Global patterns of NDVI-indicated vegetation extremes and their sensitivity to climate extremes
Extremes in climate have significant impacts on ecosystems and are expected to increase under future climate change. Extremes in vegetation could capture such impacts and indicate the vulnerability of ecosystems, but currently have not received a global long-term assessment. In this study, a robust...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2013-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/025009 |
| _version_ | 1797748406362308608 |
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| author | Guo Liu Hongyan Liu Yi Yin |
| author_facet | Guo Liu Hongyan Liu Yi Yin |
| author_sort | Guo Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Extremes in climate have significant impacts on ecosystems and are expected to increase under future climate change. Extremes in vegetation could capture such impacts and indicate the vulnerability of ecosystems, but currently have not received a global long-term assessment. In this study, a robust method has been developed to detect significant extremes (low values) in biweekly time series of global normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from 1982 to 2006 and thus to acquire a global pattern of vegetation extreme frequency. This pattern coincides with vegetation vulnerability patterns suggested by earlier studies using different methods over different time spans, indicating a consistent mechanism of regulation. Vegetation extremes were found to aggregate in Amazonia and in the semi-arid and semi-humid regions in low and middle latitudes, while they seldom occurred in high latitudes. Among the environmental variables studied, extreme low precipitation has the highest slope against extreme vegetation. For the eight biomes analyzed, these slopes are highest in temperate broadleaf forest and temperate grassland, suggesting a higher sensitivity in these environments. The results presented here contradict the hypothesis that vegetation in water-limited semi-arid and semi-humid regions might be adapted to drought and suggest that vegetation in these regions (especially temperate broadleaf forest and temperate grassland) is highly prone to vegetation extreme events under more severe precipitation extremes. It is also suggested here that more attention be paid to precipitation-induced vegetation changes than to temperature-induced events. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:05:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-19cd34075ba949d0bbfdcb4ffe093fac |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:05:16Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-19cd34075ba949d0bbfdcb4ffe093fac2023-08-09T14:23:25ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262013-01-018202500910.1088/1748-9326/8/2/025009Global patterns of NDVI-indicated vegetation extremes and their sensitivity to climate extremesGuo Liu0Hongyan Liu1Yi Yin2College of Urban and Environmental Sciences and MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of ChinaCollege of Urban and Environmental Sciences and MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of ChinaCollege of Urban and Environmental Sciences and MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of ChinaExtremes in climate have significant impacts on ecosystems and are expected to increase under future climate change. Extremes in vegetation could capture such impacts and indicate the vulnerability of ecosystems, but currently have not received a global long-term assessment. In this study, a robust method has been developed to detect significant extremes (low values) in biweekly time series of global normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from 1982 to 2006 and thus to acquire a global pattern of vegetation extreme frequency. This pattern coincides with vegetation vulnerability patterns suggested by earlier studies using different methods over different time spans, indicating a consistent mechanism of regulation. Vegetation extremes were found to aggregate in Amazonia and in the semi-arid and semi-humid regions in low and middle latitudes, while they seldom occurred in high latitudes. Among the environmental variables studied, extreme low precipitation has the highest slope against extreme vegetation. For the eight biomes analyzed, these slopes are highest in temperate broadleaf forest and temperate grassland, suggesting a higher sensitivity in these environments. The results presented here contradict the hypothesis that vegetation in water-limited semi-arid and semi-humid regions might be adapted to drought and suggest that vegetation in these regions (especially temperate broadleaf forest and temperate grassland) is highly prone to vegetation extreme events under more severe precipitation extremes. It is also suggested here that more attention be paid to precipitation-induced vegetation changes than to temperature-induced events.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/025009NDVIvegetation extremeglobal vegetation vulnerabilityclimate extreme |
| spellingShingle | Guo Liu Hongyan Liu Yi Yin Global patterns of NDVI-indicated vegetation extremes and their sensitivity to climate extremes Environmental Research Letters NDVI vegetation extreme global vegetation vulnerability climate extreme |
| title | Global patterns of NDVI-indicated vegetation extremes and their sensitivity to climate extremes |
| title_full | Global patterns of NDVI-indicated vegetation extremes and their sensitivity to climate extremes |
| title_fullStr | Global patterns of NDVI-indicated vegetation extremes and their sensitivity to climate extremes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Global patterns of NDVI-indicated vegetation extremes and their sensitivity to climate extremes |
| title_short | Global patterns of NDVI-indicated vegetation extremes and their sensitivity to climate extremes |
| title_sort | global patterns of ndvi indicated vegetation extremes and their sensitivity to climate extremes |
| topic | NDVI vegetation extreme global vegetation vulnerability climate extreme |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/025009 |
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