Inconsistent relationships between annual tree ring-widths and satellite-measured NDVI in a mountainous subarctic environment

Brehaut, Lucas; Danby, Ryan K.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.04.052

Cited by 69 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…NDVI trends across satellite datasets do not necessarily directly correspond with one another 6,9 , nor does any one sensor or vegetation index combination correspond directly with in-situ vegetation change 47 . For example, NDVI has been related to interannual variation in radial shrub growth 5,10,82 , yet how radial growth links to change in leaf area, aboveground biomass, or landscape measures of productivity is not always clear [83][84][85] (Figure 3).…”

Section: Correspondence Between Satellite and Ground-based Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complexity revealed in the greening of the Arctic

Myers‐Smith¹,

Kerby²,

Phoenix³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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As the Arctic warms, vegetation is responding and satellite measures indicate widespread greening at high latitudes. This ‘greening of the Arctic’ is among the world’s most significant large-scale ecological responses to global climate change. However, a consensus is emerging that the underlying causes and future dynamics of so-called Arctic greening and browning trends are more complex, variable, and inherently scale dependent than previously thought. Here, we summarize the complexities of observing and interpreting high-latitude greening to identify key priorities for future research. Incorporating satellite and proximal remote sensing with in-situ data, while accounting for uncertainties and scale issues will advance the study of past, present, and future Arctic vegetation change.

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Section: Correspondence Between Satellite and Ground-based Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complexity revealed in the greening of the Arctic

Myers‐Smith¹,

Kerby²,

Phoenix³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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“…This is possible because climatic conditions (temperature, moisture, and light) affect both photosynthesis and carbon uptake, generating environmental signals in time (tree rings) and space (NDVI). Additionally, our results are not influenced by the composition of the forest, since our study site is a monospecific stand, which avoids blurred effects in the spectral response of vegetation (Brehaut & Danby, 2018).…”

Section: Ndvi Time Series and Relationship With Rwimentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Some studies in high-latitude forests have reported a positive correlation between summer NDVI and tree ring width Kaufmann et al, 2004Kaufmann et al, , 2008Lopatin et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2004). Other studies show variation in correlation according to forest type and climate conditions (Liang et al, 2005;Vicente-Serrano et al, 2016), and no correlation between NDVI and RWI has been reported (Brehaut & Danby, 2018). Here we found that winter-spring NDVI had a positive correlation with tree growth in the following year; in other words, good canopy vigor in winter-spring is an indication of better tree growth performance in the next growing season.…”

Section: Canopy Vigor Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The NDVI variations can be explained by positive (greenness effect) or negative (browning trend) changes in plant vigor, implying either stimulation or decline on photosynthetic activity and productivity (Beck & Goetz, ; Goetz et al, ). However, despite the potential of the NDVI to assess seasonal changes and vegetation dynamics at regional scales (Eastman et al, ; Krishnaswamy et al, ), it is not until recent decades that a promising research field has related remotely sensed parameters to direct field dendrochronological measurements (Babst et al, ; Berner et al, ; Bhuyan et al, ; Brehaut & Danby, ; Bunn et al, ; Coulthard et al, ; Vicente‐Serrano et al, ; Wang et al, ), but notably, none did so in high‐elevation regions of temperate forest. Moreover, these previous investigations have been focused in high‐latitude forests at regional scales, so that there is still a large gap in relating remotely sensed information to tree ring variables using local specific conditions to improve our mechanistic understanding and ability to quantify the impact of climate on montane forest and their essential functions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Linking Remote Sensing and Dendrochronology to Quantify Climate‐Induced Shifts in High‐Elevation Forests Over Space and Time

et al. 2019

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It is well known that tree growth is strongly affected by climate at high elevations, but it is still unclear how climate variability influences the distribution of montane forest ecosystems, particularly tree line species. To advance knowledge in this field, we combined temporal (tree ring measurements) and spatial data (remotely sensed variables), to quantify how forests responded to climatic variability across altitudinal gradients in Central Mexico. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), tree‐ring chronologies, and site‐level climatic data were used in a vegetation trend analysis of greenness and browning and to reconstruct canopy vigor for the last century. Although a common ring width chronology was developed, we found significant site‐dependent forest growth response, where young trees (<100 years) exhibited heterogeneous growth trends, without an altitudinal pattern. However, mature trees (100–200 years) showed a common growth decline during the middle twentieth century, regardless of their altitude. Annual maximum NDVI anomalies did not show a general greening effect at high‐elevations. The forest showed both greening and browning zones denoting spatial variability in tree vigor. Furthermore, temperature from the previous year had a positive effect on both NDVI and ring width index but negative at beginning of the growing season. The significant relationship between winter‐spring NDVI (December to March) and ring width index (r = 0.64, p < 0.05), was useful to reconstruct the canopy vigor for the last 151 years. Thus, the greening effect derived from NDVI should be carefully interpreted as a direct forest growth increase. These results highlight the potential of integrating remotely sensed and dendrochronological methods to improve predictions of forest ecosystem responses.

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“…Tree rings can provide valuable information on tree growth response to climatic trends and its inter-annual variability [5,[16][17][18]. Tree rings can also be used for climate model validation in the context of global warming assessment, such as verifying the results derived from net primary productivity (NPP) models [19][20][21][22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Upscaling of Tree-Ring-Based Forest Response to Drought with Satellite Data

Fang

Zhou

et al. 2019

Remote Sensing

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We have integrated the observational capability of satellite remote sensing with plot-scale tree-ring data to upscale the evaluation of forest responses to drought. Satellite data, such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), can provide a spatially continuous measure with limited temporal coverage, while tree-ring width index (RWI) provides an accurate assessment with a much longer time series at local scales. Here, we explored the relationship between RWI and NDVI of three dominant species in the Southwestern United States (SWUS) and predicted RWI spatial distribution from 2001 to 2017 based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 1-km resolution NDVI data with stringent quality control. We detected the optimum time windows (around June–August) during which the RWI and NDVI were most closely correlated for each species, when the canopy growth had the greatest effect on growth of tree trunks. Then, using our upscaling algorithm of NDVI-based RWI, we were able to detect the significant impact of droughts in 2002 and in 2011–2014, which supported the validity of this algorithm in quantifying forest response to drought on a large scale.

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Inconsistent relationships between annual tree ring-widths and satellite-measured NDVI in a mountainous subarctic environment

Cited by 69 publications

References 66 publications

Complexity revealed in the greening of the Arctic

Complexity revealed in the greening of the Arctic

Linking Remote Sensing and Dendrochronology to Quantify Climate‐Induced Shifts in High‐Elevation Forests Over Space and Time

Spatial Upscaling of Tree-Ring-Based Forest Response to Drought with Satellite Data

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