Assessing precipitation, evapotranspiration, and NDVI as controls of U.S. Great Plains plant production
Abstract
Productivity throughout the North American Great Plains grasslands is generally considered to be water limited, with the strength of this limitation increasing as precipitation decreases. We hypothesize that cumulative actual evapotranspiration water loss (AET) from April to July is the precipitation-related variable most correlated to aboveground net primary production (ANPP) in the U.S. Great Plains (GP). We tested this by evaluating the relationship of ANPP to AET, precipitation, and plant transpiration (Tr). We used multi-year ANPP data from five sites ranging from semiarid grasslands in Colorado and Wyoming to mesic grasslands in Nebraska and Kansas, mean annual NRCS ANPP, and satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data. Results from the five sites showed that cumulative April-to-July AET, precipitation, and Tr were well correlated (R2: 0.54–0.70) to annual changes in ANPP for all but the wettest site. AET and Tr were better correlated to annual changes in ANPP compared to precipitation for the drier sites, and precipitation in August and September had little impact on productivity in drier sites. April-to-July cumulative precipitation was best correlated (R2 = 0.63) with interannual variability in ANPP in the most mesic site, while AET and Tr were poorly correlated with ANPP at this site. Cumulativemore »
- Authors:
-
- United States Department of Agriculture UV‐B Monitoring and Research Program Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80521 USA
- Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80523 USA, Agricultural Research Service U.S. Department of Agriculture Fort Collins Colorado 80526 USA
- School of Natural Resources and the Environment University of Arizona Tucson Arizona 85721 USA
- Department of Biology and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80523 USA
- Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80523 USA
- Agricultural Research Service U.S. Department of Agriculture Cheyenne Wyoming 82009 USA
- Earth Resources Branch NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland 20771 USA
- Department of Agronomy and Horticulture University of Nebraska‐Lincoln North Platte Nebraska 69101 USA
- Department of Agronomy and Horticulture University of Nebraska‐Lincoln Scottsbluff Nebraska 69361 USA
- Department of Agronomy and Horticulture University of Nebraska‐Lincoln Lincoln Nebraska 68583 USA
- United States Department of Agriculture UV‐B Monitoring and Research Program Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80521 USA, Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80523 USA
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Urbana, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); USDA
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1570081
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1570083; OSTI ID: 1571264
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0018420; 2016-34263-25763
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Ecosphere
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Ecosphere Journal Volume: 10 Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 2150-8925
- Publisher:
- Ecological Society of America
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; aboveground net primary production; cumulative actual evapotranspiration water loss; cumulative growing season normalized difference vegetation indes; North American Great Plains grasslands
Citation Formats
Chen, Maosi, Parton, William J., Hartman, Melannie D., Del Grosso, Stephen J., Smith, William K., Knapp, Alan K., Lutz, Susan, Derner, Justin D., Tucker, Compton J., Ojima, Dennis S., Volesky, Jerry D., Stephenson, Mitchell B., Schacht, Walter H., and Gao, Wei. Assessing precipitation, evapotranspiration, and NDVI as controls of U.S. Great Plains plant production. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1002/ecs2.2889.
Chen, Maosi, Parton, William J., Hartman, Melannie D., Del Grosso, Stephen J., Smith, William K., Knapp, Alan K., Lutz, Susan, Derner, Justin D., Tucker, Compton J., Ojima, Dennis S., Volesky, Jerry D., Stephenson, Mitchell B., Schacht, Walter H., & Gao, Wei. Assessing precipitation, evapotranspiration, and NDVI as controls of U.S. Great Plains plant production. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2889
Chen, Maosi, Parton, William J., Hartman, Melannie D., Del Grosso, Stephen J., Smith, William K., Knapp, Alan K., Lutz, Susan, Derner, Justin D., Tucker, Compton J., Ojima, Dennis S., Volesky, Jerry D., Stephenson, Mitchell B., Schacht, Walter H., and Gao, Wei. Tue .
"Assessing precipitation, evapotranspiration, and NDVI as controls of U.S. Great Plains plant production". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2889.
