Local climate determines the NDVI-based primary productivity and flooding creates heterogeneity in semi-arid floodplain ecosystem

Wen, Lei; Yang, Xihua; Saintilan, Neil

doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2012.05.018

Cited by 49 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Coarser resolution MODIS NDVI images are unable to capture the detail of responses in semi-arid landscapes where vegetation communities are often spatially fragmented (Munyati and Mboweni, 2012). Second, most of these studies focus on floodplain inundation only (Wen et al, 2012;Shilpakar, 2013;Sims and Colloff, 2012), omitting to examine NDVI during the characteristic and often long dry periods that occur between floods. As dryland floodplains have been conceptualized as boom-bust systems (Walker et al, 1995), vegetation productivity in both flood (the boom) and dry (the bust) states should be considered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…As dryland floodplains have been conceptualized as boom-bust systems (Walker et al, 1995), vegetation productivity in both flood (the boom) and dry (the bust) states should be considered. Third, some studies examined the NDVI at one scale in the floodplain (Sims and Coloff, 2012) while others examined vegetation response at multiple scales by considering the whole floodplain and in component vegetation types (Wen et al, 2012;Shilpakar, 2013;Parsons and Thoms, 2013) or in geomorphic units (Parsons and Thoms, 2013). The interaction between pattern and process occurs at multiple scales in complex systems and the interplay of flood inundation and vegetation response may therefore occur at different scales within the floodplain (Wiens, 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Several studies have used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to examine floodplain vegetation productivity responses to flood inundation in Australian dryland floodplains. Flow was shown to be the primary driver of spatial variation in the NDVI across 10 semi-arid floodplain wetlands in the Macquarie Marshes, although rainfall and minimum temperature modified spatial variation in the NDVI, particularly among different vegetation communities (Wen et al, 2012). Sims and Colloff (2012) calculated that a single flood, which inundated more than 50% of a semi-arid floodplain along the Paroo River increased the NDVI by up to 19% above non-flood levels, and that these elevated values of the NDVI continued for up to 13 months following flood recession.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…First, the resolution of satellite sensors and techniques used to compute NDVI varied from 250 m MODIS NDVI (Wen et al, 2012;Sims and Colloff, 2012) to NDVI calculated using Landsat TM 5 or 7 bands and resampled to 25 m (Parsons and Thoms, 2013;Shilpakar, 2013). Coarser resolution MODIS NDVI images are unable to capture the detail of responses in semi-arid landscapes where vegetation communities are often spatially fragmented (Munyati and Mboweni, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The response of dryland floodplain vegetation productivity to flooding and drying

Thapa

Thoms

Parsons

2016

Journal of Arid Environments

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The response of dryland floodplain vegetation productivity to flooding and drying

Thapa

Thoms

Parsons

2016

Journal of Arid Environments

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“…Hence, NDVI is a surrogate for vegetation productivity (Lillesand and Kiefer, 2000;Farina, 2006;Wen et al, 2012) …”

Section: Calculation Of the Normalised Difference Vegetation Indexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive cycles of floodplain vegetation response to flooding and drying

Thapa¹,

Thoms²,

Parsons³

et al. 2016

Earth Surf. Dynam.

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Abstract.Flooding is a key driver of floodplain vegetation productivity. Adaptive cycles provide a model for examining the productivity of semi-arid floodplain vegetation in response to hydrology. We examined the response of vegetation productivity (measured as NDVI) through a hypothesised adaptive cycle to determine whether the cycle repeats over time and how it is affected by differently sized flood events. The area of floodplain inundation was associated with an adaptive cycle that repeated in four flood events through the following phases: wetting (exploitation phase), wet (conservation phase), drying (release phase) and dry (reorganisation phase). Vegetation productivity responses corresponded to these phases. The area and quality of floodplain vegetation productivity followed the hypothesised pattern of higher-quality vegetation vigour in the wetting and wet phases, lower vigour in the drying phase and lowest vigour in the dry phase. There were more transitions between NDVI classes in the wet phase, which was dominated by two-way transitions. Overall, the wetting, wet and drying phases were dominated by smaller-probability class changes, whereas in the dry phase, higher-probability class changes were more prominent. Although the four flood events exhibited an adaptive cycle the duration of the adaptive-cycle phases, and the nature of vegetation productivity response, differed with the character of the flood event. Vegetation response in two of the adaptive-cycle phases -the release and reorganisation phases -were as hypothesised, but in the exploitation and conservation phases, changes in vegetation productivity were more dynamic. The character of vegetation response through the adaptive cycle also indicates that semi-arid floodplain vegetation productivity is more vulnerable to changing state during the conservation and release phases and not during the exploitation and reorganisation phases as resilience theory suggests. Overall, the adaptive cycle represents a new model to improve our understanding of the complexity of change in semi-arid floodplain vegetation productivity through cycles of flooding and drying. Changes in vegetation productivity could initiate structural changes in floodplain vegetation communities, with commensurate influences on floodplain sediment dynamics.

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Vegetation persistence and carbon storage: Implications for environmental water management for Phragmites australis

Whitaker

Rogers

Saintilan

et al. 2015

Water Resources Research

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Environmental water allocations are used to improve the ecological health of wetlands. There is now increasing demand for allocations to improve ecosystem productivity and respiration, and enhance carbon sequestration. Despite global recognition of wetlands as carbon sinks, information regarding carbon dynamics is lacking. This is the first study estimating carbon sequestration for semiarid Phragmites australis reedbeds. The study combined aboveground biomass assessments with stable isotope analyses of soils and modeling of biomass using Normalized Digital Vegetation Index (NDVI) to investigate the capacity of environmental water allocations to improve carbon storage. The study considered relationships between soil organic carbon (SOC), carbon sources, and reedbed persistence in the Macquarie Marshes, a regulated semiarid floodplain of the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. SOC storage levels to 1 m soil depth were higher in persistent reedbeds (167 Mg ha 21 ) than ephemeral reedbeds (116-138 Mg ha 21 ). In situ P. australis was the predominant source of surface SOC at persistent reedbeds; mixed sources of surface SOC were proposed for ephemeral reedbeds. 13C enrichment with increasing soil depth occurred in persistent and ephemeral reedbeds and may not relate to flow characteristics. Despite high SOC at persistent reedbeds, differences in the rate of accretion contributed to significantly higher rates of carbon sequestration at ephemeral reedbeds (approximately 554 and 465 g m 22 yr 21 ) compared to persistent reedbeds (5.17 g m 22 yr 21 ). However, under current water regimes, rapid accretion at ephemeral reedbeds cannot be maintained. Effective management of persistent P. australis reedbeds may enhance carbon sequestration in the Macquarie Marshes and floodplain wetlands more generally.

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Local climate determines the NDVI-based primary productivity and flooding creates heterogeneity in semi-arid floodplain ecosystem

Cited by 49 publications

References 56 publications

The response of dryland floodplain vegetation productivity to flooding and drying

The response of dryland floodplain vegetation productivity to flooding and drying

Adaptive cycles of floodplain vegetation response to flooding and drying

Vegetation persistence and carbon storage: Implications for environmental water management for Phragmites australis

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