Tree growth and vegetation activity at the ecosystem-scale in the eastern Mediterranean
Linking annual tree growth with remotely-sensed terrestrial vegetation indices provides a basis for using tree rings as proxies for ecosystem primary productivity over large spatial and long temporal scales. In contrast with most previous tree ring/remote sensing studies that have focused on tempera...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:cadca43f849b45ca9a3dabbf28fa8b41 2023-09-05T13:23:40+02:00 Tree growth and vegetation activity at the ecosystem-scale in the eastern Mediterranean Bethany L Coulthard Ramzi Touchan Kevin J Anchukaitis David M Meko Fatih Sivrikaya 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7b26 https://doaj.org/article/cadca43f849b45ca9a3dabbf28fa8b41 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7b26 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa7b26 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/cadca43f849b45ca9a3dabbf28fa8b41 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 12, Iss 8, p 084008 (2017) Cyprus remote sensing dendrochronology NDVI drought grasslands Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7b26 2023-08-13T00:37:37Z Linking annual tree growth with remotely-sensed terrestrial vegetation indices provides a basis for using tree rings as proxies for ecosystem primary productivity over large spatial and long temporal scales. In contrast with most previous tree ring/remote sensing studies that have focused on temperature-limited boreal and taiga environments, here we compare the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with a network of Pinus brutia tree ring width chronologies collected along ecological gradients in semiarid Cyprus, where both radial tree growth and broader vegetation activity are controlled by drought. We find that the interaction between precipitation, elevation, and land-cover type generate a relationship between radial tree growth and NDVI. While tree ring chronologies at higher-elevation forested sites do not exhibit climate-driven linkages with NDVI, chronologies at lower-elevation dry sites are strongly correlated with NDVI during the winter precipitation season. At lower-elevation sites, land cover is dominated by grasslands and shrublands and tree ring widths operate as a proxy for ecosystem-scale vegetation activity. Tree rings can therefore be used to reconstruct productivity in water-limited grasslands and shrublands, where future drought stress is expected to alter the global carbon cycle, biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning in the 21st century. Article in Journal/Newspaper taiga Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Environmental Research Letters 12 8 084008 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Cyprus remote sensing dendrochronology NDVI drought grasslands Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
Cyprus remote sensing dendrochronology NDVI drought grasslands Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Bethany L Coulthard Ramzi Touchan Kevin J Anchukaitis David M Meko Fatih Sivrikaya Tree growth and vegetation activity at the ecosystem-scale in the eastern Mediterranean |
topic_facet |
Cyprus remote sensing dendrochronology NDVI drought grasslands Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Linking annual tree growth with remotely-sensed terrestrial vegetation indices provides a basis for using tree rings as proxies for ecosystem primary productivity over large spatial and long temporal scales. In contrast with most previous tree ring/remote sensing studies that have focused on temperature-limited boreal and taiga environments, here we compare the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with a network of Pinus brutia tree ring width chronologies collected along ecological gradients in semiarid Cyprus, where both radial tree growth and broader vegetation activity are controlled by drought. We find that the interaction between precipitation, elevation, and land-cover type generate a relationship between radial tree growth and NDVI. While tree ring chronologies at higher-elevation forested sites do not exhibit climate-driven linkages with NDVI, chronologies at lower-elevation dry sites are strongly correlated with NDVI during the winter precipitation season. At lower-elevation sites, land cover is dominated by grasslands and shrublands and tree ring widths operate as a proxy for ecosystem-scale vegetation activity. Tree rings can therefore be used to reconstruct productivity in water-limited grasslands and shrublands, where future drought stress is expected to alter the global carbon cycle, biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning in the 21st century. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bethany L Coulthard Ramzi Touchan Kevin J Anchukaitis David M Meko Fatih Sivrikaya |
author_facet |
Bethany L Coulthard Ramzi Touchan Kevin J Anchukaitis David M Meko Fatih Sivrikaya |
author_sort |
Bethany L Coulthard |
title |
Tree growth and vegetation activity at the ecosystem-scale in the eastern Mediterranean |
title_short |
Tree growth and vegetation activity at the ecosystem-scale in the eastern Mediterranean |
title_full |
Tree growth and vegetation activity at the ecosystem-scale in the eastern Mediterranean |
title_fullStr |
Tree growth and vegetation activity at the ecosystem-scale in the eastern Mediterranean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tree growth and vegetation activity at the ecosystem-scale in the eastern Mediterranean |
title_sort |
tree growth and vegetation activity at the ecosystem-scale in the eastern mediterranean |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7b26 https://doaj.org/article/cadca43f849b45ca9a3dabbf28fa8b41 |
genre |
taiga |
genre_facet |
taiga |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 12, Iss 8, p 084008 (2017) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7b26 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa7b26 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/cadca43f849b45ca9a3dabbf28fa8b41 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7b26 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
084008 |
_version_ |
1776204259821355008 |