Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Characterizing multiscale effects of climatic factors on the temporal variation of vegetation in different climatic regions of China

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Theoretical and Applied Climatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Vegetation dynamics are sensitive to climatic warming and are affected by individual or combined climatic factors at different temporal scales with different intensities. Previous studies have unraveled the relationships between vegetation dynamics and individual climatic factors; however, it is unclear whether the effects of single or combined climatic factors on vegetation dynamics are dominant for different temporal scales, vegetation types, and climatic regions. The objective of this study was to explore scale-specific univariate and multivariate controls on vegetation over the period 1982–2015 using bivariate wavelet coherence (BWC), multivariate wavelet coherence (MWC), and multidimensional empirical mode decomposition (MEMD). The results indicated that significant vegetation dynamics were located mainly at scales of 1, 0.5, and 0.3 years. Vegetation variations were divided into seasonal (≤ 1 year), short-term (1–4 years), medium-term (4–8 years), and long-term (> 8 years) scales. The combined explanatory powers of seven climatic factors on the vegetation were greater at the short-term and long-term scales, whereas individual climatic factors, such as precipitation or temperature, might affect vegetation dynamics in some climatic regions at the seasonal and medium-term scales. The combined effect of climatic factors in the grassland of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the temperate grassland of Inner Mongolia (TGIM) were the greatest, which were 65.06% and 59.53%, respectively. The explanatory powers of climate on crop dynamics in both temperate humid and subhumid Northeast China and the TP were around 47%, whereas the controls of climate on crops in both the TGIM and the temperate and warm-temperate desert of Northwest China were around 39%. Cropland farming practices could alleviate the spatial variation of the relationships between climate and vegetation while enhancing the temporal difference of their relationships. Additionally, the dominant influencing factor among different regions varied greatly at the medium-term scale. Collectively, the results might provide an alternative perspective for understanding vegetation evolution in response to climatic changes in China.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The climate data are available from the Climatic Data Center, National Meteorological Information Center (https://data.cma.cn/). The NDVI was derived from Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) (https://ecocast.arc.nasa.gov/data/pub/gimms/) and obtained from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensors on board National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites. Annual Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Land Cover Type (MCD12Q1) data layers for China from 2001 to 2015 were obtained from the Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS) (https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/).

Code availability

Software: MATLAB, R.

References

  • Bai L, Yang L, Song B, Liu N (2020) A new approach to develop a climate classification for building energy efficiency addressing Chinese climate characteristics. Energy 195:116982

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Centeno LN et al (2020) Dominant control of macroporosity on saturated soil hydraulic conductivity at multiple scales and locations revealed by wavelet analyses. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr 20:1686–1702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chuai X et al (2020) Vegetation and climate zones based carbon use efficiency variation and the main determinants analysis in China. Ecol Indic 111:105967

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cui L et al (2019) Spatiotemporal extremes of temperature and precipitation during 1960–2015 in the Yangtze River Basin (China) and impacts on vegetation dynamics. Theoret Appl Climatol 136:675–692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ding Y, Li Z, Peng S (2020) Global analysis of time-lag and -accumulation effects of climate on vegetation growth. Int J Appl Earth Observ Geoinform 92:102179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gao Q, Yu M, Xu H (2020) Directional climate trend, intensified intraannual variability, and changes in land cover drive the dynamics of vegetation greenness in peri-urban China during 2001–2015. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 125:e2019JG005336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner B, Berry P, Moulia B (2016) Review: Wind impacts on plant growth, mechanics and damage. Plant Sci 245:94–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grinsted A, Moore JC, Jevrejeva S (2004) Application of the cross wavelet transform and wavelet coherence to geophysical time series. Nonlinear Process Geophys 11:561–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gu X et al (2020) Identification and scaling behavior assessment of the dominant hydrological factors of nitrate concentrations in streamflow. J Hydrol Eng 25:06020002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He Y, Guo X, Dixon P, Wilmshurst JF (2012) NDVI variation and its relation to climate in Canadian ecozones. Can Geogr 56:492–507

