Abstract
Due to the complex coupling between phenology and climatic factors, the influence mechanism of climate, especially preseason temperature and preseason precipitation, on vegetation phenology is still unclear. In the present study, we explored the long-term trends of phenological parameters of different vegetation types in China north of 30°N from 1982 to 2014 and their comprehensive responses to preseason temperature and precipitation. Simultaneously, annual double-season phenological stages were considered. Results show that the satellite-based phenological data were corresponding with the ground-based phenological data. Our analyses confirmed that the preseason temperature has a strong controlling effect on vegetation phenology. The start date of the growing season (SOS) had a significant advanced trend for 13.5% of the study area, and the end date of the growing season (EOS) showed a significant delayed trend for 23.1% of the study area. The impact of preseason precipitation on EOS was overall stronger than that on SOS, and different vegetation types had different responses. Compared with other vegetation types, SOS and EOS of crops were greatly affected by human activities while the preseason precipitation had less impact. This study will help us to make a scientific decision to tackle global climate change and regulate ecological engineering.
Highlights
We found that the start date of the growing season (SOS) was negatively correlated with preseason precipitation (p-value < 0.05) in 19.4% of the study area, whereas the area in which SOS was positively correlated with preseason precipitation was only 10.8% (p-value < 0.05) (Figure 6o)
This study showed that vegetation phenology was significantly correlated with preseason temperature and preseason precipitation
This study comprehensively explored the relationship between SOS/end date of the growing season (EOS) of different vegetation types and preseason temperature/precipitation, contributing to the study of the complex influencing mechanisms between vegetation phenology and climate
Summary
Vegetation phenology, the periodicity of growth and development of vegetation, plays a prominent role in regulating the carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems [1,2]. Numerous studies have been conducted to investigate complex causal relationships between vegetation phenology and various climatic factors [4–6]. Studies have attempted to reveal potential climate change signals from vegetation phenology by analyzing comprehensive trends across different vegetation types, phenology stages, and regions [7–9]. Owing to the complex coupling between phenology and climate factors [10–12], understanding the internal forcing mechanism of climate-phenology interactions is not complete. As global climate change is projected to intensify in the future [13–17], it is imperative to continue studying the complex interacting mechanism of climate change and phenology to understand future ecosystem dynamics [18]
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