Responses of vegetation to climate change in the headwaters of China’s Yellow River Basin based on zoning of dry and wet climate

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1258.2011.01192

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Precipitation and temperature are considered the limiting factors to vegetation growth in arid and cold areas, respectively. Our objective was to study the trends in vegetation cover and productivity and their relationships with prevailing hydrothermal factors in order to better understand climatic constraints on regional vegetation dynamics.
Methods We zoned dry and wet climates using daily meteorological data from 1959 to 2008 at 16 locations in the headwaters of the Yellow River Basin to calculate the ratio of precipitation to evapotranspiration estimated with the FAO Penman-Monteith model. Based on this zoning, the temporal dynamics of vegetation and changes in climate were analyzed using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) obtained from the NASA AVHRR sensor (1982-2006) and the GLOPEM net primary productivity (NPP) (1981-2000) and corresponding annual meteorological data. Then we developed the relationships between NDVI and NPP and climatic factors.
Important findings The region studied is semi-humid in the southeast and semi-arid elsewhere, with a boundary nearly matching the 450 mm rainfall contour. The weather became wetter and especially warmer in most parts of the region during 1981-2006. The regional average NDVI and NPP markedly increased in semi-humid areas and slightly increased in semi-arid areas. Overall, NDVI had a significantly positive correlation with mean annual air temperature and a mainly negative correlation with mean annual precipitation in most semi-humid areas. The most important factor influencing NDVI was heat. In contrast, the key climatic factor affecting vegetation changes in the semi-arid areas was water, the relationship between NDVI and precipitation was strong and vegetation was more sensitive to changes in precipitation. The impact of climate change on NPP was similar to that on NDVI. Findings suggest that the responses of vegetation to climate change depend in part on the hydrothermal conditions of the region, and the zoning of dry and wet climate illustrates the spatial difference of vegetation feedback to climate change.

Key words: correlation analysis, NDVI, NPP, precipitation, regionalization of dry and wet climate, air temperature

DU Jia-Qiang, SHU Jian-Min, ZHANG Lin-Bo, GUO Yang. Responses of vegetation to climate change in the headwaters of China’s Yellow River Basin based on zoning of dry and wet climate[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2011, 35(11): 1192-1201.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.3724/SP.J.1258.2011.01192

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2011/V35/I11/1192

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Distribution of the dry and wet index and precipitation contours in study area.

Fig. 2 Trend (left) of mean annual air temperature (top) and precipitation (bottom) and its significance level (right) with the year during 1981-2006.

Fig. 3 Interannual changes of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and annual net primary productivity (NPP) in study area.

Fig. 4 Trend (left) of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) (top) and annual net primary productivity (NPP) (bottom) changes and its significance level (right) with the year.

Fig. 5 Relationships between normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and mean annual air temperature (left) and precipitation (right) in study area.

Fig. 6 Relationships between net primary productivity (NPP) and mean annual air temperature (left) and precipitation (right) in study area.

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