{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,3]],"date-time":"2026-06-03T22:44:30Z","timestamp":1780526670933,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,29]],"date-time":"2021-03-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1616976000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["41901125"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41901125"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Climate change has significantly affected the ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau. There, temperature rises and altered precipitation patterns have led to notable changes in its vegetation growth processes and vegetation cover features. Yet current research still pays relatively little attention to the regional climatic determinants and response patterns of such vegetation dynamics. In this study, spatial patterns in the response of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to climate change and its dynamic characteristics during the growing season were examined for the Tibetan Plateau, by using a pixel-scale-based geographically weighted regression (GWR) based on the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) NDVI data, as well as data for temperature and moisture indices collected at meteorological stations, for the period 1982\u20132015. The results show the following. Spatial nonstationary relationships, primarily positive, were found between the NDVI and climatic factors in the Tibetan Plateau. However, warming adversely affected vegetation growth and cover in some arid and semiarid regions of the northeast and west Tibetan Plateau. Additionally, precipitation played a dominant role in the NDVI of the Tibetan Plateau in the largest area (accounting for 39.7% of total area). This suggests that increased moisture conditions considerably facilitated vegetation growth and cover in these regions during the study period. Temperature mainly played a dominant role in the NDVI in some parts of the plateau sub-cold zone and some southeastern regions of the Tibetan Plateau. In particular, the minimum temperature was the dominant driver of NDVI over a larger area than any of the other temperature indices. Furthermore, spatial regressions between NDVI dynamics and climatic variability revealed that a faster warming rate in the arid and semiarid regions impeded vegetation growth through mechanisms such as drought intensification. Moisture variability was found to act as a key factor regulating the extent of vegetation cover on the south Tibetan Plateau.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs13071305","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,29]],"date-time":"2021-03-29T16:01:57Z","timestamp":1617033717000},"page":"1305","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":64,"title":["Precipitation Drives the NDVI Distribution on the Tibetan Plateau While High Warming Rates May Intensify Its Ecological Droughts"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3914-1938","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kewei","family":"Jiao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Science, Shenyang 110016, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3161-1763","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jiangbo","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100101, China"},{"name":"Academy of Plateau Science and Sustainability, Xining 810016, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhihua","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Science, Shenyang 110016, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"462","DOI":"10.1038\/nclimate2223","article-title":"Evolution of land surface air temperature trend","volume":"4","author":"Ji","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nat. Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"940","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1192666","article-title":"Drought-induced reduction in global terrestrial net primary production from 2000 through 2009","volume":"329","author":"Zhao","year":"2010","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1361","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2018.01.034","article-title":"No upward shift of alpine grassland distribution on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau despite rapid climate warming from 2000 to 2014","volume":"625","author":"Huang","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4238","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2020.1714781","article-title":"Spatial and temporal variations in vegetation coverage observed using AVHRR GIMMS and Terra MODIS data in the mainland of China","volume":"41","author":"Zhang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1599","DOI":"10.1007\/s10980-014-0095-y","article-title":"Satellite-indicated long-term vegetation changes and their drivers on the Mongolian Plateau","volume":"30","author":"Zhao","year":"2015","journal-title":"Landscape Ecol."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"423","DOI":"10.1038\/nclimate2245","article-title":"Warming trends: Nonlinear climate change","volume":"4","author":"Franzke","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nat. Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1052","DOI":"10.1038\/nature08649","article-title":"The velocity of climate change","volume":"462","author":"Loarie","year":"2009","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"757","DOI":"10.1038\/nclimate2664","article-title":"Dominant role of greenhouse-gas forcing in the recovery of Sahel rainfall","volume":"5","author":"Dong","year":"2015","journal-title":"Nat. Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"163","DOI":"10.1038\/nature16862","article-title":"Ecology: A trail map for trait-based studies","volume":"529","author":"Levine","year":"2015","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_10","first-page":"2842","article-title":"Responses and feedback of the Tibetan Plateau\u2019s alpine ecosystem to climate change. Chin","volume":"64","author":"Piao","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sci. Bull."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Yao, T.D. (2019). Tackling on environmental changes in Tibetan Plateau with focus on water, ecosystem and adaptation. Sci. Bull., 64.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scib.2019.03.033"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1563","DOI":"10.1007\/s00484-016-1147-6","article-title":"Interannual variations in spring phenology and their response to climate change across the Tibetan Plateau from 1982 to 2013","volume":"60","author":"Liu","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Biometeorol."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1601","DOI":"10.1111\/gcb.12795","article-title":"Detection and attribution of vegetation greening trend in China over the last 30 years","volume":"21","author":"Piao","year":"2015","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"791","DOI":"10.1038\/nclimate3004","article-title":"Greening of the earth and its drivers","volume":"6","author":"Zhu","year":"2016","journal-title":"Nat. Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_15","first-page":"8","article-title":"Contributions of climate change, land use change and CO2 to changes in the gross primary productivity of the Tibetan Plateau. Atmos","volume":"13","author":"Luo","year":"2020","journal-title":"Ocean. Sci. Lett."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6451","DOI":"10.1117\/1.JRS.7.073505","article-title":"Experimental warming does not enhance gross primary production and above-ground biomass in the alpine meadow of Tibet","volume":"7","author":"Fu","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Appl. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2543","DOI":"10.1175\/BAMS-D-16-0292.1","article-title":"Defining ecological drought for the twenty-first century","volume":"98","author":"Crausbay","year":"2017","journal-title":"Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"403","DOI":"10.1007\/s10661-007-0003-x","article-title":"Impacts of climate warming on vegetation in Qaidam Area from 1990 to 2003","volume":"144","author":"Zeng","year":"2008","journal-title":"Environ. Monit. Assess."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"75","DOI":"10.1111\/gcb.12023","article-title":"A plant\u2019s perspective of extremes: Terrestrial plant responses to changing climatic variability","volume":"19","author":"Reyer","year":"2013","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"865","DOI":"10.1038\/nclimate3032","article-title":"Longer growing seasons shift grassland vegetation towards more-productive species","volume":"6","author":"Fridley","year":"2016","journal-title":"Nat. Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"269","DOI":"10.1007\/s11442-014-1087-1","article-title":"Spatial and temporal variability in the net primary production of alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau since 1982","volume":"24","author":"Zhang","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Geogr. Sci."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Zheng, D. (2008). Research on Eco-Geographical Region Systems of China, The Commercial Press."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"760","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2486.2009.01956.x","article-title":"Debating the greening vs. browning of the North American boreal forest: Differences between satellite datasets","volume":"16","author":"Chuvieco","year":"2010","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_24","first-page":"528","article-title":"Integrating AVHRR and MODIS data to monitor NDVI changes and their relationships with climatic parameters in Northeast China","volume":"18","author":"Mao","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li, Y., Xie, Z.X., Qin, Y.C., and Zheng, Z.C. (2019). Estimating relations of vegetation, climate change, and human activity: A case study in the 400 mm annual precipitation fluctuation zone, China. Remote Sens., 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/rs11101159"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9299","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1504418112","article-title":"Evaporative cooling over the Tibetan Plateau induced by vegetation growth","volume":"112","author":"Shen","year":"2015","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.1007\/s00704-011-0517-6","article-title":"Local regression models for spatial interpolation of urban heat island\u2014an example from Wrocaw, SW Poland","volume":"108","author":"Szymanowski","year":"2012","journal-title":"Theor. Appl. Climatol."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1894","DOI":"10.3390\/rs5041894","article-title":"On the variation of NDVI with the principal climatic elements in the Tibetan Plateau","volume":"5","author":"Sun","year":"2013","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"281","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1538-4632.1996.tb00936.x","article-title":"Geographically weighted regression: A method for exploring spatial nonstationarity","volume":"28","author":"Brunsdon","year":"1996","journal-title":"Geogr. Anal."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"241","DOI":"10.1007\/s10666-011-9289-8","article-title":"Assessment of spatiotemporal varying relationships between rainfall, land cover and surface water area using geographically weighted regression","volume":"17","author":"Brown","year":"2012","journal-title":"Environ. Model. Assess."