{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,25]],"date-time":"2026-03-25T07:22:14Z","timestamp":1774423334687,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,10,26]],"date-time":"2015-10-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1445817600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>An extreme drought event is usually a long-term process with different stages. Although it is well known that extreme droughts that have occurred frequently in recent years can substantially affect vegetation growth, few studies have revealed the characteristics of vegetation responses for different stages of an extreme drought event. Especially, studies should address when the vegetation growth was disturbed and how it recovered through an extreme drought event. In this study, we used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) to evaluate the response of vegetation to different stages of a severe drought event during 2009\u20132010 throughout Southwestern China. The PDSI time series indicated that the drought can be divided into three stages, including an initial stage represented by moderate drought (S1), a middle stage represented by continual severe drought (S2), and a final recovery stage (S3). The results revealed that the drought during the initial stage inhibited the growth of grassland and woody savanna, however, forest growth did not decrease during the first stage of droughts, and there was even a trend towards higher NDVI values. The continual severe drought in the middle stage inhibited growth for all vegetation types, and the woody savanna was affected most severely. In the final stage, all vegetation types underwent recovery, including the grassland that had endured the most severe drought. This study provides observational evidence and reveals that the responses of forest to the extreme drought are different from grassland and woody savanna in the different  drought stages.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs71014039","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,10,26]],"date-time":"2015-10-26T12:48:03Z","timestamp":1445863683000},"page":"14039-14054","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":49,"title":["Responses of Natural Vegetation to Different Stages of Extreme Drought during 2009\u20132010 in Southwestern China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"7","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0155-6735","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiang","family":"Zhao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hong","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2708-9183","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shunlin","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China"},{"name":"Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tao","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bin","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0075-8818","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bijian","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Donghai","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,10,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"45","article-title":"Drought under global warming: A review","volume":"2","author":"Dai","year":"2011","journal-title":"Wiley Interdiscip. Rev.: Clim. Chang."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"111","DOI":"10.1080\/02508068508686328","article-title":"Understanding: The drought phenomenon: The role of definitions","volume":"10","author":"Wilhite","year":"1985","journal-title":"Water Int."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"L12703","DOI":"10.1029\/2011GL047436","article-title":"The drought of 2010 in the context of historical droughts in the Amazon region","volume":"38","author":"Marengo","year":"2011","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"W05521","DOI":"10.1029\/2009WR008821","article-title":"Frequency and intensity of extreme drought in the Delaware Basin, 1600\u20132002","volume":"47","author":"Kauffman","year":"2011","journal-title":"Water Resour. Res."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1007\/s00703-011-0172-6","article-title":"Extreme drought event of 2009\/2010 over southwestern China","volume":"115","author":"Yang","year":"2012","journal-title":"Meteorol. Atmos. Phys."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1016\/S0921-8009(98)00020-2","article-title":"The value of the world\u2019s ecosystem services and natural capital","volume":"25","author":"Costanza","year":"1998","journal-title":"Ecol. Econ."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foreco.2013.08.009","article-title":"Forest performance during two consecutive drought periods: Diverging long-term trends and short-term responses along a climatic gradient","volume":"310","author":"Dorman","year":"2013","journal-title":"For. Ecol. Manag."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1025","DOI":"10.1007\/s00442-015-3229-2","article-title":"The effect of rainfall and competition intensity on forest response to drought: Lessons learned from a dry extreme","volume":"177","author":"Dorman","year":"2015","journal-title":"Oecologia"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1029\/94EO00706","article-title":"National drought atlas developed","volume":"75","author":"Werick","year":"1994","journal-title":"Eos Trans. Am. Geophys. Union"},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"McKee, T.B., Doesken, N.J., and Kleist, J. (1993, January 17\u201322). The relationship of drought frequency and duration to time scales. Proceedings of the Eighth Conference on Applied Climatology, Anaheim, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_11","first-page":"1696","article-title":"A multiscalar drought index sensitive to global warming: The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index","volume":"23","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Clim."