Changes in vegetation-water response in the Sahel-Sudan during recent decades
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Changes in vegetation-water response in the Sahel-Sudan during recent decades. / Lu, Tingting; Zhang, Wenmin; Abel, Christin; Horion, Stéphanie; Brandt, Martin; Huang, Ke; Fensholt, Rasmus.
In: Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, Vol. 52, 101672, 2024.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Changes in vegetation-water response in the Sahel-Sudan during recent decades
AU - Lu, Tingting
AU - Zhang, Wenmin
AU - Abel, Christin
AU - Horion, Stéphanie
AU - Brandt, Martin
AU - Huang, Ke
AU - Fensholt, Rasmus
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Study region: The Africa Sahel-Sudan region, defined by annual rainfall between 150 and 1200 mm. Study focus: Understanding the mechanism of vegetation response to water availability could help mitigate the potential adverse effects of climate change on global dryland ecosystems. In the Sahel-Sudan region, spatio-temporal changes and drivers of the vegetation-water response remain unclear. This study employs long-term satellite water and vegetation products as proxies of water availability and vegetation productivity to analyze changes in vegetation-water sensitivity and the cumulative effect duration (CED) representing a measure of the legacy effect of the impact of water constraints on vegetation. A random forest model was subsequently used to analyze potential climatic drivers of the observed vegetation response. New hydrological insights for the region: During 1982–2016 we found a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the sensitivity of vegetation productivity to water constraints in 26% of the Sahel-Sudan region, while 9% of the area showed a significantly increased sensitivity, mainly in the sub-humid zone. We further showed that CED significantly increased and decreased, respectively in around 9% of the study area in both cases. Our climatic driver attribution analysis suggested the existence of varying underlying mechanisms governing vegetation productivity in response to water deficit across the Sahel-Sudan dryland ecosystems. Our findings emphasize the need for diverse strategies in sustainable ecosystem management to effectively address these varying mechanisms.
AB - Study region: The Africa Sahel-Sudan region, defined by annual rainfall between 150 and 1200 mm. Study focus: Understanding the mechanism of vegetation response to water availability could help mitigate the potential adverse effects of climate change on global dryland ecosystems. In the Sahel-Sudan region, spatio-temporal changes and drivers of the vegetation-water response remain unclear. This study employs long-term satellite water and vegetation products as proxies of water availability and vegetation productivity to analyze changes in vegetation-water sensitivity and the cumulative effect duration (CED) representing a measure of the legacy effect of the impact of water constraints on vegetation. A random forest model was subsequently used to analyze potential climatic drivers of the observed vegetation response. New hydrological insights for the region: During 1982–2016 we found a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the sensitivity of vegetation productivity to water constraints in 26% of the Sahel-Sudan region, while 9% of the area showed a significantly increased sensitivity, mainly in the sub-humid zone. We further showed that CED significantly increased and decreased, respectively in around 9% of the study area in both cases. Our climatic driver attribution analysis suggested the existence of varying underlying mechanisms governing vegetation productivity in response to water deficit across the Sahel-Sudan dryland ecosystems. Our findings emphasize the need for diverse strategies in sustainable ecosystem management to effectively address these varying mechanisms.
KW - Climate variability
KW - Cumulative effect duration
KW - Drylands
KW - Time series analysis
KW - Vegetation-water sensitivity
U2 - 10.1016/j.ejrh.2024.101672
DO - 10.1016/j.ejrh.2024.101672
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 38577223
AN - SCOPUS:85183156129
VL - 52
JO - Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
JF - Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
SN - 2214-5818
M1 - 101672
ER -
ID: 386269837