Grasslands hold varied grazing capacity, provide multiple habitats for diverse wildlife, and are a key component of carbon stock. Research has indicated that grasslands are experiencing effects related to recent climate trends. Understanding how grasslands respond to climate variation thus is essential. However, it is difficult to separate the effects of climate variation from grazing. This study aims to document vegetation condition under climate variation in Grasslands National Park (GNP) of Canada, a grassland ecosystem without grazing for over 20 years, using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data to establish vegetation baselines. The main findings are (1) precipitation has more effects than temperature on vegetation; (2) the growing season of vegetation had an expanding trend indicated by earlier green-up and later senescence; (3) phenologically-tuned annual NDVI had an increasing trend from 1985 to 2007; and (4) the baselines of annual NDVI range from 0.13 to 0.32, and only the NDVI in 1999 is beyond the upper bound of the baseline. Our results indicate that vegetation phenology and condition have slightly changed in GNP since 1985, although vegetation condition in most years was still within the baselines.
Detecting Climate Effects on Vegetation in Northern Mixed Prairie Using NOAA AVHRR 1-km Time-Series NDVI Data
Published 2012 in Remote Sensing
ABSTRACT
PUBLICATION RECORD
- Publication year
2012
- Venue
Remote Sensing
- Publication date
2012-01-06
- Fields of study
Computer Science, Environmental Science
- Identifiers
- External record
- Source metadata
Semantic Scholar
CITATION MAP
EXTRACTION MAP
CLAIMS
CONCEPTS
- annual ndvi
The yearly Normalized Difference Vegetation Index summary used to describe vegetation greenness at the site.
Aliases: yearly NDVI
- grasslands national park
A grassland protected area in Canada used as the study site for the NDVI time-series analysis.
Aliases: GNP
- growing season
The part of the year when vegetation is actively growing, inferred from the timing of green-up and senescence.
- phenologically-tuned annual ndvi
An annual NDVI measure adjusted using vegetation phenology to better summarize yearly vegetation condition.
Aliases: phenologically tuned annual NDVI
- precipitation
The climate variable representing rainfall and related moisture input considered as a driver of vegetation response.
- temperature
The climate variable representing air warmth considered alongside precipitation in the vegetation analysis.
- vegetation baseline
The expected range of annual NDVI values used as a reference for judging whether a year departs from normal conditions.
Aliases: NDVI baseline
- vegetation condition
The state of vegetation health or greenness assessed from the time-series NDVI records.
Aliases: vegetation status
- vegetation phenology
The seasonal timing of vegetation events such as green-up and senescence tracked from NDVI.
Aliases: phenology
REFERENCES
Showing 1-51 of 51 references · Page 1 of 1
CITED BY
Showing 1-56 of 56 citing papers · Page 1 of 1