Modeling seasonal vegetation phenology from hydroclimatic drivers for contrasting plant functional groups within drylands of the Southwestern USA
In dryland ecosystems, vegetation within different plant functional groups exhibits distinct seasonal phenologies that are affected by the prevailing hydroclimatic forcing. The seasonal variability of precipitation, atmospheric evaporative demand, and streamflow influences root-zone water availabili...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research: Ecology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-664X/acb9a0 |
| _version_ | 1827361614893940736 |
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| author | Maria Magdalena Warter Michael Bliss Singer Mark O Cuthbert Dar Roberts Kelly K Caylor Romy Sabathier John Stella |
| author_facet | Maria Magdalena Warter Michael Bliss Singer Mark O Cuthbert Dar Roberts Kelly K Caylor Romy Sabathier John Stella |
| author_sort | Maria Magdalena Warter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In dryland ecosystems, vegetation within different plant functional groups exhibits distinct seasonal phenologies that are affected by the prevailing hydroclimatic forcing. The seasonal variability of precipitation, atmospheric evaporative demand, and streamflow influences root-zone water availability to plants in water-limited environments. Increasing interannual variations in climate forcing of the local water balance and uncertainty regarding climate change projections have raised the potential for phenological shifts and changes to vegetation dynamics. This poses significant risks to plant functional types across large areas, especially in drylands and within riparian ecosystems. Due to the complex interactions between climate, water availability, and seasonal plant water use, the timing and amplitude of phenological responses to specific hydroclimate forcing cannot be determined a priori , thus limiting efforts to dynamically predict vegetation greenness under future climate change. Here, we analyze two decades (1994–2021) of remote sensing data (soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI)) as well as contemporaneous hydroclimate data (precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, depth to groundwater, and air temperature), to identify and quantify the key hydroclimatic controls on the timing and amplitude of seasonal greenness. We focus on key phenological events across four different plant functional groups occupying distinct locations and rooting depths in dryland SE Arizona: semi-arid grasses and shrubs, xeric riparian terrace and hydric riparian floodplain trees. We find that key phenological events such as spring and summer greenness peaks in grass and shrubs are strongly driven by contributions from antecedent spring and monsoonal precipitation, respectively. Meanwhile seasonal canopy greenness in floodplain and terrace vegetation showed strong response to groundwater depth as well as antecedent available precipitation (aaP = P − PET) throughout reaches of perennial and intermediate streamflow permanence. The timings of spring green-up and autumn senescence were driven by seasonal changes in air temperature for all plant functional groups. Based on these findings, we develop and test a simple, empirical phenology model, that predicts the timing and amplitude of greenness based on hydroclimate forcing. We demonstrate the feasibility of the model by exploring simple, plausible climate change scenarios, which may inform our understanding of phenological shifts in dryland plant communities and may ultimately improve our predictive capability of investigating and predicting climate-phenology interactions in the future. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T07:08:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e95a197fdec44d528345e26f35d914c8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2752-664X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T07:08:12Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research: Ecology |
| spelling | doaj.art-e95a197fdec44d528345e26f35d914c82024-02-03T04:07:19ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research: Ecology2752-664X2023-01-012202500110.1088/2752-664X/acb9a0Modeling seasonal vegetation phenology from hydroclimatic drivers for contrasting plant functional groups within drylands of the Southwestern USAMaria Magdalena Warter0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4725-0480Michael Bliss Singer1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6899-2224Mark O Cuthbert2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6721-022XDar Roberts3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3555-4842Kelly K Caylor4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6466-6448Romy Sabathier5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9401-7871John Stella6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6095-7726School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University , Cardiff CF10 3AT, United KingdomSchool of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University , Cardiff CF10 3AT, United Kingdom; Water Research Institute, Cardiff University , Cardiff CF10 3AT, United Kingdom; Earth Research Institute, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3060, United States of AmericaSchool of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University , Cardiff CF10 3AT, United Kingdom; Water Research Institute, Cardiff University , Cardiff CF10 3AT, United Kingdom; Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre (CWI), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW , Sydney, NSW 2052, AustraliaDepartment of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, CA 93117, United States of AmericaEarth Research Institute, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3060, United States of America; Department of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, CA 93117, United States of America; Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, CA 93117, United States of AmericaSchool of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University , Cardiff CF10 3AT, United KingdomDepartment of Forest and Natural Resources Management, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry , Syracuse, NY 13210, United States of AmericaIn dryland ecosystems, vegetation within different plant functional groups exhibits distinct seasonal phenologies that are affected by the prevailing hydroclimatic forcing. The seasonal variability of precipitation, atmospheric evaporative demand, and streamflow influences root-zone water availability to plants in water-limited environments. Increasing interannual variations in climate forcing of the local water balance and uncertainty regarding climate change projections have raised the potential for phenological shifts and changes to vegetation dynamics. This poses significant risks to plant functional types across large areas, especially in drylands and within riparian ecosystems. Due to the complex interactions between climate, water availability, and seasonal plant water use, the timing and amplitude of phenological responses to specific hydroclimate forcing cannot be determined a priori , thus limiting efforts to dynamically predict vegetation greenness under future climate change. Here, we analyze two decades (1994–2021) of remote sensing data (soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI)) as well as contemporaneous hydroclimate data (precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, depth to groundwater, and air temperature), to identify and quantify the key hydroclimatic controls on the timing and amplitude of seasonal greenness. We focus on key phenological events across four different plant functional groups occupying distinct locations and rooting depths in dryland SE Arizona: semi-arid grasses and shrubs, xeric riparian terrace and hydric riparian floodplain trees. We find that key phenological events such as spring and summer greenness peaks in grass and shrubs are strongly driven by contributions from antecedent spring and monsoonal precipitation, respectively. Meanwhile seasonal canopy greenness in floodplain and terrace vegetation showed strong response to groundwater depth as well as antecedent available precipitation (aaP = P − PET) throughout reaches of perennial and intermediate streamflow permanence. The timings of spring green-up and autumn senescence were driven by seasonal changes in air temperature for all plant functional groups. Based on these findings, we develop and test a simple, empirical phenology model, that predicts the timing and amplitude of greenness based on hydroclimate forcing. We demonstrate the feasibility of the model by exploring simple, plausible climate change scenarios, which may inform our understanding of phenological shifts in dryland plant communities and may ultimately improve our predictive capability of investigating and predicting climate-phenology interactions in the future.https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-664X/acb9a0Arizonaecohydrologygrassesshrubsripariangroundwater-dependent ecosystems |
| spellingShingle | Maria Magdalena Warter Michael Bliss Singer Mark O Cuthbert Dar Roberts Kelly K Caylor Romy Sabathier John Stella Modeling seasonal vegetation phenology from hydroclimatic drivers for contrasting plant functional groups within drylands of the Southwestern USA Environmental Research: Ecology Arizona ecohydrology grasses shrubs riparian groundwater-dependent ecosystems |
| title | Modeling seasonal vegetation phenology from hydroclimatic drivers for contrasting plant functional groups within drylands of the Southwestern USA |
| title_full | Modeling seasonal vegetation phenology from hydroclimatic drivers for contrasting plant functional groups within drylands of the Southwestern USA |
| title_fullStr | Modeling seasonal vegetation phenology from hydroclimatic drivers for contrasting plant functional groups within drylands of the Southwestern USA |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modeling seasonal vegetation phenology from hydroclimatic drivers for contrasting plant functional groups within drylands of the Southwestern USA |
| title_short | Modeling seasonal vegetation phenology from hydroclimatic drivers for contrasting plant functional groups within drylands of the Southwestern USA |
| title_sort | modeling seasonal vegetation phenology from hydroclimatic drivers for contrasting plant functional groups within drylands of the southwestern usa |
| topic | Arizona ecohydrology grasses shrubs riparian groundwater-dependent ecosystems |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-664X/acb9a0 |
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