The Effects of Climatic Factors on Vegetation Dynamics of Tallgrass and Shortgrass Cover

Abstract

Climatic factors such as precipitation and temperature place primary controls on vegetation growth and development. The relationships between these factors and vegetation dynamics, as monitored using satellite remote sensing data, have been demonstrated on continental, regional and subregional scales. Most local studies have primarily focused on small areas immediately surrounding weather stations. Here, the effects of climatic “factors over intermediate‐scale sites of relatively homogenous vegetative land cover are examined. Two areas of Kansas are selected for study: the shortgrass Sandsage Prairie in the southwest and the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in the east‐central Flint Hills region. Within year and between year variation in vegetation in the context of climatic variability is examined on these sites using NOAA AVHRR data. Large increases in the strength of association between vegetative response (NDVI) and one‐month lagged precipitation as compared to same month correlations are demonstrated. This does not bode well for the use of AVHRR NDVI as a “real‐time” drought monitoring tool.