School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Jixian National Forest Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, CNERN, School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Nov 10;846:157334. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157334. Epub 2022 Jul 14.
Water availability influences terrestrial ecosystems' composition, structure, and function. Recently, climate change increased drought periods frequency and length in many parts of the world, including southwestern China, a biodiversity hotspot. Although the drought impacts on ecosystems are well known, studies are scarce in subtropical areas of China. This work studied the drought legacy effects on vegetation growth in southwestern China using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), with a particular focus on non-growing season extreme drought events. Pervasive non-growing season drought legacy effects were found in the first growing season in most parts of southwestern China. The highest impacts were identified in forests, while the effects in grass were less severe. At the regional scale, horizontal and vertical spatial patterns of drought legacy effects were heterogeneous, and the highest impacts were found in warmer and wetter forests and alpine grasslands. Our study highlights that severe drought conditions may dramatically affect vegetation growth in southwestern China.
水资源的可利用性影响着陆地生态系统的组成、结构和功能。最近，气候变化增加了世界许多地区（包括中国西南部这个生物多样性热点地区）的干旱期频率和长度。尽管人们对干旱对生态系统的影响已有充分的了解，但在中国亚热带地区的相关研究仍然较少。本研究使用归一化差异植被指数（NDVI）和标准化降水蒸散指数（SPEI），特别关注非生长季极端干旱事件，研究了中国西南部干旱对植被生长的滞后影响。在西南地区大部分地区的第一个生长季，都发现了普遍存在的非生长季干旱滞后效应。在森林中，影响最为显著，而在草地中的影响则相对较轻。在区域尺度上，干旱滞后效应的水平和垂直空间格局存在异质性，在温暖湿润的森林和高山草原中，影响最为显著。本研究强调了严重的干旱条件可能会对中国西南部的植被生长产生重大影响。
