Growing Season Precipitation Rather than Growing Season Length Predominates Maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index in Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau

Jiang Wei Wang, Meng Li, Guang Yu Zhang, Hao Rui Zhang and Cheng Qun Yu
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Jiang Wei Wang: Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Meng Li: Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Guang Yu Zhang: Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Hao Rui Zhang: Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Cheng Qun Yu: Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-9

Abstract: Precipitation and growing season length (GSL) are vital abiotic and biotic variables in controlling vegetation productivity in alpine regions. However, their relative effects on vegetation productivity have not been fully understood. In this study, we examined the responses of the maximum normalized difference vegetation index (NDVImax) to growing season precipitation (GSP) and GSL from 2000 to 2013 in 36 alpine grassland sites on the Tibetan Plateau. Our results indicated that NDVImax showed a positive relationship with prolonged GSL ( R 2 = 0.12) and GSP ( R 2 = 0.39). The linear slope of NDVImax increased with that of GSP rather than GSL. Therefore, GSP had a stronger effect on NDVImax than did GSL in alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau.

Keywords: growing season length; growing season precipitation; plant growth; alpine regions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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