Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Potential Influence of Seasonal Climate Variables on the Net Primary Production of Forests in Eastern China

  • Published:
Environmental Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Knowledge of the effects of climate factors on net primary production (NPP) is pivotal to understanding ecosystem processes in the terrestrial carbon cycle. Our goal was to evaluate four different categories of effects (physical, climatic, NDVI, and all effects[global]) as predictors of forest NPP in eastern China. We developed regression models with data from 221 NPP in eastern China and identified the best model with each of the four categories of effects. Models explained a large part of the variability in NPP, ranging from 46.8% in global model to 36.5% in NDVI model. In the most supported global model, winter temperature and sunshine duration negatively affected NPP, while winter precipitation positively affected NPP. Thus, winter climate conditions play an important role in modulating forest NPP of eastern China. Spring temperature had a positive affect on NPP, which was likely because a favorable warm climate in the early growing season promotes forest growth. Forest NPP was also negatively affected by summer and autumn temperatures, possibly because these are related to temperature induced drought stress. In the NDVI model, forest NPP was affected by NDVI in spring (positive), summer (negative) and winter (negative) seasons. Our study provides insight into seasonal effects of climate and NPP of forest in China, as well as useful knowledge for the development of climate-vegetation models.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akaike H (1973) Information theory and extension of the likelihood ratio principle. In: Pietrov BN, Csaki F (eds) Proceedings of the second international symposium of information theory. Akademiai Kiado, Budapest, pp 257–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Aranda I, Gil L, Pardos JA (2000) Water relations and gas exchange in Fagus sylvatica L. and Quercus petraea (Mattuschka) Liebl. in a mixed stand at their southern limit of distribution in Europe. Trees-Structure and Function 14(6):344–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Auclair AND, Lill JT, Revenga C (1996) The role of climate variability and global warming in the dieback of Northern hardwoods. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution 91(3–4):163–186

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barber VA, Juday GP, Finney BP (2000) Reduced growth of Alaskan white spruce in the twentieth century from temperature-induced drought stress. Nature 405(6787):668–673

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bini LM, Diniz JAF, Rangel TFLVB, Akre TSB, Albaladejo RG, Albuquerque FS, Aparicio A, Araujo MB, Baselga A, Beck J, Bellocq MI, Bohning-Gaese K, Borges PAV, Castro-Parga I, Chey VK, Chown SL, de Marco P, Dobkin DS, Ferrer-Castan D, Field R, Filloy J, Fleishman E, Gomez JF, Hortal J, Iverson JB, Kerr JT, Kissling WD, Kitching IJ, Leon-Cortes JL, Lobo JM, Montoya D, Morales-Castilla I, Moreno JC, Oberdorff T, Olalla-Tarraga MA, Pausas JG, Qian H, Rahbek C, Rodriguez MA, Rueda M, Ruggiero A, Sackmann P, Sanders NJ, Terribile LC, Vetaas OR, Hawkins BA (2009) Coefficient shifts in geographical ecology: an empirical evaluation of spatial and non-spatial regression. Ecography 32(2):193–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briffa KR, Schweingruber FH, Jones PD, Osborn TJ, Shiyatov SG, Vaganov EA (1998) Reduced sensitivity of recent tree-growth to temperature at high northern latitudes. Nature 391(6668):678–682

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Büntgen U, Frank D, Wilson R, Carrer M, Urbinati C (2008) Testing for tree-ring divergence in the European Alps. Global Change Biology 14(10):2443–2453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002) Model selection and inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Springer-Verlag, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee S, Hadi AS, Price B (2000) Regression analysis by example. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheng C (1993) Climate and agriculture in China. China Meteorological Press, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Choi G, Collins D, Ren GY, Trewin B, Baldi M, Fukuda Y, Afzaal M, Pianmana T, Gomboluudev P, Huong PTT, Lias N, Kwon WT, Boo KO, Cha YM, Zhou YQ (2009) Changes in means and extreme events of temperature and precipitation in the Asia-Pacific Network region, 1955–2007. International Journal of Climatology 29(13):1906–1925

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark DA, Piper SC, Keeling CD, Clark DB (2003) Tropical rain forest tree growth and atmospheric carbon dynamics linked to interannual temperature variation during 1984–2000. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(10):5852–5857

