Monitoring Phenology in the Temperate Grasslands of China from 1982 to 2015 and Its Relation to Net Primary Productivity

Abstract

Both vegetation phenology and net primary productivity (NPP) are crucial topics under the background of global change, but the relationships between them are far from clear. In this study, we quantified the spatial-temporal vegetation start (SOS), end (EOS), and length (LOS) of the growing season and NPP for the temperate grasslands of China based on a 34-year time-series (1982–2015) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) derived from global inventory modeling and mapping studies (GIMMS) and meteorological data. Then, we demonstrated the relationships between NPP and phenology dynamics. The results showed that more than half of the grasslands experienced significant changes in their phenology and NPP. The rates of their changes exhibited spatial heterogeneity, but their phenological changes could be roughly divided into three different clustered trend regions, while NPP presented a polarized pattern that increased in the south and decreased in the north. Different trend zones’ analyses revealed that phenology trends accelerated after 1997, which was a turning point. Prolonged LOS did not necessarily increase the current year’s NPP. SOS correlated with the NPP most closely during the same year compared to EOS and LOS. Delayed SOS contributed to increasing the summer NPP, and vice versa. Thus, SOS could be a predictor for current year grass growth. In view of this result, we suggest that future studies should further explore the mechanisms of SOS and plant growth.