@article{osti_1570081,
title = {Assessing precipitation, evapotranspiration, and NDVI as controls of U.S. Great Plains plant production},
author = {Chen, Maosi and Parton, William J. and Hartman, Melannie D. and Del Grosso, Stephen J. and Smith, William K. and Knapp, Alan K. and Lutz, Susan and Derner, Justin D. and Tucker, Compton J. and Ojima, Dennis S. and Volesky, Jerry D. and Stephenson, Mitchell B. and Schacht, Walter H. and Gao, Wei},
abstractNote = {Productivity throughout the North American Great Plains grasslands is generally considered to be water limited, with the strength of this limitation increasing as precipitation decreases. We hypothesize that cumulative actual evapotranspiration water loss (AET) from April to July is the precipitation-related variable most correlated to aboveground net primary production (ANPP) in the U.S. Great Plains (GP). We tested this by evaluating the relationship of ANPP to AET, precipitation, and plant transpiration (Tr). We used multi-year ANPP data from five sites ranging from semiarid grasslands in Colorado and Wyoming to mesic grasslands in Nebraska and Kansas, mean annual NRCS ANPP, and satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data. Results from the five sites showed that cumulative April-to-July AET, precipitation, and Tr were well correlated (R2: 0.54–0.70) to annual changes in ANPP for all but the wettest site. AET and Tr were better correlated to annual changes in ANPP compared to precipitation for the drier sites, and precipitation in August and September had little impact on productivity in drier sites. April-to-July cumulative precipitation was best correlated (R2 = 0.63) with interannual variability in ANPP in the most mesic site, while AET and Tr were poorly correlated with ANPP at this site. Cumulative growing season (May-to-September) NDVI (iNDVI) was strongly correlated with annual ANPP at the five sites (R2 = 0.90). Using iNDVI as a surrogate for ANPP, we found that county-level cumulative April–July AET was more strongly correlated to ANPP than precipitation for more than 80% of the GP counties, with precipitation tending to perform better in the eastern more mesic portion of the GP. Including the ratio of AET to potential evapotranspiration (PET) improved the correlation of AET to both iNDVI and mean county-level NRCS ANPP. Accounting for how different precipitation-related variables control ANPP (AET in drier portion, precipitation in wetter portion) provides opportunity to develop spatially explicit forecasting of ANPP across the GP for enhancing decision-making by land managers and use of grassland ANPP for biofuels.},
doi = {10.1002/ecs2.2889},
journal = {Ecosphere},
number = 10,
volume = 10,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Oct 08 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue Oct 08 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2889
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
Regional grassland productivity responses to precipitation during multiyear above- and below-average rainfall periods
journal, February 2018
- Petrie, Matthew D.; Peters, Debra P. C.; Yao, Jin
- Global Change Biology, Vol. 24, Issue 5
Spring Growth and Use of Cool-Season Graminoids in the Nebraska Sandhills
journal, July 2005
- Volesky, Jerry D.; Schacht, Walter H.; Reece, Patrick E.
- Rangeland Ecology & Management, Vol. 58, Issue 4
Measuring and mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas production in the US Great Plains, 1870–2000
journal, August 2015
- Parton, William J.; Gutmann, Myron P.; Merchant, Emily R.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 112, Issue 34
Primary Production of the Central Grassland Region of the United States
journal, February 1988
- Sala, O. E.; Parton, W. J.; Joyce, L. A.
- Ecology, Vol. 69, Issue 1
Grazing-Induced Modifications to Peak Standing Crop in Northern Mixed-grass Prairie
journal, May 2007
- Derner, Justin D.; Hart, Richard H.
- Rangeland Ecology & Management, Vol. 60, Issue 3
Impact of historical land-use changes on greenhouse gas exchange in the U.S. Great Plains, 1883–2003
journal, June 2011
- Hartman, Melannie D.; Merchant, Emily R.; Parton, William J.
- Ecological Applications, Vol. 21, Issue 4
A mesic maximum in biological water use demarcates biome sensitivity to aridity shifts
journal, November 2017
- Good, Stephen P.; Moore, Georgianne W.; Miralles, Diego G.
- Nature Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 1, Issue 12
I nterannual variability in primary production in tallgrass prairie: climate, soil moisture, topographic position, and fire as determinants of aboveground biomass
journal, August 1995
- Briggs, John M.; Knapp, Alan K.
- American Journal of Botany, Vol. 82, Issue 8
Integration of CO 2 flux and remotely-sensed data for primary production and ecosystem respiration analyses in the Northern Great Plains: potential for quantitative spatial extrapolation : CO
journal, March 2005
- Gilmanov, Tagir G.; Tieszen, Larry L.; Wylie, Bruce K.
