Vegetation Changing Patterns and Its Sensitivity to Climate Variability across Seven Major Watersheds in China
Climate changes have profound impacts on vegetation and further alter hydrological processes through transpiration, interception, and evaporation. This study investigated vegetation’s changing patterns and its sensitivity to climate variability across seven major watersheds in China based on a hybri...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:309feaa5119441cc9afa205841cd354b 2023-05-15T18:40:34+02:00 Vegetation Changing Patterns and Its Sensitivity to Climate Variability across Seven Major Watersheds in China Qin Wang Qin Ju Yueyang Wang Quanxi Shao Rongrong Zhang Yanli Liu Zhenchun Hao 2022-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192113916 https://doaj.org/article/309feaa5119441cc9afa205841cd354b EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/13916 https://doaj.org/toc/1661-7827 https://doaj.org/toc/1660-4601 doi:10.3390/ijerph192113916 1660-4601 1661-7827 https://doaj.org/article/309feaa5119441cc9afa205841cd354b International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 19, Iss 13916, p 13916 (2022) vegetation variations climate change regionalization Vegetation Sensitivity Index (VSI) Medicine R article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192113916 2022-12-30T21:27:13Z Climate changes have profound impacts on vegetation and further alter hydrological processes through transpiration, interception, and evaporation. This study investigated vegetation’s changing patterns and its sensitivity to climate variability across seven major watersheds in China based on a hybrid regionalization approach and a novel, empirical index—Vegetation Sensitivity Index (VSI). Vegetation showed linearly increasing trends in most of the seven watersheds, while decreases in vegetation were mostly found in the source regions of the Yangtze River Basin (YZRB) and Yellow River Basin (YRB), the forest and grassland areas of the Songhua River Basin (SHRB) and Liao River Basin (LRB), the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta during the growing season. The selected watersheds can be categorized into 11 sub-regions, and the regionalization result was consistent with the topography and vegetation types; the characteristics of vegetation dynamics were more homogeneous among sub-regions. Vegetation types such as forests and shrubland in the central parts of the YZRB were relatively more vulnerable to climate variations than the grasslands and alpine meadows and tundra (AMT) in the source regions of the YZRB and YRB and the Loess Plateau of the YRB. In arid and semi-arid regions, precipitation had a profound impact on vegetation, while, at low latitudes, solar radiation was the main controlling factor. Such comprehensive investigations of the vegetation–climate relationship patterns across various watersheds are expected to provide a foundation for the exploration of future climate change impacts on ecosystems at the watershed scale. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19 21 13916 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
vegetation variations climate change regionalization Vegetation Sensitivity Index (VSI) Medicine R |
spellingShingle |
vegetation variations climate change regionalization Vegetation Sensitivity Index (VSI) Medicine R Qin Wang Qin Ju Yueyang Wang Quanxi Shao Rongrong Zhang Yanli Liu Zhenchun Hao Vegetation Changing Patterns and Its Sensitivity to Climate Variability across Seven Major Watersheds in China |
topic_facet |
vegetation variations climate change regionalization Vegetation Sensitivity Index (VSI) Medicine R |
description |
Climate changes have profound impacts on vegetation and further alter hydrological processes through transpiration, interception, and evaporation. This study investigated vegetation’s changing patterns and its sensitivity to climate variability across seven major watersheds in China based on a hybrid regionalization approach and a novel, empirical index—Vegetation Sensitivity Index (VSI). Vegetation showed linearly increasing trends in most of the seven watersheds, while decreases in vegetation were mostly found in the source regions of the Yangtze River Basin (YZRB) and Yellow River Basin (YRB), the forest and grassland areas of the Songhua River Basin (SHRB) and Liao River Basin (LRB), the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta during the growing season. The selected watersheds can be categorized into 11 sub-regions, and the regionalization result was consistent with the topography and vegetation types; the characteristics of vegetation dynamics were more homogeneous among sub-regions. Vegetation types such as forests and shrubland in the central parts of the YZRB were relatively more vulnerable to climate variations than the grasslands and alpine meadows and tundra (AMT) in the source regions of the YZRB and YRB and the Loess Plateau of the YRB. In arid and semi-arid regions, precipitation had a profound impact on vegetation, while, at low latitudes, solar radiation was the main controlling factor. Such comprehensive investigations of the vegetation–climate relationship patterns across various watersheds are expected to provide a foundation for the exploration of future climate change impacts on ecosystems at the watershed scale. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Qin Wang Qin Ju Yueyang Wang Quanxi Shao Rongrong Zhang Yanli Liu Zhenchun Hao |
author_facet |
Qin Wang Qin Ju Yueyang Wang Quanxi Shao Rongrong Zhang Yanli Liu Zhenchun Hao |
author_sort |
Qin Wang |
title |
Vegetation Changing Patterns and Its Sensitivity to Climate Variability across Seven Major Watersheds in China |
title_short |
Vegetation Changing Patterns and Its Sensitivity to Climate Variability across Seven Major Watersheds in China |
title_full |
Vegetation Changing Patterns and Its Sensitivity to Climate Variability across Seven Major Watersheds in China |
title_fullStr |
Vegetation Changing Patterns and Its Sensitivity to Climate Variability across Seven Major Watersheds in China |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vegetation Changing Patterns and Its Sensitivity to Climate Variability across Seven Major Watersheds in China |
title_sort |
vegetation changing patterns and its sensitivity to climate variability across seven major watersheds in china |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192113916 https://doaj.org/article/309feaa5119441cc9afa205841cd354b |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_source |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 19, Iss 13916, p 13916 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/13916 https://doaj.org/toc/1661-7827 https://doaj.org/toc/1660-4601 doi:10.3390/ijerph192113916 1660-4601 1661-7827 https://doaj.org/article/309feaa5119441cc9afa205841cd354b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192113916 |
container_title |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
21 |
container_start_page |
13916 |
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1766229950950539264 |