Spatial variations in aboveground net primary productivity along a climate gradient in Eurasian temperate grassland: effects of mean annual precipitation and its seasonal distribution

Guo, Qun; Hu, Zhongmin; Li, Shenggong; Li, Xuanran; Sun, Xiaomin; Yu, Guirui

doi:10.1111/gcb.12010

Cited by 185 publications

(154 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…In arid and semi-arid regions, water availability from precipitation has been reported as the key factor in promoting vegetation growth as a result of reduced water stress [3][4][5], but a considerable amount of variability in vegetation growth remains unexplained by precipitation alone [9,[12][13][14][15]. Even if the annual precipitation inputs remain unchanged, the predicted changes in the distribution of precipitation events will impact the timing and quantity of soil water available for plant uptake and biogeochemical processes [16][17][18][19]. Local, regional, and global studies all support an increase in winter precipitation in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere [8,[20][21][22][23][24][25], and the higher temperature could increase the rate and intensity of snowmelt.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Climate Change on Vegetation Growth in Arid Northwest of China from 1982 to 2011

et al. 2016

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Previous studies have concluded that the increase in vegetation in the arid northwest of China is related to precipitation rather than temperature. However, these studies neglected the effects of climate warming on water availability that arise through changes in the melting characteristics of this snowy and glaciated region. Here, we characterized vegetation changes using the newly improved third-generation Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GIMMS-3g NDVI) from 1982 to 2011. We analyzed the temperature and precipitation trends based on data from 51 meteorological stations across Northwest China and investigated changes in the glaciers using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data. Our results indicated an increasing trend in vegetation greenness in Northwest China, and this increasing trend was mostly associated with increasing winter precipitation and summer temperature. We found that the mean annual temperature increased at a rate of 0.04˝C per year over the past 30 years, which induced rapid glacial melting. The total water storage measured by GRACE decreased by up to 8 mm yr´1 and primarily corresponded to the disappearance of glaciers. Considering the absence of any observed increase in precipitation in the growing season, the vegetation growth may have benefited from the melting of glaciers in high-elevation mountains (i.e., the Tianshan Mountains). Multiple regression analysis showed that temperature was positively correlated with NDVI and that gravity was negatively correlated with NDVI; together, these variables explained 84% of the NDVI variation. Our findings suggest that both winter precipitation and warming-induced glacial melting increased water availability to the arid vegetation in this region, resulting in enhanced greenness.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Climate Change on Vegetation Growth in Arid Northwest of China from 1982 to 2011

et al. 2016

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“…For example, mean or interannual variability in aboveground net primary production (ANPP), the response of ANPP to environmental variables, and trends in ANPP through time have been compared within and among terrestrial biomes on many continents for decades (e.g., Whittaker 1975, Le Houérou and Hoste 1977, Sala et al 1988, Huxman et al 2004, Guo et al 2012, Hsu et al 2012.…”

Section: Approaches To Addressing Regional-to Continental-scale Questmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking the pulse of a continent: expanding site‐based research infrastructure for regional‐ to continental‐scale ecology

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Many of the most dramatic and surprising effects of global change on ecological systems will occur across large spatial extents, from regions to continents. Multiple ecosystem types will be impacted across a range of interacting spatial and temporal scales. The ability of ecologists to understand and predict these dynamics depends, in large part, on existing site-based research infrastructures developed in response to historic events. Here we review how unevenly prepared ecologists are, and more generally, ecology is as a discipline, to address regional-to continental-scale questions given these pre-existing sitebased capacities, and we describe the changes that will be needed to pursue these broad-scale questions in the future. We first review the types of approaches commonly used to address questions at broad scales, and identify the research, cyber-infrastructure, and cultural challenges associated with these approaches. These challenges include developing a mechanistic understanding of the drivers and responses of ecosystem dynamics across a large, diverse geographic extent where measurements of fluxes or flows of materials, energy or information across levels of biological organization or spatial units are needed. The diversity of methods, sampling protocols, and data acquisition technologies make post-hoc comparisons of ecosystems challenging, and data collected using standardized methods across sites require coordination and teamwork. Sharing of data and analytics to create derived data products are needed for multi-site studies, but this level of collaboration is not part of the current ecological culture. We then discuss the strengths and limitations of current site-based research infrastructures in meeting these challenges, and describe a path forward for regional-to continental-scale ecological research that integrates existing infrastructures with emerging and potentially new technologies to more effectively address broad-scale questions. This new research infrastructure will be instrumental in developing an ''ü ber network'' to allow users to seamlessly identify and select, analyze, and interpret data from sites regardless of network affiliation, funding agency, or political affinity, to cover the spatial variability and extent of regional-to continental-scale questions. Ultimately, scientists must network across institutional boundaries in order to tap and expand these existing network infrastructures before these investments can address critical broadscale research questions and needs.

