Abstract

Rainfall events can be characterized as “pulses”, which are discrete and variable episodes that can significantly influence the structure and function of desert ecosystems, including shifts in aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP). To determine the threshold and hierarchical response of rainfall event size on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI, a proxy for ANPP) and the difference across a desert area in northwestern China with two habitats – dune and desert – we selected 17 independent summer rainfall events from 2005 to 2012, and obtained a corresponding NDVI dataset extracted from MODIS images. Based on the threshold-delay model and statistical analysis, the results showed that the response of NDVI to rainfall pulses began at about a 5 mm event size. Furthermore, when the rainfall event size was more than 30 mm, NDVI rapidly increased 3- to 6-fold compared with the response to events of less than 30 mm, suggesting that 30 mm was the threshold for a large NDVI response. These results revealed the importance of the 5 mm and 30 mm rainfall events for plant survival and growth in desert regions. There was an 8- to 16-day lag time between the rainfall event and the NDVI response, and the response duration varied with rainfall event size, reaching a maximum of 32 days. Due to differences in soil physical and mineralogical properties, and to biodiversity structure and the root systems' abilities to exploit moisture, dune and desert areas differed in precipitation responses: dune habitats were characterized by a single, late summer productivity peak; in contrast, deserts showed a multi-peak pattern throughout the growing season.

Highlights

  • Rainfall is a major driver of metabolism in water-limited ecosystems [1]

  • Rainfall pulses can significantly influence the structure and function of desert ecosystems [2], and analysis of the responses of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) to these pulses is critical to understanding the response mechanisms that contribute to the sustainability of desert ecosystems

  • We addressed the following questions: 1) what rainfall threshold would cause the desert ecosystem productivity to change? and 2) could rainfall pulse cause multiple productivity peaks in the desert and dune ecosystems during the growing season? Understanding responses to variation in rainfall event size and frequency will assist in assessing how desert ecosystems may change under future scenarios of more extreme precipitation regimes

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Summary

Introduction

Rainfall events can be characterized as rainfall pulses with discontinuous, highly variable, and largely unpredictable frequency and intensity [2] which can trigger a cascade of ecosystem responses that affect plant nutrient, water and carbon cycling [3,4,5,6]. One consequence of such a response is a change in aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) [7]. Rainfall pulses can significantly influence the structure and function of desert ecosystems [2], and analysis of the responses of ANPP to these pulses is critical to understanding the response mechanisms that contribute to the sustainability of desert ecosystems

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