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"024011","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/10\/2\/024011","article-title":"Tipping point of a conifer forest ecosystem under severe drought","volume":"10","author":"Kaicheng","year":"2015","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"Palmer, W.C. (1965). Meteorological Drought research paper No. 45."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1100","DOI":"10.1175\/1520-0450(1984)023<1100:TPDSIL>2.0.CO;2","article-title":"The palmer drought severity index: Limitations and assumptions","volume":"23","author":"Alley","year":"1984","journal-title":"J. Clim. Appl. Meteorol."},{"key":"ref_15","first-page":"3","article-title":"Establishing a drought index incorporating evapotranspiration","volume":"9","author":"Tsakiris","year":"2005","journal-title":"Eur. Water"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"821","DOI":"10.1007\/s11269-006-9105-4","article-title":"Regional drought assessment based on the Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI)","volume":"21","author":"Tsakiris","year":"2007","journal-title":"Water Resour. Manag."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"83","DOI":"10.1175\/BAMS-D-11-00213.1","article-title":"A remotely sensed global terrestrial drought severity index","volume":"94","author":"Mu","year":"2012","journal-title":"Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1181","DOI":"10.1175\/1520-0477-83.8.1181","article-title":"The drought monitor","volume":"83","author":"Svoboda","year":"2002","journal-title":"Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1665","DOI":"10.1175\/2010JAMC2328.1","article-title":"Monitoring drought over the conterminous United States using MODIS and NCEP Reanalysis-2 data","volume":"49","author":"Yao","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"156","DOI":"10.1080\/00431672.1968.9932814","article-title":"Keeping track of crop moisture conditions, nationwide: The new crop moisture index","volume":"21","author":"Palmer","year":"1968","journal-title":"Weatherwise"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"333","DOI":"10.1139\/a11-013","article-title":"A review of drought indices","volume":"19","author":"Zargar","year":"2011","journal-title":"Environ. Rev."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2626","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2011.05.018","article-title":"Assessing the sensitivity of MODIS to monitor drought in high biomass ecosystems","volume":"115","author":"Caccamo","year":"2011","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.1016\/S0034-4257(03)00174-3","article-title":"Assessing vegetation response to drought in the northern great plains using vegetation and drought indices","volume":"87","author":"Ji","year":"2003","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"733","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-8137.2010.03355.x","article-title":"Remote sensing detection of droughts in Amazonian forest canopies","volume":"187","author":"Anderson","year":"2010","journal-title":"New Phytol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"219","DOI":"10.1016\/S0034-4257(97)00132-6","article-title":"Drought monitoring and corn yield estimation in Southern Africa from AVHRR data","volume":"63","author":"Unganai","year":"1998","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"626","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2009.11.003","article-title":"Responses of the reflectance indices PRI and NDVI to experimental warming and drought in european shrublands along a north\u2013south climatic gradient","volume":"114","author":"Hallik","year":"2010","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"015015","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/8\/1\/015015","article-title":"Extreme late-summer drought causes neutral annual carbon balance in southwestern ponderosa pine forests and grasslands","volume":"8","author":"Thomas","year":"2013","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"035701","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/7\/3\/035701","article-title":"Spatio-temporal patterns of the area experiencing negative vegetation growth anomalies in China over the last three decades","volume":"7","author":"Xu","year":"2012","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"035033","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/8\/3\/035033","article-title":"Vegetation response to extreme climate events on the Mongolian Plateau from 2000 to 2010","volume":"8","author":"John","year":"2013","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.2166\/nh.2011.134","article-title":"Assessing vegetation response to drought in the Laohahe catchment, North China","volume":"43","author":"Liu","year":"2012","journal-title":"Hydrol. Res."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"612","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1146663","article-title":"Amazon forests green-up during 2005 drought","volume":"318","author":"Saleska","year":"2007","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"014002","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/3\/1\/014002","article-title":"Causes and impacts of the 2005 Amazon drought","volume":"3","author":"Ning","year":"2008","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"L05401","DOI":"10.1029\/2009GL042154","article-title":"Amazon forests did not green-up during the 2005 drought","volume":"37","author":"Samanta","year":"2010","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-8137.2010.03516.x","article-title":"MODIS enhanced vegetation index data do not show greening of Amazon forests during the 2005 drought","volume":"189","author":"Samanta","year":"2011","journal-title":"New Phytol."