Urban warming increases the temperature sensitivity of spring vegetation phenology at 292 cities across China

Liqun Wang; Hans J De Boeck; Lixin Chen; Conghe Song; Zuosinan Chen; Steve McNulty; Zhiqiang Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155154

Urban warming increases the temperature sensitivity of spring vegetation phenology at 292 cities across China

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Aug 15:834:155154. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155154. Epub 2022 Apr 10.

Authors

Liqun Wang¹, Hans J De Boeck², Lixin Chen¹, Conghe Song³, Zuosinan Chen¹, Steve McNulty⁴, Zhiqiang Zhang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Jixian National Forest Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, CNERN, School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, PR China; Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Combating, State Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing 100083, PR China.
² Research group PLECO (Plants and Ecosystems), Universiteit Antwerpen, Wilrijk 2610, Belgium.
³ Department of Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Institute for the Environment, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
⁴ Eastern Forest Environment Threat Assessment Center, USDA Forest Service, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA.
⁵ Jixian National Forest Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, CNERN, School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, PR China; Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Combating, State Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing 100083, PR China. Electronic address: zhqzhang@bjfu.edu.cn.

PMID: 35413347
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155154

Abstract

Urban spring phenology changes governed by multiple biological and environmental factors significantly impact urban ecosystem functions and services. However, the temporal changes in spring phenology (i.e., the start of the vegetation growing season, SOS) and the magnitude of SOS sensitivity to temperature in urban settings are not well understood compared with natural ecosystems. Therefore, we explored warming impacts on SOS across 292 rural and urban areas from 2001 to 2016. We found that warming occurred in 79.9% of urban areas and 61.3% of rural areas. This warming advanced SOS in 78.3% of the urban settings and 72.8% of the rural areas. The accelerated rate of SOS in urban settings was significantly higher (-0.52 ± 0.86 days/year) than in rural areas (-0.09 ± 0.69 days/year). Moreover, SOS was significantly more sensitive to warming in urban areas (-2.86 ± 3.57 days/°C) than in rural areas (-1.57 ± 3.09 days/°C), driven by urban-rural differences in climatic (precipitation, temperature, and warming speed) and vegetation factors. Precipitation contributed the most had the highest relative importance for controlling SOS, at 45% and 63% for urban and rural areas, respectively. These findings provide a new understanding of the impacts of urbanization and climate change on vegetation phenology. Moreover, our results have implications for urban environment impacts on ecosystems and human health.

Keywords: Climate change; Spring phenology; Temperature sensitivity; Urban warming; Vegetation.

MeSH terms

China
Cities
Climate Change
Ecosystem*
Humans
Plant Development*
Seasons
Temperature