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“…Northern China's grasslands located in the Tibetan Plateau and Inner Mongolian Plateau, in particular, constitute the majority (more than 70%) of the grasslands in China and represent two significant grassland types worldwide (i.e., alpine and temperate grasslands) [4]. Moreover, they are sensitive to climate changes due to their unique plateau topography, the extreme cold, arid and semi-arid ecological environment and the high soil carbon density [5][6][7]. Therefore, a better understanding of the carbon cycle in northern China's grasslands is necessary for it to serve as a sensitivity indicator of regional and global carbon cycles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Satellite-Based Model for Simulating Ecosystem Respiration in the Tibetan and Inner Mongolian Grasslands

Ren

et al. 2018

Remote Sensing

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Abstract:It is important to accurately evaluate ecosystem respiration (RE) in the alpine grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau and the temperate grasslands of the Inner Mongolian Plateau, as it serves as a sensitivity indicator of regional and global carbon cycles. Here, we combined flux measurements taken between 2003 and 2013 from 16 grassland sites across northern China and the corresponding MODIS land surface temperature (LST), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), and land surface water index (LSWI) to build a satellite-based model to estimate RE at a regional scale. First, the dependencies of both spatial and temporal variations of RE on these biotic and climatic factors were examined explicitly. We found that plant productivity and moisture, but not temperature, can best explain the spatial pattern of RE in northern China's grasslands; while temperature plays a major role in regulating the temporal variability of RE in the alpine grasslands, and moisture is equally as important as temperature in the temperate grasslands. However, the moisture effect on RE and the explicit representation of spatial variation process are often lacking in most of the existing satellite-based RE models. On this basis, we developed a model by comprehensively considering moisture, temperature, and productivity effects on both temporal and spatial processes of RE, and then, we evaluated the model performance. Our results showed that the model well explained the observed RE in both the alpine (R 2 = 0.79, RMSE = 0.77 g C m −2 day −1 ) and temperate grasslands (R 2 = 0.75, RMSE = 0.60 g C m −2 day −1 ). The inclusion of the LSWI as the water-limiting factor substantially improved the model performance in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, and the spatialized basal respiration rate as an indicator for spatial variation largely determined the regional pattern of RE. Finally, the model accurately reproduced the seasonal and inter-annual variations and spatial variability of RE, and it avoided overestimating RE in water-limited regions compared to the popular process-based model. These findings provide a better understanding of the biotic and climatic controls over spatiotemporal patterns of RE for two typical grasslands and a new alternative up-scaling method for large-scale RE evaluation in grassland ecosystems.

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Spatial variations in aboveground net primary productivity along a climate gradient in Eurasian temperate grassland: effects of mean annual precipitation and its seasonal distribution

Cited by 185 publications

References 54 publications

Impact of Climate Change on Vegetation Growth in Arid Northwest of China from 1982 to 2011

Impact of Climate Change on Vegetation Growth in Arid Northwest of China from 1982 to 2011

Taking the pulse of a continent: expanding site‐based research infrastructure for regional‐ to continental‐scale ecology

A Satellite-Based Model for Simulating Ecosystem Respiration in the Tibetan and Inner Mongolian Grasslands

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