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1038\/nature13006","article-title":"Amazon forests maintain consistent canopy structure and greenness during the dry season","volume":"506","author":"Morton","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2014.05.010","article-title":"Sensitivity of vegetation indices and gross primary production of tallgrass prairie to severe drought","volume":"152","author":"Wagle","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"188","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2014.05.003","article-title":"Impact of prolonged drought on rainfall use efficiency using MODIS data across China in the early 21st century","volume":"150","author":"Zhang","year":"2014","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"045706","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-9326\/7\/4\/045706","article-title":"The 2010 spring drought reduced primary productivity in southwestern China","volume":"7","author":"Zhang","year":"2012","journal-title":"Environ. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"Solano, R., Didan, K., Jacobson, A., and Huete, A. MODIS vegetation indices (mod13) c5 user\u2019s guide. Available online: http:\/\/www.ctahr.hawaii.edu\/grem\/mod13ug\/index.html."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"Huete, A., Justice, C., and Leeuwen, W. MODIS vegetation index (mod13): Algorithm theoretical basis document, Available online: http:\/\/modis.gsfc.nasa.gov\/data\/atbd\/atbd_mod13.pdf."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.1016\/S0034-4257(02)00078-0","article-title":"Global land cover mapping from MODIS: Algorithms and early results","volume":"83","author":"Friedl","year":"2002","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"168","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2009.08.016","article-title":"MODIS collection 5 global land cover: Algorithm refinements and characterization of new datasets","volume":"114","author":"Friedl","year":"2010","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Harris, I., Jones, P.D., Osborn, T.J., and Lister, D.H. (2013). Updated high-resolution grids of monthly climatic observations-the CRU TS3.10 Dataset. Int. J. Climatol.","DOI":"10.1002\/joc.3711"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jones, P., Lister, D., Osborn, T., Harpham, C., Salmon, M., and Morice, C. (2012). Hemispheric and large-scale land-surface air temperature variations: An extensive revision and an update to 2010. J. Geophys. Res.: Atmos., 117.","DOI":"10.1029\/2011JD017139"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1240","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1014425108","article-title":"Spring temperature change and its implication in the change of vegetation growth in North America from 1982 to 2006","volume":"108","author":"Wang","year":"2011","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_46","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_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1953","DOI":"10.1111\/gcb.12193","article-title":"Spatial relationship between climatologies and changes in global vegetation activity","volume":"19","author":"Jong","year":"2013","journal-title":"Glob. Chang. Biol."},{"key":"ref_48","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_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"435","DOI":"10.1038\/nature11575","article-title":"Little change in global drought over the past 60 years","volume":"491","author":"Sheffield","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"163","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2015.06.008","article-title":"The 2010 russian drought impact on satellite measurements of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence: Insights from modeling and comparisons with parameters derived from satellite reflectances","volume":"166","author":"Yoshida","year":"2015","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"151","DOI":"10.1093\/aob\/mcm099","article-title":"Plant roots. Growth, activity and interaction with soils","volume":"100","author":"Smith","year":"2007","journal-title":"Ann. Bot."},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"503","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00333727","article-title":"Rooting depth, water availability, and vegetation cover along an aridity gradient in Patagonia","volume":"108","author":"Schulze","year":"1996","journal-title":"Oecologia"},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"583","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00329030","article-title":"Maximum rooting depth of vegetation types at the global scale","volume":"108","author":"Canadell","year":"1996","journal-title":"Oecologia"},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.3389\/fenvs.2015.00046","article-title":"Remote sensing time series analysis for crop monitoring with the spirits software: New functionalities and use examples","volume":"3","author":"Rembold","year":"2015","journal-title":"Front. Environ. Sci."},{"key":"ref_55","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.1007\/s10584-010-9878-6","article-title":"Climatic trends and different drought adaptive capacity and vulnerability in a mixed Abies pinsapo\u2013Pinus halepensis forest","volume":"105","author":"Linares","year":"2011","journal-title":"Clim. Chang."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/7\/10\/14039\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T20:50:52Z","timestamp":1760215852000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/7\/10\/14039"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2015,10,26]]},"references-count":55,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,10]]}},"alternative-id":["rs71014039"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs71014039","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2015,10,26]]}}}