- Global Ecology and Biogeography, Vol. 14, Issue 3
Development of the DayCent-Photo model and integration of variable photosynthetic capacity
journal, October 2018
- Straube, Jonathan R.; Chen, Maosi; Parton, William J.
- Frontiers of Earth Science, Vol. 12, Issue 4
Patterns of Organic Carbon Accumulation in a Semiarid Shortgrass Steppe, Colorado
journal, January 1988
- Yonker, C. M.; Schimel, D. S.; Paroussis, E.
- Soil Science Society of America Journal, Vol. 52, Issue 2
A New Global Land-Use and Land-Cover Change Product at a 1-km Resolution for 2010 to 2100 Based on Human–Environment Interactions
journal, April 2017
- Li, Xia; Chen, Guangzhao; Liu, Xiaoping
- Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Vol. 107, Issue 5
Global Potential net Primary Production Predicted from Vegetation Class, Precipitation, and Temperature
journal, August 2008
- Del Grosso, Stephen; Parton, William; Stohlgren, Thomas
- Ecology, Vol. 89, Issue 8
Quantifying characteristic growth dynamics in a semi-arid grassland ecosystem by predicting short-term NDVI phenology from daily rainfall: a simple four parameter coupled-reservoir model
journal, October 2015
- Hermance, John F.; Augustine, David J.; Derner, Justin D.
- International Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 36, Issue 22
Hydroclimatic response of evapotranspiration partitioning to prolonged droughts in semiarid grassland
journal, August 2018
- Han, Dongmei; Wang, Guoqiang; Liu, Tingxi
- Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 563
A Non-Stationary 1981–2012 AVHRR NDVI3g Time Series
journal, July 2014
- Pinzon, Jorge; Tucker, Compton
- Remote Sensing, Vol. 6, Issue 8
Red and photographic infrared linear combinations for monitoring vegetation
journal, May 1979
- Tucker, Compton J.
- Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 8, Issue 2
Does ecosystem sensitivity to precipitation at the site-level conform to regional-scale predictions?
journal, December 2015
- Wilcox, Kevin R.; Blair, John M.; Smith, Melinda D.
- Ecology
DAYCENT and its land surface submodel: description and testing
journal, December 1998
- Parton, William J.; Hartman, Melannie; Ojima, Dennis
- Global and Planetary Change, Vol. 19, Issue 1-4
NDVI, C 3 AND C 4 PRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTIONS IN GREAT PLAINS GRASSLAND LAND COVER CLASSES
journal, February 1997
- Tieszen, Larry L.; Reed, Bradley C.; Bliss, Norman B.
- Ecological Applications, Vol. 7, Issue 1
Simulation of the effects of photodecay on long‐term litter decay using DayCent
journal, December 2016
- Chen, Maosi; Parton, William J.; Adair, E. Carol
- Ecosphere, Vol. 7, Issue 12
Fire and grazing impacts on silica production and storage in grass dominated ecosystems
journal, September 2009
- Melzer, Susan E.; Knapp, Alan K.; Kirkman, Kevin P.
- Biogeochemistry, Vol. 97, Issue 2-3
Estimating above-ground net primary productivity of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem of the Central Great Plains using AVHRR NDVI
journal, February 2013
- An, Nan; Price, Kevin P.; Blair, John M.
- International Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 34, Issue 11
Climate-Driven Interannual Variability in Net Ecosystem Exchange in the Northern Great Plains Grasslands
journal, January 2010
- Zhang, Li; Wylie, Bruce K.; Ji, Lei
- Rangeland Ecology & Management, Vol. 63, Issue 1
Patterns and controls of above-ground net primary production in meadows of Patagonia. A remote sensing approach
journal, August 2011
- Irisarri, J. Gonzalo N.; Oesterheld, Martín; Paruelo, José M.
- Journal of Vegetation Science, Vol. 23, Issue 1
Effects of Temperature and soil Texture on anpp in the u.s. Great Plains
journal, December 1997
- Epstein, H. E.; Lauenroth, W. K.; Burke, I. C.
- Ecology, Vol. 78, Issue 8
Grazing Systems, Ecosystem Responses, and Global Change
journal, November 2004
- Asner, Gregory P.; Elmore, Andrew J.; Olander, Lydia P.
- Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Vol. 29, Issue 1
Northern Australian Savannas: Management for Pastoral Production
journal, July 1990
- McKeon, G. M.; Day, K. A.; Howden, S. M.
- Journal of Biogeography, Vol. 17, Issue 4/5
Tiller Recruitment Patterns and Biennial Tiller Production in Prairie Sandreed
journal, September 2000
- Hendrickson, J. R.; Moser, L. E.; Reece, P. E.
- Journal of Range Management, Vol. 53, Issue 5
Long-term exposure to elevated CO2 enhances plant community stability by suppressing dominant plant species in a mixed-grass prairie
journal, October 2014
- Zelikova, T. J.; Blumenthal, D. M.; Williams, D. G.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 111, Issue 43
Climatic controls of aboveground net primary production in semi-arid grasslands along a latitudinal gradient portend low sensitivity to warming
journal, February 2015
- Mowll, Whitney; Blumenthal, Dana M.; Cherwin, Karie
- Oecologia, Vol. 177, Issue 4
Long-Term Forage Production of North American Shortgrass Steppe
journal, November 1992
- Lauenroth, W. K.; Sala, O. E.
- Ecological Applications, Vol. 2, Issue 4
Importance of Early Season Conditions and Grazing on Carbon Dioxide Fluxes in Colorado Shortgrass Steppe
journal, September 2016
- Morgan, Jack A.; Parton, William; Derner, Justin D.
- Rangeland Ecology & Management, Vol. 69, Issue 5
Impact of precipitation dynamics on net ecosystem productivity
journal, November 2011
- Parton, William; Morgan, Jack; Smith, David
- Global Change Biology, Vol. 18, Issue 3
MODIS Collection 5 global land cover: Algorithm refinements and characterization of new datasets
journal, January 2010
- Friedl, Mark A.; Sulla-Menashe, Damien; Tan, Bin
- Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 114, Issue 1
The effects of water- and nitrogen-induced stresses on plant community structure in a semiarid grassland
journal, January 1978
- Lauenroth, W. K.; Dodd, J. L.; Sims, P. L.
- Oecologia, Vol. 36, Issue 2
Effects of Clipping and Supplemental Nitrogen and Water on Loamy Upland Bluestem Range
journal, September 1970
- Owensby, Clenton E.; Hyde, Robert M.; Anderson, Kling L.
- Journal of Range Management, Vol. 23, Issue 5
Ecohydrology and the Partitioning AET Between Transpiration and Evaporation in a Semiarid Steppe
journal, August 2006
- Lauenroth, W. K.; Bradford, J. B.
- Ecosystems, Vol. 9, Issue 5
Phenology-Based Biomass Estimation to Support Rangeland Management in Semi-Arid Environments
journal, May 2017
- Schucknecht, Anne; Meroni, Michele; Kayitakire, Francois
- Remote Sensing, Vol. 9, Issue 5
Simple models to predict grassland ecosystem C exchange and actual evapotranspiration using NDVI and environmental variables
journal, February 2018
- Del Grosso, Stephen J.; Parton, W. J.; Derner, Justin D.
- Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 249
Variation Among Biomes in Temporal Dynamics of Aboveground Primary Production
journal, January 2001
- Knapp, A. K.
- Science, Vol. 291, Issue 5503
Rainfall validates MODIS-derived NDVI as an index of spatio-temporal variation in green biomass across non-montane semi-arid and arid Central Asia
journal, July 2017
- Formica, Adam F.; Burnside, Robert J.; Dolman, Paul M.
- Journal of Arid Environments, Vol. 142
Estimation of primary production of subhumid rangelands from remote sensing data
journal, February 2000
- Paruelo, José M.; Oesterheld, Martín; Di Bella, Carlos M.
- Applied Vegetation Science, Vol. 3, Issue 2
Anpp Estimates from ndvi for the Central Grassland Region of the United States
journal, April 1997
- Paruelo, José M.; Epstein, Howard E.; Lauenroth, William K.
- Ecology, Vol. 78, Issue 3
The signature of sea surface temperature anomalies on the dynamics of semiarid grassland productivity
journal, December 2017
- Chen, Maosi; Parton, William J.; Del Grosso, Stephen J.
- Ecosphere, Vol. 8, Issue 12