Global quantification of the bidirectional dependency between soil moisture and vegetation productivity
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Global quantification of the bidirectional dependency between soil moisture and vegetation productivity. / Zhang, Wenmin; Wei, Fangli; Horion, Stéphanie; Fensholt, Rasmus; Forkel, Matthias; Brandt, Martin.
In: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 313, 108735, 2022.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Global quantification of the bidirectional dependency between soil moisture and vegetation productivity
AU - Zhang, Wenmin
AU - Wei, Fangli
AU - Horion, Stéphanie
AU - Fensholt, Rasmus
AU - Forkel, Matthias
AU - Brandt, Martin
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s)
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Changes in soil moisture strongly affect vegetation growth, which may in turn feed back on soil moisture by directly affecting evapotranspiration and indirectly regulating precipitation. Previous studies often focused on the unidirectional effects of soil moisture on temporal vegetation dynamics, yet bidirectional dependencies have rarely been studied. Here we analyzed the bidirectional dependency between soil moisture and vegetation productivity during 2001–2020 at a global scale using the Granger causality, and revealed strong concurrent and lagged correlations between both variables in large areas globally. Bidirectional causality between soil moisture and vegetation productivity was identified over 66% of the vegetated land areas, while considering lagged effects and controlling for temperature and solar radiation. Unidirectional effects of vegetation productivity on soil moisture, and soil moisture on vegetation productivity, were observed for 22% and 12% of vegetated land areas, respectively. For areas characterized by uni- and bidirectional dependencies, 74% of the vegetation productivity and 48% of soil moisture could be explained by optimum lag models. Finally, we observed increases in both vegetation productivity and soil moisture in 44% of the vegetated land areas, yet 36% showed an increase in vegetation productivity but a decrease in soil moisture, indicating divergent responses between greening and water availability. Identification of areas showing Granger causality between soil moisture and vegetation productivity is important for our understanding of carbon-water interactions for terrestrial ecosystems under climate change and for improving sustainable management of ecosystem services linked to the carbon-water cycle.
AB - Changes in soil moisture strongly affect vegetation growth, which may in turn feed back on soil moisture by directly affecting evapotranspiration and indirectly regulating precipitation. Previous studies often focused on the unidirectional effects of soil moisture on temporal vegetation dynamics, yet bidirectional dependencies have rarely been studied. Here we analyzed the bidirectional dependency between soil moisture and vegetation productivity during 2001–2020 at a global scale using the Granger causality, and revealed strong concurrent and lagged correlations between both variables in large areas globally. Bidirectional causality between soil moisture and vegetation productivity was identified over 66% of the vegetated land areas, while considering lagged effects and controlling for temperature and solar radiation. Unidirectional effects of vegetation productivity on soil moisture, and soil moisture on vegetation productivity, were observed for 22% and 12% of vegetated land areas, respectively. For areas characterized by uni- and bidirectional dependencies, 74% of the vegetation productivity and 48% of soil moisture could be explained by optimum lag models. Finally, we observed increases in both vegetation productivity and soil moisture in 44% of the vegetated land areas, yet 36% showed an increase in vegetation productivity but a decrease in soil moisture, indicating divergent responses between greening and water availability. Identification of areas showing Granger causality between soil moisture and vegetation productivity is important for our understanding of carbon-water interactions for terrestrial ecosystems under climate change and for improving sustainable management of ecosystem services linked to the carbon-water cycle.
KW - Bidirectional interactions
KW - Granger causality
KW - Lagged effects
KW - Soil moisture
KW - Unidirectional effects
KW - Vegetation productivity
U2 - 10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108735
DO - 10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108735
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85120988783
VL - 313
JO - Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
JF - Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
SN - 0168-1923
M1 - 108735
ER -
ID: 287690299