An earlier start of the thermal growing season enhances tree growth in cold humid areas but not in dry areas

Gao, Shan; Liang, Eryuan; Liu, Ruishun; Babst, Flurin; Camarero, J. Julio; Fu, Yulan; Piao, Shilong; Rossi, Sergio; Shen, Miaogen; Wang, Tao; Peñuelas, Josep

doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01668-4

Cited by 118 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…As the "magnifying glass" of global climate change, the effects of T and P changes on vegetation coverage in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have been confirmed in many studies [54,55]. Previous studies have shown that climate warming may alter vegetation phenology, leading to an earlier vegetation growth season and promoting vegetation growth in high-latitude cold and wet areas [56]. However, we found that the increase in T of the QLB is limited, and the T _con to the growth in vegetation cover is not significant.…”

Section: The Impact Of Climate Change On Changes In Vegetation Covermentioning

confidence: 89%

Distinguishing the Impacts of Human Activities and Climate Change on the Livelihood Environment of Pastoralists in the Qinghai Lake Basin

et al. 2022

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Grassland vegetation is the largest terrestrial ecosystem in the Qinghai Lake Basin (QLB), and it is also the most important means of production for herders’ livelihoods. Quantifying the impact of climate change and human activities on grassland vegetation changes is an essential task for ensuring the sustainable livelihood of pastoralists. To this end, we investigated vegetation cover changes in the QLB from 2000 to 2020 using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), meteorological raster data, and digital elevation and used residual analysis of multiple linear regression to evaluate the residuals of human activities. The residual analysis of partial derivatives was used to quantify the contribution of climate change and human activities to changes in vegetation cover. The results showed that: (1) The vegetation coverage of the QLB increased significantly (0.002/a, p < 0.01), with 91.38% of the area showing a greening trend, and 8.62% of the area suffering a degrading trend. The NDVI decreased substantially along the altitude gradient (−0.02/a, p < 0.01), with the highest vegetation coverage at 3600–3700 m (0.37/a). The vegetation degraded from 3200–3300 m, vegetation greening accelerated from 3300–3500 m, and vegetation greening slowed above 3500 m. (2) The contribution of climate change, temperature (T), and precipitation (P) to vegetation cover change were 1.62/a, 0.005/a, and 1.615/a, respectively. Below 3500 m, the vegetation greening was more limited by P. Above 3500 m, the vegetation greening was mainly limited by T. (3) Residual analysis showed that the contribution of human activities to vegetation cover was −1.618/a. Regarding the altitude gradient, at 3300–3500 m, human activities had the highest negative contribution to vegetation coverage (−2.389/a), and at 3200–3300 m, they had the highest positive contribution (0.389/a). In the past 21 years, the impact of human activities on vegetation coverage changed from negative to positive. Before 2009, the annual average NDVIres value was negative; after 2010, the average yearly NDVIres value turned positive. In general, the vegetation greening of the QLB depends on climate warming and humidification. The positive impact of human activities over the past decade was also essential for vegetation greening. These findings deepen our understanding of the QLB vegetation changes under climate change and human activities.

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Section: The Impact Of Climate Change On Changes In Vegetation Covermentioning

confidence: 89%

Distinguishing the Impacts of Human Activities and Climate Change on the Livelihood Environment of Pastoralists in the Qinghai Lake Basin

et al. 2022

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“…Given that the Pan-Third Pole is projected to warm faster than the global average, the climate control of spring phenological changes might shift from temperature to precipitation over the Pan-Third Pole. Besides, the earlier start of the growing season may lead to enhanced vegetation growth ( Gao et al., 2022 ), but can increase water scarcity during the summer ( Lian et al., 2020 ). How the changes in spring phenology over Pan-Third Pole affect regional carbon and water flux still need further exploration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continued spring phenological advance under global warming hiatus over the Pan-Third Pole

Yan

Xu²,

Wang³

et al. 2022

Front. Plant Sci.

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The global surface temperature has witnessed a warming hiatus in the first decade of this century, but how this slowing down of warming will impact spring phenology over Pan-Third Pole remains unclear. Here, we combined multiple satellite-derived vegetation indices with eddy covariance datasets to evaluate the spatiotemporal changes in spring phenological changes over the Pan-Third Pole. We found that the spring phenology over Pan-Third Pole continues to advance at the rate of 4.8 days decade-1 during the warming hiatus period, which is contrasted to a non-significant change over the northern hemisphere. Such a significant and continued advance in spring phenology was mainly attributed to an increase in preseason minimum temperature and water availability. Moreover, there is an overall increasing importance of precipitation on changes in spring phenology during the last four decades. We further demonstrated that this increasingly negative correlation was also found across more than two-thirds of the dryland region, tentatively suggesting that spring phenological changes might shift from temperature to precipitation-controlled over the Pan-Third Pole in a warmer world.

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“…Overall, the 1.6ºC increment in the reconstructed data is in accordance with global modeled trends 1,33 , however our estimates correspond to a relatively cold region, which implies potentially that the boreal forest is warming at a faster-than-expected rate, as it has been observed in other boreal regions 2, [34][35][36][37] . Nonetheless, the fast season-specific AirTemp trends in the last 150 years, particularly in the spring (1.5ºC increment), is of great relevance and only recently studies have commenced assessing the impacts high spring AirTemp can have on boreal and other snow-covered forests 38,39 . Finally, similar AirTemp rises between the previous 30 and 150 years (1.5 vs 1.6ºC), show temperature rise has occurred in the last 30 years, and more specifically within the last decade.…”

Section: Historic Temperature Trends Water Balance and Tree Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water balance in boreal forests: the role of season-specific responses in a warming climate

Lopez

Laudon²

2023

Preprint

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The water balance in boreal forests is dominated by snow in winter and rain in summer, but is expected to change in unpredictable ways by forecasted temperature rise and irregular precipitation patterns. Here we use 30 years of hydrological and environmental data representative of a mixed boreal forest including precipitation, tree transpiration (T), evapotranspiration (ET), vapor pressure deficit, and discharge, combined with a reconstructed 150-year historic climatic record. We show that contrasting seasonal conditions and their lag effects, common in high latitude ecosystems, reduce, buffer, or amplify the boreal forest’s response to extreme weather. Additionally, the season when extreme weather occurs and its preexisting conditions, define how the water balance is partitioned. We show that similarly hot-summer years, (e.g., 2018, 2021), can result in contrasting water balances, primarily because when precipitation is reduced, summer ET returns it rapidly to the atmosphere. Early snowmelt in spring due to high temperatures, accompanied with increased T during spring, reduces summer watershed discharge, storage, and can lower groundwater depths, several months after snowmelt. Using long-term tree T and environmental data, we show the individual importance of seasons in the partitioning of water balance, and highlight the major role boreal forests will play under future climate.

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An earlier start of the thermal growing season enhances tree growth in cold humid areas but not in dry areas

Cited by 118 publications

References 74 publications

Distinguishing the Impacts of Human Activities and Climate Change on the Livelihood Environment of Pastoralists in the Qinghai Lake Basin

Distinguishing the Impacts of Human Activities and Climate Change on the Livelihood Environment of Pastoralists in the Qinghai Lake Basin

Continued spring phenological advance under global warming hiatus over the Pan-Third Pole

Water balance in boreal forests: the role of season-specific responses in a warming climate

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