Impacts of climate change on vegetation phenology and net primary productivity in arid Central Asia

Lizhou Wu; Xiaofei Ma; Xin Dou; Jianting Zhu; Chengyi Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149055

Impacts of climate change on vegetation phenology and net primary productivity in arid Central Asia

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Nov 20:796:149055. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149055. Epub 2021 Jul 15.

Authors

Lizhou Wu¹, Xiaofei Ma², Xin Dou¹, Jianting Zhu³, Chengyi Zhao⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Geographic Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China; Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China.
³ Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.
⁴ School of Geographic Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China. Electronic address: zhaocy@nuist.edu.cn.

PMID: 34328878
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149055

Abstract

Vegetation is highly sensitive to climate changes in arid regions. The relationship between vegetation and climate changes can be effectively characterized by vegetation phenology. However, few studies have examined the vegetation phenology and productivity changes in arid Central Asia (ACA). The vegetation phenological information of ACA was extracted using MODIS NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) data, and the dynamics of vegetation phenological changes under spatiotemporal variations were quantitatively assessed. Moreover, the impacts of climate change on vegetation phenology and net primary productivity were analyzed by combining meteorological data with that of MODIS NPP (Net Primary Productivity) during the same period. The results demonstrated that the start of the season (SOS) of vegetation in the study was concentrated from mid-February to mid-April, while the end of the season (EOS) was concentrated from early October to mid-December. The length of growing season (LOS) ranged from 6 to 10 months. The SOS of vegetation was gradually postponed at a rate of 0.16 d·year^-1. The EOS advanced at a rate of 0.69 d·year^-1. The LOS was gradually shortened at a rate of 0.89 d·year^-1. For each per 1000 m increase in elevation, the SOS of vegetation was postponed by 12.40 d; the EOS advanced by 0.40 d, and the LOS was shortened by 11.70 d. For the impacts of climate changes on vegetation phenology and NPP, the SOS of vegetation phenology negatively correlated with temperature but positively correlated with precipitation and NPP. The EOS and LOS positively correlated with temperature but negatively with precipitation and NPP. Results indicated that the SOS was not moved ahead but was delayed, while the EOS advanced rather than being postponed under climate change. These results can offer new insights on the phenological response to climate change in arid regions and on non-systematic changes in phenology under global warming.

Keywords: Arid Central Asia; Climate change; Net primary productivity; Vegetation phenology.

MeSH terms

Asia
China
Climate Change*
Ecosystem
Global Warming*
Seasons
Temperature