Wetland vegetation cover changes and its response to climate changes across Heilongjiang-Amur River Basin

Xinyue Chang; Lingxue Yu; Guangshuai Li; Xuan Li; Lun Bao

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1169898

Wetland vegetation cover changes and its response to climate changes across Heilongjiang-Amur River Basin

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Aug 4:14:1169898. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1169898. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xinyue Chang^{1

2}, Lingxue Yu¹, Guangshuai Li^{1

3}, Xuan Li^{1

4}, Lun Bao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Research Centre, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
³ College of Geography Science, Changchun Normal University, Changchun, China.
⁴ School of Geomatics and Prospecting Engineering, Jilin Jianzhu University, Changchun, China.

Abstract

The Heilongjiang-Amur River Basin is one of the largest and most complex aquatic systems in Asia, comprising diverse wetland resources. The wetland vegetation in mid-high latitude areas has high natural value and is sensitive to climate changes. In this study, we investigated the wetland vegetation cover changes and associated responses to climate change in the Heilongjiang-Amur River Basin from 2000 to 2018 based on the growing season (May to September) climate and LAI data. Our results indicated that the wetland LAI increased at 0.014 m²·m^-2/yr across Heilongjiang-Amur River Basin with the regional climate showed wetting and warming trends. On a regional scale, wetland vegetation in China and Russia had positive partial correlation with solar radiation and minimum air temperature, with precipitation showing a slight lag effect. In contrast, wetland vegetation in Mongolia had positive partial correlation with precipitation. These correlations were further investigated at different climate intervals. We found the precipitation is positively correlated with LAI in the warm regions while is negatively correlated with LAI in the wet regions, indicating an increase in precipitation is beneficial for the growth of wetland vegetation in heat sufficient areas, and when precipitation exceeds a certain threshold, it will hinder the growth of wetland vegetation. In the cold regions, we found solar radiation and minimum air temperature are positively correlated with LAI, suggesting SR and minimum air temperature instead of mean air temperature and maximum air temperature play more important roles in affecting the wetland vegetation growth in the heat limited areas. The LAI was found to be negatively correlated with maximum air temperature in the arid areas, indicating excessive temperature would inhibit the wetland vegetation growth when the water is limited. Our investigation can provide a scientific foundation for the trilateral region in wetland ecosystem protection and is beneficial for a more comprehensive understanding of the responses of wetlands in the middle and high latitudes to climate change.

Keywords: Heilongjiang-Amur River Basin; climate change; partial correlation; transboundary region; wetland vegetation cover.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42071025) and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences (2023240), and Innovation Team Project of Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2022CXTD02).