Vegetation Dynamics and its Response to Climate Change in the Yellow River Basin, China

31Citations
Citations of this article
24Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

As an important ecological corridor, the Yellow River basin (YRB) is crucial for the eco-environmental security and sustainable socio-economic development of China. Systematic studies on the spatiotemporal evolution of vegetation cover and the response of vegetation dynamics to climate change in the YRB at different timescales are lacking. Utilizing a long-term remotely sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and gridded climate dataset, we examined the spatiotemporal variability of vegetation cover and its response to climate variables in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) at multiple timescales by using the Mann-Kendall test, rescaled range analysis, and partial correlation analysis. Results indicated that the annual NDVI in the YRB decreased spatially from southeast to northwest, and peaked in August. From 1982 to 2015, the YRB experienced greening during the annual, growing season and spring, with statistically significant NDVI increases (p < 0.05) recorded in over 55% of the vegetated areas. NDVI trends should be expected to persist in the future, as evidenced by the Hurst index exceeding 0.5 in over 85% areas of the YRB. Temperature and precipitation determined the spatiotemporal pattern of vegetation cover in the YRB, and vegetation dynamics response to climatic variations varied among seasons and climatic zones. In contrast to other seasons, spring NDVI was significantly correlated with temperature, whereas winter vegetation was more vulnerable to suppression by increased precipitation. Vegetation growth was more susceptible to precipitation than to temperature in the arid and semiarid zones, while temperature dominated vegetation dynamics in the semi-humid zone, and the sunshine duration was essential for vegetation growth in high-altitude regions. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the interrelationship between vegetation dynamics and climate change in the YRB and provides useful suggestions for the regional ecological conservation in the context of global warming.

References Powered by Scopus

Characteristics of maximum-value composite images from temporal AVHRR data

2653Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

China and India lead in greening of the world through land-use management

2175Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

An extended AVHRR 8-km NDVI dataset compatible with MODIS and SPOT vegetation NDVI data

2020Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

Drought-related cumulative and time-lag effects on vegetation dynamics across the Yellow River Basin, China

64Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Vegetation cover change and its response to climate extremes in the Yellow River Basin

19Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Geographic Exploration of the Driving Forces of the NDVI Spatial Differentiation in the Upper Yellow River Basin from 2000 to 2020

14Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Zhan, C., Liang, C., Zhao, L., Jiang, S., Niu, K., Zhang, Y., & Cheng, L. (2022). Vegetation Dynamics and its Response to Climate Change in the Yellow River Basin, China. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.892747

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 6

75%

Lecturer / Post doc 1

13%

Researcher 1

13%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Environmental Science 3

38%

Agricultural and Biological Sciences 2

25%

Earth and Planetary Sciences 2

25%

Nursing and Health Professions 1

13%

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free