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Precipitation patterns alter growth of temperate vegetation
Author(s) -
Fang Jingyun,
Piao Shilong,
Zhou Liming,
He Jinsheng,
Wei Fengying,
Myneni Ranga B.,
Tucker Compton J.,
Tan Kun
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2005gl024231
Subject(s) - deciduous , temperate deciduous forest , normalized difference vegetation index , precipitation , grassland , environmental science , vegetation (pathology) , temperate forest , biome , growing season , temperate rainforest , temperate climate , physical geography , ecology , ecosystem , leaf area index , geography , biology , medicine , pathology , meteorology
In this paper, we use growing season Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as an indicator of plant growth to quantify the relationships between vegetation production and intra‐annual precipitation patterns for three major temperate biomes in China: grassland, deciduous broadleaf forest, and deciduous coniferous forest. With increased precipitation, NDVI of grassland and deciduous broadleaf forest increased, but that of deciduous coniferous forest decreased. More frequent precipitation significantly increased growth of grassland and deciduous broadleaf forest, but did not alter that of deciduous coniferous forest at low precipitation levels and constrained its growth at high precipitation levels. The relationships between NDVI and average precipitation per event were opposite to those between NDVI and precipitation frequency. Such nonlinear feedback suggests that the responses of vegetation production to changes in precipitation patterns differ by both biome type and precipitation amount.