Decreased vegetation growth in response to summer drought in Central Asia from 2000 to 2012 |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA;2. Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007, USA;3. School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA;1. Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China;2. Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, Worcester, MA 01610, USA;3. Key Laboratory of Earth Observation Hainan Province, Hainan 572029, China;4. Earth Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA;5. National Centre of Space Research and Technology of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty 050010, Kazakhstan;6. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China;1. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China;2. Key Laboratory of Carbon Cycling in Forest Ecosystems and Carbon Sequestration of Zhejiang Province, School of Environmental & Resource Sciences, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin An, Zhejiang Province 311300, China;3. Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823, United States;4. Almaty Branch of Kazakh Scientific Research Institute of Forestry, Ministries of Agriculture, Almaty, Kazakhstan;5. The province Key Laboratory of the Biodiversity Study and Ecology Conservation in Southwest Anhui, College of Life Sciences, Anqing Normal University, Anqing 246133, Anhui Province, China;1. Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China;2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;3. College of Earth Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China |
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| Abstract: | Climate change scenarios predict that Central Asia may experience an increase in the frequency and magnitude of temperature and precipitation extremes by the end of the 21st century, but the response regularity of different types of vegetation to climate extremes is uncertain. Based on remote-sensed vegetation index and in-situ meteorological data for the period of 2000–2012, we examined the diverse responses of vegetation to climate mean/extremes and differentiated climatic and anthropogenic influence on the vegetation in Central Asia. Our results showed that extensive vegetation degradation was related to summer water deficit as a result of the combined effect of decreased precipitation and increased potential evapotranspiration. Water was a primary climatic driver for vegetation changes regionally, and human-induced changes in vegetation confined mainly to local areas. Responses of vegetation to water stress varied in different vegetation types. Grasslands were most responsive to water deficit followed by forests and desert vegetation. Climate extremes caused significant vegetation changes, and different vegetation types had diverse responses to climate extremes. Grasslands represented a symmetric response to wet and dry periods. Desert vegetation was more responsive during wet years than in dry years. Forests responded more strongly to dry than to wet years due to a severe drought occurred in 2008. This study has important implications for predicting how vegetation ecosystems in drylands respond to climate mean/extremes under future scenarios of climate change. |
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| Keywords: | Vegetation dynamics Water stress Climate extremes Human activities Central Asia |
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