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cramer W, Kicklighter DW, Bondeau A, Moore B, Churkina C, Nemry B, Ruimy A, Schloss AL (1999) Comparing global models of terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP): overview and key results. Global Change Biology 5(S1):1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Arrigo R (2008) On the ‘Divergence Problem’ in Northern Forests: a review of the tree-ring evidence and possible causes. Global and Planetary Change 60(3–4):289–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Del Grosso S, Parton W, Stohlgren T, Zheng DL, Bachelet D, Prince S, Hibbard K, Olson R (2008) Global potential net primary production predicted from vegetation class, precipitation, and temperature. Ecology 89(8):2117–2126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deslauriers A, Morin H, Begin Y (2003) Cellular phenology of annual ring formation of Abies balsamea in the Quebec boreal forest (Canada). Canadian Journal of Forest Research 33(2):190–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diallo O, Diouf A, Hanan NP, Naliaye A, Prevost Y (1991) AVHRR monitoring of savanna primary production in Senegal, West Africa: 1987–1988. International Journal of Remote Sensing 12(6):1259–1279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dormann CF (2007) Effects of incorporating spatial autocorrelation into the analysis of species distribution data. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16(2):129–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Editorial Committee for Vegetation of China (1980) Vegetation of China Science Press, Beijing

  • Etien N, Daux V, Masson-Delmotte V, Mestre O, Stievenard M, Guillemin MT, Boettger T, Breda N, Haupt M, Perraud PP (2009) Summer maximum temperature in northern France over the past century: instrumental data versus multiple proxies (tree-ring isotopes, grape harvest dates and forest fires). Climatic Change 94(3–4):429–456

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fang JY, Wang GG, Liu GH, Xu SL (1998) Forest biomass of China: an estimate based on the biomass-volume relationship. Ecological Applications 8(4):1084–1091

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang JY, Chen AP, Peng CH, Zhao SQ, Ci L (2001) Changes in forest biomass carbon storage in China between 1949 and 1998. Science 292(5525):2320–2322

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fang JY, Song YC, Liu HY, Piao SL (2002) Vegetation–climate relationship and its application in the division of vegetation zone in China. Acta Botanica Sinica 44(9):1105–1122

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang JY, Piao SL, Zhou LM, He JS, Wei FY, Myneni RB, Tucker CJ, Tan K (2005) Precipitation patterns alter growth of temperate vegetation. Geophysical Research Letters 32(21):L21411. doi:21410.21029/22005GL024231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao Q, Yu M, Yang XS (2000) An analysis of sensitivity of terrestrial ecosystems in China to climatic change using spatial simulation. Climatic Change 47(4):373–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein GH, Brubaker LB, Hinckley TM (1985) Water relations of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) at tree line in north Alaska. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 15(6):1080–1087

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goward SN, Turner S, Dye DG, Liang S (1994) The University-of-Maryland improved global vegetation index product. International Journal of Remote Sensing 15(17):3365–3395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham MH (2003) Confronting multicollinearity in ecological multiple regression. Ecology 84(11):2809–2815

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granier A, Biron P, Lemoine D (2000) Water balance, transpiration and canopy conductance in two beech stands. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 100(4):291–308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins BA, Diniz JAF, Bini LM, De Marco P, Blackburn TM (2007) Red herrings revisited: spatial autocorrelation and parameter estimation in geographical ecology. Ecography 30(3):375–384

    Google Scholar 

  • Hicke JA, Asner GP, Randerson JT, Tucker C, Los S, Birdsey R, Jenkins JC, Field C, Holland E (2002) Satellite-derived increases in net primary productivity across North America, 1982–1998. Geophysical Research Letters 29(10):L1427. doi:1410.1029/2001GL013578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu ZM, Fan JW, Zhong HP, Yu GR (2007) Spatiotemporal dynamics of aboveground primary productivity along a precipitation gradient in Chinese temperate grassland. Science in China Series D-Earth Sciences 50(5):754–764

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hui G (2009) China’s snow disaster in 2008, who is the principal player? International Journal of Climatology 29(14):2191–2196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James ME, Kalluri S (1994) The Pathfinder AVHRR land data set: an improved coarse resolution data set for terrestrial monitoring. International Journal of Remote Sensing 15(17):3347–3364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Justice CO, Townshend JRG, Holben BN, Tucker CJ (1985) Analysis of the phenology of global vegetation using meteorological satellite data. International Journal of Remote Sensing 6(8):1271–1318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keeling CD, Chin JFS, Whorf TP (1996) Increased activity of northern vegetation inferred from atmospheric CO2 measurements. Nature 382(6587):146–149

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kerr RA (2007) Climatic change: global warming is changing the world. Science 316(5822):188–190

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kienast F, Schweingruber FH, Braker OU, Schar E (1987) Tree-ring studies on conifers along ecological gradients and the potential of single-year analyses. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 17(7):683–696

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kissling WD, Carl G (2008) Spatial autocorrelation and the selection of simultaneous autoregressive models. Global Ecology and Biogeography 17(1):59–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK, Smith MD (2001) Variation among biomes in temporal dynamics of aboveground primary production. Science 291(5503):481–484

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Körner C (1998) A re-assessment of high elevation treeline positions and their explanation. Oecologia 115(4):445–459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar M, Monteith JL (1982) Remote sensing of plant growth. In: Smith H (ed) Plants and the daylight spectrum. Academic Press, London

  • Lebourgeois F, Breda N, Ulrich E, Granier A (2005) Climate-tree-growth relationships of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in the French Permanent Plot Network (RENECOFOR). Trees-Structure and Function 19(4):385–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leemans R, Cramer W (1991) The IIASA database for mean monthly values of temperature, precipitation and cloudiness of a global terrestrial grid. RR-91-18. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

  • Lennon JJ (2000) Red-shifts and red herrings in geographical ecology. Ecography 23(1):101–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li ZQ, Yu GR, Xiao XM, Li YN, Zhao XQ, Ren CY, Zhang LM, Fu YL (2007) Modeling gross primary production of alpine ecosystems in the Tibetan Plateau using MODIS images and climate data. Remote Sensing of Environment 107(3):510–519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lieth H (1975) Modeling the primary productivity of the world. In: Lieth H, Whittaker RH (eds) Primary productivity of the biosphere. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp 237–264

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu GH, Fu BJ, Fang JY (2000) Carbon dynamics of Chinese forests and its contribution to global carbon balance. Acta Ecologica Sinica 20(5):733–740

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucht W, Prentice IC, Myneni RB, Sitch S, Friedlingstein P, Cramer W, Bousquet P, Buermann W, Smith B (2002) Climatic control of the high-latitude vegetation greening trend and Pinatubo effect. Science 296(5573):1687–1689

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luo TX (1996) Patterns of biological production and its mathematical models for main forest types of China. PhD dissertation, Committee of Synthesis Investigation of Natural Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing

  • Malingreau JP (1986) Global vegetation dynamics—satellite-observations over Asia. International Journal of Remote Sensing 7(9):1121–1146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myneni RB, Hall FG, Sellers PJ, Marshak AL (1995) The interpretation of spectral vegetation indexes. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 33(2):481–486

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myneni RB, Keeling CD, Tucker CJ, Asrar G, Nemani RR (1997) Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991. Nature 386(6626):698–702

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Myneni RB, Dong J, Tucker CJ, Kaufmann RK, Kauppi PE, Liski J, Zhou L, Alexeyev V, Hughes MK (2001) A large carbon sink in the woody biomass of Northern forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98(26):14784–14789

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nemani RR, Keeling CD, Hashimoto H, Jolly WM, Piper SC, Tucker CJ, Myneni RB, Running SW (2003) Climate-driven increases in global terrestrial net primary production from 1982 to 1999. Science 300(5625):1560–1563

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Neter J, Kutner MH, Nachtsheim CJ, Wasserman W (1996) Applied linear statistical models. Irwin, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • New M, Hulme M, Jones P (1999) Representing twentieth-century space-time climate variability. Part I. Development of a 1961–90 mean monthly terrestrial climatology. Journal of Climate 12(3):829–856

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • New M, Hulme M, Jones P (2000) Representing twentieth-century space-time climate variability. Part II. Development of 1901–96 monthly grids of terrestrial surface climate. Journal of Climate 13(13):2217–2238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ni J (2004) Estimating net primary productivity of grasslands from field biomass measurements in temperate northern China. Plant Ecology 174(2):217–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ni J, Zhang XS, Scurlock JMO (2001) Synthesis and analysis of biomass and net primary productivity in Chinese forests. Annals of Forest Science 58(4):351–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oberhuber W, Stumbock M, Kofler W (1998) Climate tree-growth relationships of Scots pine stands (Pinus sylvestris L.) exposed to soil dryness. Trees-Structure and Function 13(1):19–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson RJ, Johnson K, Zheng D, Scurlock JMO (2001) Global and regional ecosystem modeling: databases of model drivers and validation measurements. ORNL/TM-2001/196. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Pederson N, Cook ER, Jacoby GC, Peteet DM, Griffin KL (2004) The influence of winter temperatures on the annual radial growth of six northern-range-margin tree species. Dendrochronologia 22(1):7–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piao SL, Fang JY, Chen AP (2003) Seasonal dynamics of terrestrial net primary production in response to climate changes in China. Acta Botanica Sinica 45(3):269–275

    Google Scholar 

  • Piao SL, Ciais P, Friedlingstein P, Peylin P, Reichstein M, Luyssaert S, Margolis H, Fang JY, Barr A, Chen AP, Grelle A, Hollinger DY, Laurila T, Lindroth A, Richardson AD, Vesala T (2008) Net carbon dioxide losses of northern ecosystems in response to autumn warming. Nature 451(7174):49–53

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Piao SL, Fang JY, Ciais P, Peylin P, Huang Y, Sitch S, Wang T (2009) The carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems in China. Nature 458(7241):1009–1014

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raftoyannis Y, Radoglou K (2002) Physiological responses of beech and sessile oak in a natural mixed stand during a dry summer. Annals of Botany 89(6):723–730

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rangel TF, Diniz JAF, Bini LM (2010) SAM: a comprehensive application for spatial analysis in Macroecology. Ecography 33(1):46–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenzweig C, Karoly D, Vicarelli M, Neofotis P, Wu QG, Casassa G, Menzel A, Root TL, Estrella N, Seguin B, Tryjanowski P, Liu CZ, Rawlins S, Imeson A (2008) Attributing physical and biological impacts to anthropogenic climate change. Nature 453(7193):353–357

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schuur EAG (2003) Productivity and global climate revisited: the sensitivity of tropical forest growth to precipitation. Ecology 84(5):1165–1170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sellers PJ, Los SO, Tucker CJ, Justice CO, Dazlich DA, Collatz GJ, Randall DA (1996) A revised land surface parameterization (SiB2) for atmospheric GCMs.2. The generation of global fields of terrestrial biophysical parameters from satellite data. Journal of Climate 9(4):706–737

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherry RA, Zhou XH, Gu SL, Arnone JA, Schimel DS, Verburg PS, Wallace LL, Luo YQ (2007) Divergence of reproductive phenology under climate warming. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104(1):198–202

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tao SY, Chen LX (1987) A review of recent research on the east Asian summer monsoon in China. In: Chang CP, Krishnamurti TN (eds) Monsoon meteorology. Oxford University Press, London, pp 60–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker CJ (1979) Red and photographic infrared linear combinations for monitoring vegetation. Remote Sensing of Environment 8(2):127–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaganov EA, Hughes MK, Kirdyanov AV, Schweingruber FH, Silkin PP (1999) Influence of snowfall and melt timing on tree growth in subarctic Eurasia. Nature 400(6740):149–151

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Walther GR, Post E, Convey P, Menzel A, Parmesan C, Beebee TJC, Fromentin JM, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Bairlein F (2002) Ecological responses to recent climate change. Nature 416(6879):389–395

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang ZY, Zhang Q, Chen Y, Zhao S, Zeng H, Zhang Y, Liu Q (2008) Characters of meteorological disasters caused by the extreme synoptic process in early 2008 over China. Advances in Climate Change Research 4(2):63–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Yin XW, Foster NW, Morrison IK, Arp PA (1994) Tree-ring based growth analysis for a Sugar Maple stand—relations to local climate and transient soil properties. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 24(8):1567–1574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu GR, Zhang LM, Sun XM, Fu YL, Wen XF, Wang QF, Li SG, Ren CY, Song X, Liu YF, Han SJ, Yan JH (2008) Environmental controls over carbon exchange of three forest ecosystems in eastern China. Global Change Biology 14(11):2555–2571

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou BH, Zheng BH (2008) Research on aquatic ecoregions for lakes and reservoirs in China. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 147(1–3):339–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Funding support for this study was provided by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2009CB421104) and The “Strategic Priority Research Program-Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Relevant Issues” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA05060104). We would like to thank Xiaoming Feng and Nan lü for assisting with the design and application of the survey, Yu liu for providing valuable assistance on data analysis, and two anonymous reviewers for valuable remarks on an early version of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, People’s Republic of China

    Zong Shan Li, Guo Hua Liu & Bo Jie Fu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, People’s Republic of China

    Jin Long Zhang

Authors
  1. Zong Shan Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Guo Hua Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bo Jie Fu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jin Long Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guo Hua Liu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Li, Z.S., Liu, G.H., Fu, B.J. et al. The Potential Influence of Seasonal Climate Variables on the Net Primary Production of Forests in Eastern China. Environmental Management 48, 1173–1181 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-011-9710-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-011-9710-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation