Plant Phenology in Western Canada: Trends and Links to the View From Space

One feature of climate change is the trends to earlier spring onset in many north temperate areas of the world. The timing of spring flowering and leafing of perennial plants is largely controlled by temperature accumulation; both temperature and phenological records illustrate changes in recent decades. Phenology studies date back over a century, with extensive databases existing for western Canada. Earlier spring flowering has been noted for many woody plants, with larger trends seen for species that develop at spring's start. Implications for ecosystems of trends to earlier spring arrival include changes in plant species composition, changes in timing and distribution of pests and disease, and potentially disrupted ecological interactions. While Alberta has extensive phenology databases (for species, years, and geographic coverage) for recent decades, these data cannot provide continuous ground coverage. There is great potential for phenological data to provide ground validation for satellite imagery interpretation, especially as new remote sensors are becoming available. Phenological networks are experiencing a resurgence of interest in Canada (www.plantwatch.ca) and globally, and linking these ground-based observations with the view from space will greatly enhance our capacity to track the biotic response to climate changes.     

Cropland changes in times of conflict,reconstruction, and economic development in Iraqi Kurdistan

The destruction of land and forced migration during the Anfal attacks against the Kurds in Iraq in the late 1980s has been reported to have severe consequences for agricultural development. A reconstruction program to aid people in returning to their lands was launched in 1991. To assess the agricultural situation in the Duhok governorate during the pre-Anfal (A), post-Anfal (B), reconstruction (C), and present (D) periods, we mapped winter crops by focusing on inter-annual variability in vegetation greenness, using satellite images. The results indicate a decrease in cultivated area between period A and B, and a small increase between period B and C. This supports reports of a decline in cultivated area related to the Anfal campaign, and indicates increased activity during the reconstruction program. Period D showed a potential recovery with a cropland area similar to period A.     

Forecasting the outbreak of moorland wildfires in the English Peak District

Warmer, drier summers brought by climate change increase the potential risk of wildfires on the moorland of the Peak District of northern England. Fires are costly to fight, damage the ecosystem, harm water catchments, cause erosion scars and disrupt transport. Fires release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Accurate forecasts of the timing of fires help deployment of fire fighting resources.     

Use of Descriptors of Ecosystem Functioning for Monitoring a National Park Network: A Remote Sensing Approach

Baseline assessments and monitoring of protected areas are essential for making management decisions, evaluating the effectiveness of management practices, and tracking the effects of global changes. For these purposes, the analysis of functional attributes of ecosystems (i.e., different aspects of the exchange of matter and energy) has advantages over the traditional use of structural attributes, like a quicker response to disturbances and the fact that they are easily monitored through remote sensing. In this study, we described the spatiotemporal patterns of different aspects of the ecosystem functioning of the Spanish national parks and their response to environmental changes between 1982 and 2006. To do so, we used the NOAA/AVHRR-GIMMS dataset of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a linear estimator of the fraction of photosynthetic active radiation intercepted by vegetation, which is the main control of carbon gains. Nearly all parks have significantly changed during the last 25 years: The radiation interception has increased, the contrast between the growing and nongrowing seasons has diminished, and the dates of maximum and minimum interception have advanced. Some parks concentrated more changes than others and the degree of change varied depending on their different environmental conditions, management, and conservation histories. Our approach identified reference conditions and temporal changes for different aspects of ecosystem functioning, which can be used for management purposes of protected areas in response to global changes.     

