservation capacity. We then quantified land use and land cover changes in the Qinling region based on multi-source remotely-sensed data. Next, we introduced the performance of water conservation from three aspects: water regulation, water purification, and soil conservation. Based on literature, we revealed large temporal and spatial variations of water conservation capacity in Qinling region. We also synthesized the development of quantitative water conservation capacity in the Qinling region. The multi-scale, dynamic, and systematic research on forest water conservation function in the Qinling region should be strengthened.

Key words: water conversation function, hydrological regulation, quantification method, Qinling region