Evidence for a weakening relationship between interannual temperature variability and northern vegetation activity

Satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a proxy of vegetation productivity, is known to be correlated with temperature in northern ecosystems. This relationship, however, may change over time following alternations in other environmental factors. Here we show that above 30 d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: Piao, Shilong, Nan, Huijuan, Huntingford, Chris, Ciais, Philippe, Friedlingstein, Pierre, Sitch, Stephen, Peng, Shushi, Ahlstrom, Anders, Canadell, Josep G., Cong, Nan, Levis, Sam, Levy, Peter E., Liu, Lingli, Lomas, Mark R., Mao, Jiafu, Myneni, Ranga B., Peylin, Philippe, Poulter, Ben, Shi, Xiaoying, Yin, Guodong, Viovy, Nicolas, Wang, Tao, Wang, Xuhui, Zaehle, Soenke, Zeng, Ning, Zeng, Zhenzhong, Chen, Anping
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: NATURE PORTFOLIO 2014
Subjects:
Multidisciplinary Sciences
NET PRIMARY PRODUCTION
CARBON-DIOXIDE
CLIMATE
GROWTH
CO2
ACCLIMATION
DROUGHT
INDEX
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Arctic
Tundra
Online Access:http://ir.ibcas.ac.cn/handle/2S10CLM1/27345
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6018
Description
Summary:Satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a proxy of vegetation productivity, is known to be correlated with temperature in northern ecosystems. This relationship, however, may change over time following alternations in other environmental factors. Here we show that above 30 degrees N, the strength of the relationship between the interannual variability of growing season NDVI and temperature (partial correlation coefficient RNDV-GT) declined substantially between 1982 and 2011. This decrease in RNDVI-GT is mainly observed in temperate and arctic ecosystems, and is also partly reproduced by process-based ecosystem model results. In the temperate ecosystem, the decrease in RNDVI-GT coincides with an increase in drought. In the arctic ecosystem, it may be related to a nonlinear response of photosynthesis to temperature, increase of hot extreme days and shrub expansion over grass-dominated tundra. Our results caution the use of results from interannual time scales to constrain the decadal response of plants to ongoing warming.

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