Complex effects of moisture conditions and temperature enhanced vegetation growth in the Arid/humid transition zone in Northern China

Yunhe Yin; Haoyu Deng; Danyang Ma

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150152

Complex effects of moisture conditions and temperature enhanced vegetation growth in the Arid/humid transition zone in Northern China

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jan 20:805:150152. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150152. Epub 2021 Sep 7.

Authors

Yunhe Yin¹, Haoyu Deng², Danyang Ma³

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: yinyh@igsnrr.ac.cn.
² Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China.
³ Henan Province Development and Reform Commission, Zhengzhou 450018, China.

PMID: 34543796
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150152

Abstract

Ecosystems in the arid/humid transition zone (AHTZ) of northern China are highly sensitive to climate change and human activities. Accurately assessing the impact of climate change on these ecosystems is important for effectively reducing the risks faced by them under future climate change. In this study, the leaf area index during the selected growing season (LAI_GS) was used as an indicator for vegetation activity. After comparison different potential indicators, the growing season temperature (T_GS) was used to indicate temperature, and the growing season aridity index (AI_GS), which considers the regional water budget, was used to indicate moisture rather than precipitation, which is used more commonly. Correlation analysis and residual trends were used to study the influence of climatic and non-climatic factors on vegetation activity in the AHTZ from 1982 to 2016. The results for regions where LAI_GS increased significantly (0.037/10 yr, 53.58% of the study area), the regions where LAI_GS dominated by non-climatic factors (18.40%) was larger than areas dominated by climatic factors (9.61%). However, most (25.57%) of the regions in the selected study area were mainly driven by both climatic and non-climatic factors. In about half (49.73%) of the climate-affected regions, significant changes in LAI_GS were driven jointly by T_GS and AI_GS. These regions were mainly in the northern and western Loess Plateau. The regions where changes were driven mainly by AI_GS, and those where changes were driven mainly by T_GS, each accounted for nearly a quarter of climate-affected regions (24.87% and 25.40%, respectively). The former regions were on the western Songliao Plain, the northern North China Plain, and the northern Loess Plateau, and the latter regions were in the northern Greater Khingan Mountains, on the southern North China Plain, in the western mountains of North China, and on the southern Loess Plateau.

Keywords: Arid/humid transition zone; Aridity index; Climate change; Leaf area index; Temperature.

MeSH terms

China
Climate Change*
Ecosystem*
Human Activities
Humans
Temperature