凤阳山森林生态系统碳交换及其物候特征

凤阳山位于浙江省龙泉市南部,为亚热带典型森林生态系统保护区,受海洋性气候和季风的影响,是研究森林生态系统碳预算及其物候特征的理想之地。采用位于浙江凤阳山的涡动相关通量观测系统（EC）观测的2017年（除去9月）CO₂通量数据、气象数据并结合物候模型来分析本地尺度亚热带森林生态系统总初级生产力（GPP）、生态系统呼吸（Re）动态特征、不同时间尺度下的影响因子及其物候特征,结果表明：该生态系统全年扮演着碳汇的角色,净生态系统碳交换量（NEE）（除去9月）为?89 g?m^?2?a^?1（以碳计）,GPP总量为1377.75 g?m^?2?a^?1,Re总量为1288 g?m^?2?a^?1,GPP和Re的日变化和季节变化均呈单峰型,先增加后降低。GPP在不同的物候时期均为倒“U”型的变化趋势,而Re在夜间的生态系统呼吸略高于白天,且在日夜交替时刻会出现陡降现象。整个生态系统在174 d GPP增长率达到峰值0.25 μmol?m^?2?s^?1,达到最大恢复率;202 d的GPP增长率为0 μmol?m^?2?s^?1;228 d的GPP增长率最低,为?0.21 μmol?m^?2?s^?1,达到最大衰退率。不论是日尺度还是月尺度上,GPP和Re变化的主要驱动因素为空气温度,日尺度上Re较GPP对环境因子的变化更加敏感;反之,在月尺度上GPP对环境因子变化的响应比Re更加敏感。总体而言,凤阳山森林生态系统全年表现为碳汇,能够调节当地的二氧化碳浓度;生长季森林生态系统生长旺盛,稳定阶段的GPP与Re达到峰值;在不同的时间跨度上生态系统对环境因子的响应存在差异。     

浙江省植被物候变化及其对气候变化的响应

基于改进的Savitzky-Golay滤波算法重构了2001-2010年MODIS NDVI时间序列数据,反演了浙江近10 a来的植被生长状况,利用分段多项式拟合和动态阈值法提取了自然植被重要物候期(生长季开始时间、结束时间和生长季长度等),分析了植被物候期的年际变化趋势和空间分异特征,并结合同期气象数据,探讨了植被物候变化与气候变化的关系.主要结论如下:①浙江植被覆盖有所减少,整体下降趋势不显著,平均植被生长季为222 d,长度略有延长,其中开始时间提前趋势不显著,而结束时间推迟显著.②植被生长季为3月下旬至11月中旬,植被生长季的开始时间从北往南逐渐推迟,生长季结束时间相对集中,其中生长季延长的区域面积和缩短的区域面积相当.③气象要素与关键物候期参数的相关性分析表明冬季的热量供给是影响浙江植被生长开始的重要因子,植被生长季前期温度积累的增加有利于植被生长;生长季结束时间与当年温度呈极显著正相关,与当年降水和湿润指数的减少呈负相关,但影响不显著,从与各相关月、季度相关分析来看,秋季干湿程度对植被生长季结束时间影响相对较大.     

Numerous experiments for the impact of warming climate on the phenology and grain yield of winter wheat

Based on the environmental and crop data at Zhenjiang City, in Jiangsu Province, middle east of China, the growing process of winter wheat was simulated by CERES-Wheat model assuming the daily average temperature is 1℃ to 2℃ higher than at the present, which are mostly possible for the change of climate because of enrichment of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The simulation results show that warming climate can promote development rate and shorten phenological stages of wheat, and the grain yield will be higher than present. Its impact on the kernel weight and grains per square meter were different for the plantings of various sowing dates. The results of this study suggest that substantial changes in agricultural production and management practices are needed to respond to the climatic changes expected to take place in China.     

