Vegetation growth speed in response to compound drought heat events across China
Compound drought heat events (CDHEs) are simultaneous drought and heat extremes that cause more severe damage to humans and ecosystems than individual extremes. China has experienced the most notable vegetation greening worldwide over the past four decades. However, the response of vegetation growth...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25010027 |
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| author | Huiming Han Chun Fu Mingchao Liu Gang Li Yewei Liu Siyang Yao |
| author_facet | Huiming Han Chun Fu Mingchao Liu Gang Li Yewei Liu Siyang Yao |
| author_sort | Huiming Han |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Compound drought heat events (CDHEs) are simultaneous drought and heat extremes that cause more severe damage to humans and ecosystems than individual extremes. China has experienced the most notable vegetation greening worldwide over the past four decades. However, the response of vegetation growth speed (VGS) to CDHE remains unclear. In this study, we assessed VGS responses to CDHEs across China’s diverse humid and arid climate zones from 1982 to 2020 using a geographical detector and interpretable machine learning. Our findings indicate a general increase in CDHEs with 56 %–94 % of the total number of regions across different humid and arid zones experiencing an upward trend. The nonlinear interaction between drought and heat significantly amplifies their combined effects. The lag time of VGS’s response to CDHEs was not constant. On average, arid regions exhibited a longer lag time of 3.96 months, whereas semiarid regions had the shortest, at 2.76 months. In addition, VGS demonstrated higher heat sensitivity during compound events, with increased responsiveness to drought and heat in arid and humid zones, whereas sensitivity decreased in wet–dry transition zones. These findings improve our understanding of vegetation growth dynamics in responses to CDHEs, providing crucial insights for ecosystem adaptation and mitigation strategies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c005f4770c1b4ce9b51db0c6bc8fad03 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj-art-c005f4770c1b4ce9b51db0c6bc8fad032025-08-23T04:47:45ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2025-09-0117811407010.1016/j.ecolind.2025.114070Vegetation growth speed in response to compound drought heat events across ChinaHuiming Han0Chun Fu1Mingchao Liu2Gang Li3Yewei Liu4Siyang Yao5School of Infrastructure Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, ChinaSchool of Infrastructure Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China; Corresponding author at: School of Infrastructure Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China.Jiangxi Academy of Water Science and Engineering, Nanchang 330029, ChinaJiangxi Academy of Water Science and Engineering, Nanchang 330029, ChinaJiangxi Academy of Water Science and Engineering, Nanchang 330029, ChinaSchool of Infrastructure Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China; Corresponding authors.Compound drought heat events (CDHEs) are simultaneous drought and heat extremes that cause more severe damage to humans and ecosystems than individual extremes. China has experienced the most notable vegetation greening worldwide over the past four decades. However, the response of vegetation growth speed (VGS) to CDHE remains unclear. In this study, we assessed VGS responses to CDHEs across China’s diverse humid and arid climate zones from 1982 to 2020 using a geographical detector and interpretable machine learning. Our findings indicate a general increase in CDHEs with 56 %–94 % of the total number of regions across different humid and arid zones experiencing an upward trend. The nonlinear interaction between drought and heat significantly amplifies their combined effects. The lag time of VGS’s response to CDHEs was not constant. On average, arid regions exhibited a longer lag time of 3.96 months, whereas semiarid regions had the shortest, at 2.76 months. In addition, VGS demonstrated higher heat sensitivity during compound events, with increased responsiveness to drought and heat in arid and humid zones, whereas sensitivity decreased in wet–dry transition zones. These findings improve our understanding of vegetation growth dynamics in responses to CDHEs, providing crucial insights for ecosystem adaptation and mitigation strategies.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25010027Compound drought heat eventsVegetation growthSensitivityShapley additive explanationsGeographical detector model |
| spellingShingle | Huiming Han Chun Fu Mingchao Liu Gang Li Yewei Liu Siyang Yao Vegetation growth speed in response to compound drought heat events across China Ecological Indicators Compound drought heat events Vegetation growth Sensitivity Shapley additive explanations Geographical detector model |
| title | Vegetation growth speed in response to compound drought heat events across China |
| title_full | Vegetation growth speed in response to compound drought heat events across China |
| title_fullStr | Vegetation growth speed in response to compound drought heat events across China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Vegetation growth speed in response to compound drought heat events across China |
| title_short | Vegetation growth speed in response to compound drought heat events across China |
| title_sort | vegetation growth speed in response to compound drought heat events across china |
| topic | Compound drought heat events Vegetation growth Sensitivity Shapley additive explanations Geographical detector model |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25010027 |
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