Predicting Soil Respiration from Plant Productivity (NDVI) in a Sub-Arctic Tundra Ecosystem

Trend analysis of MODIS NDVI time series and its relationship to temperature and precipitation in Northeastern of Iran

Vegetation plays a crucial role in providing organic matter and regulating energy exchange on the Earth's surface. This study investigates the changes in vegetation cover, temperature, and precipitation in northeastern Iran during 2001-2020. MODIS-NDVI time series data and climatic data from 11 synoptic stations were utilized. The nonparametric Mann-Kendall method was employed to detect trends in vegetation cover and climatic variables. Additionally, the correlation between climatic parameters and vegetation was examined. Trend analysis revealed significant increases/decreases in vegetation cover in 32%/26% of the region, respectively. The increasing trend in vegetation cover was predominantly observed in highlands, suggesting that a warmer climate has enhanced the living conditions for plants in these regions. The vegetation trend map indicates an expansion of vegetation cover in the northern and central parts of Iran during the past 20 years, whereas the southern and eastern portions experienced declines. The relationship between vegetation and elevation revealed that vegetation increased above 1,850 m and decreased below 850 m. Trend analysis showed no significant trend in precipitation data since the beginning of the twenty-first century, but an increasing trend in temperature was observed in 82% of the region's area, excluding the western strip. Correlation coefficients between temperature, precipitation, and vegetation indicated that declining temperatures are the limiting factors for vegetation in the highlands, while in lowland areas, the decrease in precipitation significantly diminishes vegetation growth.

Influences of Climate Change and Human Activities on NDVI Changes in China

The spatiotemporal evolution of vegetation and its influencing factors can be used to explore the relationships among vegetation, climate change, and human activities, which are of great importance for guiding scientific management of regional ecological environments. In recent years, remote sensing technology has been widely used in dynamic monitoring of vegetation. In this study, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and standardized precipitation–evapotranspiration index (SPEI) from 1998 to 2017 were used to study the spatiotemporal variation of NDVI in China. The influences of climate change and human activities on NDVI variation were investigated based on the Mann–Kendall test, correlation analysis, and other methods. The results show that the growth rate of NDVI in China was 0.003 year−1. Regions with improved and degraded vegetation accounted for 71.02% and 22.97% of the national territorial area, respectively. The SPEI decreased in 60.08% of the area and exhibited an insignificant drought trend overall. Human activities affected the vegetation cover in the directions of both destruction and restoration. As the elevation and slope increased, the correlation between NDVI and SPEI gradually increased, whereas the impact of human activities on vegetation decreased. Further studies should focus on vegetation changes in the Continental Basin, Southwest Rivers, and Liaohe River Basin.