Review of vegetation phenology trends in China in a changing climate

Abstract

Vegetation phenology is sensitive to climate change and has been defined as the footprint of ongoing climate change. Previous studies have shown that the spatial difference in China’s vegetation phenology varies substantially in both spring and autumn. Here, we reviewed phenological dynamics at the national and the regional scale of China over the period 1982−2020 using a remote sensing-based dataset and meta-analysis from phenological studies in China. We also explored the underlying mechanisms of both spring and autumn phenology and discussed potential phenological studies under future climate conditions. We found that, over the past four decades, the spring phenology advanced at a rate of 0.23 ± 0.47 days/year, while the autumn phenology was delayed at a rate of 0.17 ± 0.46 days/year. This led to an extended vegetation growth season of approximately 5 days per decade. The trends in the spring and autumn phenology were spatially specific in the Northern region, Northwest region, Qinghai–Tibet region, and Southern region: the change in spring phenology was −0.16, −0.46, −0.18, and −0.13 days/year, respectively, while the change in autumn phenology was 0.02, 0.32, 0.09, and 0.28 days/year, respectively. We also explored the dominant climatic drivers of regional phenological changes. We found that temperature was the dominant factor for spring phenology in cold regions, while precipitation, radiation, and temperature co-determined spring phenology in warm regions. The autumn phenology was affected by all three environmental cues but the effect of temperature was larger than that of radiation and precipitation across all regions. In future climate warming conditions, we recommend that studies focus on the phenological feedback mechanisms, such as the climatic and hydrological effects of vegetation changes, and agricultural phenology to investigate its fundamental role in crop productivity, especially under extreme climate events, to ensure national food security and ecological security.

Understanding vegetation phenology responses to easily ignored climate factors in china's mid-high latitudes

“…Uncertainty about future climate change is growing 12 – 15 . Previous studies have explored the effect of temperature and precipitation on vegetation phenology 4 , 16 , 17 . However, it is crucial to acknowledge that external climatic drivers affecting vegetation phenology encompass not only temperature and precipitation but also factors such as relative humidity, solar radiation, maximum and minimum temperatures.…”

Unraveling Effect of Snow Cover on Spring Vegetation Phenology across Different Vegetation Types in Northeast China

“…The impacts of snowmelt on vegetation phenology are largely driven by synergistic changes in soil water content and soil temperature induced by snowmelt. As snowmelt begins, the infiltrated snowmelt water and the insulation of the remaining snow cover stimulate vegetation activities below the snow [31].…”

“…Northeast China is situated within the high-latitude region of the country, with a maximum latitude of 53 • 33 N. It is the second-largest stable snow-covered region of China [32] and an important production base for agriculture, forestry, and husbandry. Many studies have focused on the response of SOS to climate factors such as temperature, precipitation, and radiation [15,31,[33][34][35], and some studies have also considered the response of SOS to other factors such as percent tree cover, urbanization, and cropland expansion [14,16,36], but they have not considered the effect of snow cover. Some studies have explored the impact of snow cover on SOS and they centered their attention on how snow phenology affects SOS, but they did not pay enough attention to the effect of snow characteristics, such as snow water equivalent (SWE) [37,38].…”

The impact of vegetation phenology changes on the relationship between climate and net primary productivity in Yunnan, China, under global warming

“…Meanwhile, vegetation NPP is highly related to the timing of phenological onset, particularly in spring and autumn ( Wu et al., 2021 ). The early SOS in spring and the delayed end of the vegetation growing season (EOS) in autumn, caused by climate warming, are major factors that increase plant productivity ( Zhang et al., 2022 ). Seasonal changes in vegetation phenology can adjust photosynthesis and other ecosystem processes leading to changes in the timing and magnitude of NPP, which in turn has significant implications for terrestrial carbon cycling ( Wu et al., 2021 ; Sun et al., 2022 ).…”