Terrestrial transect study on driving mechanism of vegetation changes

• DOI: 10.1007/s11430-008-0065-9
• Publication Date: 2008-07-01T10:55:38Z
• Authors: YuJin Zhang; GuangSheng Zhou
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

In terms of Chinese climate-vegetation model based on the classification of plant functional types, together with climatic data from 1951 to 1980 and two future climatic scenarios (SRES-A2 and SRES-B2) in China from the highest and the lowest emission scenarios of greenhouse gases, the distribution patterns of vegetation types and their changes along the Northeast China Transect (NECT) and the North-South Transect of Eastern China (NSTEC) were simulated in order to understand the driving mechanisms of vegetation changes under climatic change. The results indicated that the vegetation distribution patterns would change significantly under future climate, and the major factors driving the vegetation changes were water and heat. However, the responses of various vegetation types to the changes in water and heat factors were obviously different. The vegetation changes were more sensitive to heat factors than to water factors. Thus, in the future climate warming will significantly affect vegetation distribution patterns.