Abstract
Plant phenology is affected by climate conditions and therefore provides a sensitive indicator to changes in climate. Studying the evolution and change in plant phenology aids in a better understanding of and predicting changes in ecosystems. Vegetation Indices (VIs) have been recognized for their utility in indicating vegetation activity. Understanding climatic variables and their relationship to VI support the knowledge base of how ecosystems are changing under a new climatic scenario. This study evaluates grassland growth phenology in the Biobio, Chile, biweekly with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series. Four growth parameters for the six agro-climatic regions were analyzed from 2001 to 2020: start and end of the season, time and value of maximum NDVI. For this purpose, the NDVI time series were smoothed using Savitzky–Golay filtering. In addition, by using monthly gridded database climate data, we studied correlations between phenology markers and rainfall, maximum temperature and minimum temperature. The results show that both the start and end of the growing season did not significantly change; however, all agro-climatic regions grow faster and more vigorously. Thus, climatic conditions in Biobio have become more conducive to grassland growth over the 2001–2020 period.
Highlights
Vegetation phenology is the study of biological patterns in plant growth over time, such as germination, flowering, fruiting, lead emergence, etc
Boreal and subalpine forests show similar trends to those observed in temperate forests, which are attributed to a warming climate [72,73]; there is little evidence that rainfall has a significant influence on boreal forest phenology [74]
An understanding of the drivers involved in phenology is needed even when detailed field observations are lacking, and meteorological stations are scarce
Summary
Vegetation phenology is the study of biological patterns in plant growth over time, such as germination, flowering, fruiting, lead emergence, etc. It examines how these patterns relate to environmental factors, such as rainfall and air temperature, providing information about vegetation productivity, carbon reserve and carbon dynamics [1], which, in turn, yields data on the responses and adaptations of vegetation to climate change [2]. The impact of climate change on vegetation causes variations in the phenological patterns of vegetation such as temporal displacement of phenological cycles, changes in plant morphology, colonization by other species, or even extinction of other species. These processes generate important indicators in ecosystem functions and species composition [4,5]. Grasslands are widely distributed around the world and play an important role in carbon storage [6], which is a crucial factor in the mitigation of climate change [7]
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