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gao, J.B., Jiao, K.W., and Wu, S.H. (2018). Quantitative assessment of ecosystem vulnerability to climate change: Methodology and application in China. Environ. Res. Lett., 13.","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/aadd2e"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6765","DOI":"10.3390\/rs6086765","article-title":"Relationship between the growing season maximum enhanced vegetation index and climatic factors on the Tibetan Plateau","volume":"6","author":"Shen","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shi, C.M., Wang, K.C., Sun, C., Zhang, Y.D., He, Y.Y., Wu, X.X., Gao, C., Wu, G.C., and Shu, L.F. (2019). Significantly lower summer minimum temperature warming trend on the Southern Tibetan Plateau than over the Eurasian continent since the Industrial Revolution. Environ. Res. Lett., 14.","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/ab55fc"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"679","DOI":"10.1002\/2017EF000573","article-title":"Past and future effects of climate change on spatially heterogeneous vegetation activity in China","volume":"5","author":"Gao","year":"2017","journal-title":"Earth\u2019s Future"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3228","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2486.2011.02419.x","article-title":"Changes in satellite-derived vegetation growth trend in temperate and boreal Eurasia from 1982 to 2006","volume":"17","author":"Piao","year":"2011","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"571","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aaa4984","article-title":"Accelerating extinction risk from climate change","volume":"348","author":"Urban","year":"2015","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.1038\/nature13470","article-title":"Convergence of terrestrial plant production across global climate gradients","volume":"512","author":"Michaletz","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"121","DOI":"10.1029\/2005JD006548","article-title":"Uncertainty estimates in regional and global observed temperature changes: A new data set from 1850","volume":"111","author":"Brohan","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1016\/j.agrformet.2018.01.034","article-title":"Nonlinear responses of temperature sensitivities of community phenophases to warming and cooling events are mirroring plant functional diversity","volume":"253","author":"Meng","year":"2018","journal-title":"Agr. Forest Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"353","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2019.05.355","article-title":"Quantifying influences of natural factors on vegetation NDVI changes based on geographical detector in Sichuan, western China","volume":"233","author":"Peng","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3778","DOI":"10.1029\/2019JG005249","article-title":"Multisatellite analyses of spatiotemporal variability in photosynthetic activity over the Tibetan Plateau","volume":"124","author":"Wang","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Biogeo."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"379","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1466-822X.2005.00153.x","article-title":"Application of a geographically-weighted regression analysis to estimate net primary production of Chinese forest ecosystems","volume":"14","author":"Wang","year":"2005","journal-title":"Global Ecol. Biogeogr."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"88","DOI":"10.1038\/nature12434","article-title":"Asymmetric effects of daytime and night-time warming on northern hemisphere vegetation","volume":"501","author":"Peng","year":"2013","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"034001","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/aaa64e","article-title":"Coupled dynamics of socioeconomic and environmental systems in Tibet","volume":"13","author":"Tian","year":"2018","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, D., Li, X.X., Zou, D.F., Wu, T.H., Xu, H.Y., Hu, G.J., Li, R., Ding, Y.J., Zhao, L., and Li, W.P. (2020). Modeling soil organic carbon spatial distribution for a complex terrain based on geographically weighted regression in the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Catena, 187.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.catena.2019.104399"},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"235","DOI":"10.1007\/s12665-012-1951-1","article-title":"The relationship of vegetation and soil differentiation during the formation of black-soil-type degraded meadows in the headwater of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China","volume":"69","author":"Ren","year":"2013","journal-title":"Environ. Earth Sci."},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"855","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2018.05.031","article-title":"Dynamics of vegetation autumn phenology and its response to multiple environmental factors from 1982 to 2012 on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China","volume":"637","author":"Li","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/13\/7\/1305\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T13:25:38Z","timestamp":1760361938000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/13\/7\/1305"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,29]]},"references-count":47,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4]]}},"alternative-id":["rs13071305"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs13071305","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,29]]}}}