Work

Landscape Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity Decreased the Resistance of Alpine Grassland to Soil Droughts

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Alpine grasslands face increasing threats from soil droughts due to climate change. While extensive research has focused on the direct impacts of drought on vegetation, the role of landscape fragmentation and spatiotemporal heterogeneity in shaping the response of these ecosystems to drought remains inadequately explored. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the Gannan alpine grassland in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Using remote sensing data, indicators of spatial and temporal heterogeneity were derived, including spatial variance (SCV), spatial autocorrelation (SAC), and temporal autocorrelation (TAC). Two soil drought thresholds (Tr: threshold of rapid resistance loss and Tc: threshold of complete resistance loss) representing percentile-based drought intensities were identified to assess NDVI decline under drought conditions. Our findings indicate that the grassland has low resistance to soil droughts, with mean Tr and Tc of 8.93th and 7.36th percentile, respectively. Both increasing and decreasing spatiotemporal heterogeneity reduced vegetation resistance, with increasing SCV having a more pronounced effect. Specifically, increasing SCV increased Tr and Tc 1.4 times faster and 2.6 time slower than decreasing SCV, respectively. These results underscore the critical role of landscape heterogeneity in modulating grassland responses to drought, suggesting that managing vegetation patches could enhance ecosystem resilience.

Source: Remote Sensing

DOI: 10.3390/rs17071293

Authors: Yuxin Wang, Hu Liu, Wenzhi Zhao, Jiachang Jiang, Zhibin He

Institutions: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Ecosystem dynamics and resilience

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Life on land, Climate action, Zero hunger

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,258