2001—2018年基于MODIS遥感影像的青海湖湖冰物候变化特征分析及其影响因素

青海湖是青藏高原上最大的咸水湖,研究该区域冬季湖泊冻融时间的变化趋势及其与气候变化之间的关系,可以为预测未来气候对青海湖水情变化提供重要的见解。根据冰的亮度温度值高于水的亮度温度值这一差异,使用2001—2018年MODIS MOD02QKM数据产品和Landsat TM/ETM+遥感影像分别提取了青海湖开始冻结、完成冻结、开始消融和完成消融四个时间点的数据,综合分析青海湖湖冰物候特征变化,并结合气象数据,得出湖冰物候变化对气候的响应。结果表明：青海湖每年11月左右进入冰期,12月开始形成稳定的冰盖,次年3月或4月开始消融。湖冰覆盖时长和封冻期的变化趋势基本相同,整体上呈现出缩短的趋势,湖冰消融期整体上呈现出先缩短后增加的趋势;2001—2018年,平均首日冻结面积为8.15%,平均冻结速率为192.02 km²?d^?1,开始冻结和完成冻结的日期略有延迟,开始消融和完成消融的日期已经大大提前;冬季温度越高,青海湖湖冰封冻时间越短,日照时数越长湖冰覆盖时长越短,对于湖冰消融期来说,降水量越多湖冰消融速度越慢,平均风速越大湖冰消融速度越快。初步认为,气温是湖冰冻融的主要因素,预测未来1—2 a青海湖冬季气温仍会呈现上升趋势,湖冰封冻时长也会出现缩短趋势。     

基于可解释机器学习的青藏高原草地物候变化多因素影响分析

气候变化背景下,青藏高原植被物候发生显著改变.然而,影响物候的水热因素众多,目前较少有研究关注多因素对青藏高原物候的影响效应,导致对青藏高原物候变化机制认识不足.为此,研究通过遥感数据解译,在对2002~2021年青藏高原草地物候时空变化特征分析的基础上,聚焦降水、气温、海拔和土壤等多方面,利用可解释机器学习方法（SHAP）揭示物候变化的主导因素,并量化分析多因素对物候的交互影响.结果表明:①青藏高原分别有56.32 %、67.65 %和65.50 %的草地表现出生长季开始时间（SOS）提前、生长季结束时间（EOS）延迟和生长季长度（LOS）延长趋势;②青藏高原草地SOS和LOS主要受水分条件影响,3月0~10 cm土壤水分对SOS提前和LOS延长起促进作用的范围分别在10~25 kg·m^-2和15~25 kg·m^-2之间,峰值分别在20 kg·m^-2和18 kg·m^-2左右;EOS则主要受温度影响,9月和10月温度越高对EOS延迟促进作用越强,并分别在高于8 ℃和-0.5 ℃时达到峰值;③水热等因素对物候的影响存在非线性交互效应,3月0~10 cm土壤水分达到20 kg·m^-2后,更有利于低降水和低海拔地区SOS提前;10月温度高于0 ℃后较好的水分条件更有利于EOS延迟;3月0~10 cm土壤水分在12~22 kg·m^-2之间时,高降水地区LOS更长.研究表明,可解释机器学习方法可为物候变化的多因素影响定量分析提供一种新的方法.     

Googling Trends in Conservation Biology

Web‐crawling approaches, that is, automated programs data mining the internet to obtain information about a particular process, have recently been proposed for monitoring early signs of ecosystem degradation or for establishing crop calendars. However, lack of a clear conceptual and methodological framework has prevented the development of such approaches within the field of conservation biology. Our objective was to illustrate how Google Trends, a freely accessible web‐crawling engine, can be used to track changes in timing of biological processes, spatial distribution of invasive species, and level of public awareness about key conservation issues. Google Trends returns the number of internet searches that were made for a keyword in a given region of the world over a defined period. Using data retrieved online for 13 countries, we exemplify how Google Trends can be used to study the timing of biological processes, such as the seasonal recurrence of pollen release or mosquito outbreaks across a latitudinal gradient. We mapped the spatial extent of results from Google Trends for 5 invasive species in the United States and found geographic patterns in invasions that are consistent with their coarse‐grained distribution at state levels. From 2004 through 2012, Google Trends showed that the level of public interest and awareness about conservation issues related to ecosystem services, biodiversity, and climate change increased, decreased, and followed both trends, respectively. Finally, to further the development of research approaches at the interface of conservation biology, collective knowledge, and environmental management, we developed an algorithm that allows the rapid retrieval of Google Trends data.