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hou W, Jiangbo G, Shaohong W, Erfu D (2015) Interannual variations in growing-season NDVI and its correlation with climate variables in the southwestern Karst region of China. Remote Sensing 7:11105–11124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu W, Si BC (2016) Technical note: multiple wavelet coherence for untangling scale-specific and localized multivariate relationships in geosciences. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci Discuss 20:3183–3191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu W, Biswas A, Si B (2013) Application of multivariate empirical mode decomposition for revealing scale-and season-specific time stability of soil water storage. Catena 113:377–385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu W, Biswas A, Si B (2014) Application of multivariate empirical mode decomposition for revealing scale-and season-specific time stability of soil water storage. Catena 113:377–385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu W, Si BC, Biswas A, Chau HW (2017) Temporally stable patterns but seasonal dependent controls of soil water content: evidence from wavelet analyses. Hydrol Process 31:3697–3707

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang W, Wang L, Feng L, Zhang M, Yao R (2020) Drought characteristics and its impact on changes in surface vegetation from 1981 to 2015 in the Yangtze River Basin, China. Int J Climatol 40:3380–3397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Konrad W, Katul G, Roth-Nebelsick A (2021) Leaf temperature and its dependence on atmospheric CO2 and leaf size. Geol J 56:866–885

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li H et al (2020) Using the Budyko hypothesis for detecting and attributing changes in runoff to climate and vegetation change in the soft sandstone area of the middle Yellow River basin. China. Sci Total Environ 703:135588

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linscheid N et al (2020) Towards a global understanding of vegetation–climate dynamics at multiple time scales. Biogeosci Discuss 17:945–962

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Z, Menzel L (2016) Identifying long-term variations in vegetation and climatic variables and their scale-dependent relationships: a case study in Southwest Germany. Global Planet Chang 147:54–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu H, Zhang M, Lin Z, Xu X (2018) Spatial heterogeneity of the relationship between vegetation dynamics and climate change and their driving forces at multiple time scales in Southwest China. Agric for Meteorol 256–257:10–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ning T et al (2019) Interaction of vegetation, climate and topography on evapotranspiration modelling at different time scales within the Budyko framework. Agric for Meteorol 275:59–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qi X, Jia J, Liu H, Lin Z (2019) Relative importance of climate change and human activities for vegetation changes on China’s silk road economic belt over multiple timescales. Catena 180:224–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qu S et al (2020) Distinguishing the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic factors on vegetation dynamics in the Yangtze River Basin. China. Ecol Indic 108:105724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rathinasamy M, Agarwal A, Sivakumar B, Marwan N, Kurths J (2019) Wavelet analysis of precipitation extremes over India and teleconnections to climate indices. Stoch Env Res Risk Assess 33:2053–2069

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rehman N, Mandic DP (2010) Multivariate empirical mode decomposition. Proc Math Phys Eng Sci 466:1291–1302

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen A, Chaudhury P (2019) On the co-movement of crude, gold prices and stock index in Indian market. arXiv preprint arXiv 1904: 05317

  • Song X et al (2020) Potential linkages of precipitation extremes in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China, with large-scale climate patterns using wavelet-based approaches. Theoret Appl Climatol 141:1251–1269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun Y, Yang Y, Zhang L, Wang Z (2015) The relative roles of climate variations and human activities in vegetation change in North China. Phys Chem Earth A B C 87–88:67–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun C et al (2020) Tree-ring evidence of the impacts of climate change and agricultural cultivation on vegetation coverage in the upper reaches of the Weihe River, northwest China. Sci Total Environ 707:136160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tong X et al (2016) Assessing future vegetation trends and restoration prospects in the Karst Regions of Southwest China. Remote Sens 8:357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu W et al (2013) Toward yield improvement of early-season rice: other options under double rice-cropping system in central China. Eur J Agron 45:75–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yan Z et al (2020) Assessment of the sustainability of different cropping systems under three irrigation strategies in the North China Plain under climate change. Agric Syst 178:102745

