Responses of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to precipitation changes on the grassland of Tibetan Plateau from 2000 to 2015.

doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.201801.014

Abstract

Abstract: Precipitation change is an important factor in the inter-annual variation of grassland growth on the Tibetan Plateau. The total amount, distribution pattern and concentration time are three basic characteristics of precipitation change. The temporal and spatial characteristics of precipitation change were analyzed based on climate data of 145 meteorological stations on the Tibetan Plateau and nearby areas from 2000 to 2015. The total precipitation amount was characterized by annual precipitation, distribution pattern of precipitation during the year was characterized by improved precipitation concentration index (PCI), and precipitation centroid (PC) was defined to indicate the change in precipitation concentrated time. To better illustrate the response of grassland to precipitation change, vegetation growth status was characterized by the maximum value of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI_max). Results indicated that the annual precipitation and PCI had an apparent gradient across the whole plateau and the latest PC occurred in the southern plateau. NDVI_max of alpine shrub grassland was significantly correlated with the change of PCI,increased with even distribution of precipitation during growth period, and limited by the total annual precipitation. Alpine meadow did not show significantly correlations with these three indices. The inter-annual variability of NDVI_max of steppe was controlled by both PCI and PC. NDVI_maxof alpine desert grassland was mainly controlled by annual precipitation. In addition to annual total amount of precipitation, the distribution characteristics of precipitation should be further considered when the influence of precipitation change on different types of vegetation on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau was studied.

WANG Zhi-peng, ZHANG Xian-zhou, HE Yong-tao, LI Meng, SHI Pei-li, ZU Jia-xing, NIU Ben. Responses of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to precipitation changes on the grassland of Tibetan Plateau from 2000 to 2015.[J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 2018, 29(1): 75-83.

References

[1] Ma Y-M (马耀明), Hu Z-Y (胡泽勇), Tian L-D (田立德), et al. Study progresses of the Tibet Plateau climate system change and mechanism of its impact on East Asia. Advances in Earth Science (地球科学进展), 2014, 29(2): 207-215 (in Chinese)
[2] Wang T-M (王同美),Wu G-X (吴国雄), Wan R-J (万日金). Influence of the mechanical and thermal forcing of Tibetan Plateau on the circulation of the Asian summer monsoon area. Plateau Meteorology (高原气象), 2008, 27(1): 1-9 (in Chinese)
[3] Yao TD, Thompson LG, Mosbrugger V, et al. Third Pole Environment (TPE). Environmental Development, 2012, 3: 52-64
[4] Ding MJ, Zhang YL, Liu LS, et al. The relationship between NDVI and precipitation on the Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2007, 3: 259-268
[5] Zhou R (周睿), Yang Y-H (杨元合), Fang J-Y (方精云). Responses of vegetation activity to precipitation variationon the Tibetan Plateau. Acta Scientiarum Naturalium Universitatis Pekinensis (北京大学学报), 2007, 43(6): 771-775 (in Chinese)
[6] Trenberth KE. Changes in precipitation with climate change. Climate Research, 2011, 47: 123-138
[7] Jiang YB, Zhang YJ, Wu YP, et al. Relationships between aboveground biomass and plant coverat two spatial scales and their determinants in northern Tibetan grasslands. Ecology and Evolution, 2017, 7: 7954-7964
[8] Wang J-J (王纪军), Pei T-F (裴铁璠), Gu W-L (顾万龙), et al. Non-uniformity index of annual precipitation distribution. Chinese Journal of Ecology (生态学杂志), 2007, 26(9): 1364-1368 (in Chinese)
[9] Yu G (于格), Lu C-X (鲁春霞), Xie G-D (谢高地), et al. Seasonal dynamics of ecosystem service of grassland in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology (应用生态学报), 2007, 18(1): 47-51 (in Chinese)
[10] Zhao D-S (赵东升), Wu S-H (吴绍洪), Zheng D (郑度), et al. Spatial patterns of eco-climatic factors on Tibetan Plateau. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology (应用生态学报), 2009, 20(5): 1153-1159 (in Chinese)
[11] Zhu X-D (朱西德), Li L (李林), Qin N-S (秦宁生), et al. Studies on climatic variation and anomaly types of the annual precipitation over Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Scientia Meteorologica Sinica (气象科学), 2003, 23(4): 452-459 (in Chinese)
[12] Zhang L (张磊), Miao Q-L (缪启龙). Precipitatin changes in the Tibetan Plateau during the last four decades. Arid Land Geography (干旱区地理), 2007, 30(2): 240-246 (in Chinese)
[13] Li X-Y (李晓英), Yao Z-Y (姚正毅), Xiao J-H (肖建华), et al. Analysis of the spatial-temporal variation characteristics of precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau from 1961 through 2010. Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology (冰川冻土), 2016, 38(5): 1233-1240 (in Chinese)
[14] Lin H-B (林厚博), You Q-L (游庆龙), Jiao Y (焦洋), et al. Spatial and temporal characteristics of the precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau from 1961 to 2010 based on high resolution grid-observation dataset. Journal of Natural Resources (自然资源学报),2015, 30(2): 271-281 (in Chinese)
[15] Zhang L-J (张录军), Qian Y-F (钱永甫). A study on the feature of precipitation concentration and its relation to flood-producing in the Yangtze River Valley of China. Chinese Journal of Geophys (地球物理学报), 2004, 47(4): 622-630 (in Chinese)
[16] Longobardi A, Buttafuoco G, Caloiero T, et al. Spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation in a Mediterranean area (southern Italy). Environmental Earth Sciences, 2016, 75: 324-331
[17] Gocic M, Shamshirband S, Razak Z, et al. Long-term precipitation analysis and estimation of precipitation concentrationindex using three support vector machine methods. Advances in Meteorology, 2016, 12: 1-11
[18] Huang J, Liu F, Xue Y, et al. The spatial and temporal analysis of precipitation concentration and dry spell in Qinghai, Northwest China. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 2015, 29: 1403-1411
[19] Piao S-L (朴世龙), Fang J-Y (方精云), He J-S (贺金生), et al. Spatial distribution of grassland biomass in China. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology (植物生态学报), 2004, 28(4): 491-498 (in Chinese)
[20] Brinkmann K, Dickhoefer U, Schlecht E, et al. Quantification of aboveground rangeland productivity and anthropogenic degradation on the Arabian Peninsula using Landsat imagery and field inventory data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 2011, 115: 465-474
[21] Gang F, Wei S, Shaowei L, et al. Modeling aboveground biomass using MODIS images and climatic data in grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2017, 8: 42-49
[22] Lu Q (陆晴), Wu S-H (吴绍洪), Zhao D-S (赵东升). Variations in alpine grassland cover and its correlation with climate variables on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in 1982-2013. Scientia Geographica Sinica (地理科学), 2017, 37(2): 292-300 (in Chinese)
[23] Zhang G-L (张戈丽), Ouyang H (欧阳华), Zhang X-Z (张宪洲), et al. Vegetation change and its responses to climatic variation based on eco-geographical regions of Tibetan Plateau. Geographical Research (地理研究), 2010, 29(11): 2004-2016 (in Chinese)
[24] Wang Q-X (王青霞), Lyu S-H (吕世华), Bao Y (鲍艳), et al. Characteristics of vegetation change and its relationship with climate factors in different time-scales on Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Plateau Meteorology (高原气象), 2014, 33(2): 301-312 (in Chinese)
[25] Li L (李林), Chen X-G (陈晓光), Wang Z-N (王振宁), et al. Climate change and its regional differences over the Tibetan Plateau. Advances in Climate Change Research (气候变化研究进展), 2015, 6(3): 181-186 (in Chinese)
[26] Ding M-J (丁明军), Zhang Y-L (张镱锂), Liu L-S (刘林山), et al. Seasonal time lag response of NDVI to temperature and precipitation change and its spatial characteristics in Tibetan Plateau. Progress in Geography (地理科学进展), 2010, 29(4): 507-512 (in Chinese)
[27] Zhang Y, Qi W, Zhou C, et al. Spatial and temporal variability in the net primary production of alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau since 1982. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2014, 24: 269-287
[28] Wang SY, Zhang B, Yang QC, et al. Responses of net primary productivity to phenological dynamics in the Tibetan Plateau, China. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2017, 232: 235-246
[29] Tan J-B (谭剑波), Li A-N (李爱农), Lei G-B (雷光斌). Contrast on anusplin and coKriging meteorological spatial interpolation in southeastern margin of Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Plateau Meteorology (高原气象), 2016, 35(4): 875-886 (in Chinese)
[30] de Luis M, Raventos J, Gonzalezhidalgo JC, et al. Spatial analysis of rainfall trends in the region of Valencia (East Spain). International Journal of Climatology, 2000, 20: 1451-1469
[31] Oliver JE. Monthly precipitation distribution: A compara-tive index. Professional Geographer, 1980, 32: 300-309
[32] Yu J-Y (于建英), He X-H (何旭红). Statistical Analysis and SPSS Applications. Beijing: Posts & Telecom Press, 2003 (in Chinese)
[33] Qi W-W (齐文文), Zhang B-P (张百平), Pang Y (庞宇), et al. TRMM-data-based spatial and seasonal patterns of precipitation in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Scientia Geographica Sinica (地理科学), 2013, 33(8): 999-1005 (in Chinese)
[34] Yang W (杨玮), He J-H (何金海), Wang P-X (王盘兴), et al. Inhomogeneity characteristics of intra-annual precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau in recent 42 years. Acta Geographica Sinica (地理学报), 2011,66(3): 376-384 (in Chinese)
[35] Wang SY, Wang XY, Chen GS, et al. Complex responses of spring alpine vegetation phenology to snow cover dynamics over the Tibetan Plateau, China. Science of the Total Environment, 2017, 593-594: 449-461
[36] Bai Y-F (白永飞). Influence of seasonal distribution of precipitation on primary productivity of Stipa krylovii community. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology (植物生态学报), 1999, 23(2): 155-160 (in Chinese)
[37] Mi Z-R (米兆荣), Chen L-T (陈立同), Zhang Z-H (张振华), et al. Alpine grassland water use efficiency based on annual precipitation, growing season precipitation and growing season evapotranspiration. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology (植物生态学报), 2015, 39(7): 649-660 (in Chinese)
[38] Ye H (叶辉), Wang J-B (王军邦), Huang M (黄玫), et al. Spatial pattern of vegetation precipitation use efficiency and its response to precipitation and temperature on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau of China. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology (植物生态学报), 2012, 36(12): 1237-1247 (in Chinese)