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang SW, Zhang B (2014) Vegetation cover change and its response to climatic factors using SPOT NDVI in Hedong of Gansu Province. Chin J Ecol 32:455–461

    Google Scholar 

  • Yao R, Cao J, Wang L, Zhang W, Wu X (2019) Urbanization effects on vegetation cover in major African cities during 2001–2017. Int J Appl Earth Obs Geoinf 75:44–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Yuan M et al (2020) Vegetation green up under the influence of daily minimum temperature and urbanization in the Yellow River Basin. China. Ecol Indic 108:105760

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zewdie W, Csaplovics E, Inostroza L (2017) Monitoring ecosystem dynamics in northwestern Ethiopia using NDVI and climate variables to assess long term trends in dryland vegetation variability. Appl Geogr 79:167–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang ZS, Guo LJ, Liu TQ, Li CF, Cao CG (2015) Effects of tillage practices and straw returning methods on greenhouse gas emissions and net ecosystem economic budget in rice–wheat cropping systems in central China. Atmos Environ 122:636–644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Zhu Z, Zhuo L, Zeng Z, Ciais P (2016) Seasonal and interannual changes in vegetation activity of tropical forests in Southeast Asia. Agric for Meteorol 224:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H, Wu C, Hu BX (2019) Recent intensification of short-term concurrent hot and dry extremes over the Pearl River basin, China. Int J Climatol 39:4924–4937

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang W, Wang L, Xiang F, Qin W, Jiang W (2020) Vegetation dynamics and the relations with climate change at multiple time scales in the Yangtze River and Yellow River Basin. China. Ecol Indic 110:105892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao S (1983) A new scheme for comprehensive physical regionalization in China. Acta Geogr Sin 50:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao W, Hu Z (2020) Contributions of climatic factors to inter-annual variability of vegetation index in northern China grasslands. J Clim 1:175–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao R et al (2018) Identifying localized and scale-specific multivariate controls of soil organic matter variations using multiple wavelet coherence. Sci Total Environ 643:548–558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou X et al (2020) Legacy effect of spring phenology on vegetation growth in temperate China. Agric Forest Meteorol 281:107845

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu H, Hu W, Bi R, Peak D, Si B (2016) Scale- and location-specific relationships between soil available micronutrients and environmental factors in the Fen River basin on the Chinese Loess Plateau. CATENA 147:764–772

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu H et al (2019) Multi-scale spatial relationships between soil total nitrogen and influencing factors in a basin landscape based on multivariate empirical mode decomposition. J Arid Land 11:385–399

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work has been supported financially by the Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province (201801D221103) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFE0109600).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Jinzhong, 030801, Shanxi, China

    Hongfen Zhu, Ruipeng Sun & Rutian Bi

  2. Teaching Demonstration Center for Agricultural Resources and Environment, National Experimental, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Jinzhong, 030801, Shanxi, China

    Hongfen Zhu & Rutian Bi

  3. China Meteorological Administration (CMA) Training Centre, Beijing, 100081, China

    Meiting Hou

Authors
  1. Hongfen Zhu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ruipeng Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rutian Bi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Meiting Hou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Hongfen Zhu: conceptualization, methodology, software handling, formal analysis, validation, and writing the manuscript. Ruipeng Sun: data curation and revising the manuscript. Rutian Bi: supervision and revising the manuscript. Meiting Hou: data analysis and revising the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hongfen Zhu.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent to publication

Not applicable.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 835 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhu, H., Sun, R., Bi, R. et al. Characterizing multiscale effects of climatic factors on the temporal variation of vegetation in different climatic regions of China. Theor Appl Climatol 148, 33–47 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-022-03928-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-022-03928-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation