A global geography of synchrony for terrestrial vegetation
File(s)
Accepted version
Published version
Author(s)
Defriez, E
Reuman, DC
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Aim:
Previous work demonstrated a pronounced geography of
synchrony for marine phytoplankton, and used that geography to infer
statistical
environmental determinants of synchrony. He
re we determine if
terrestrial vegetation (measured by the Enhanced Vegetation Index, EVI)
also shows a geography of synchrony, and we infer determinants of EVI
synchrony. As vegetation is the basis of the terrestrial food web, changes in
spatio
-
temporal v
egetation dynamics may have major consequences.
Location:
The land.
Time period:
2001
-
2014
.
Major taxa:
Plants
.
Methods:
Synchrony in terrestrial vegetation is mapped globally.
Spatial statistics and model selection are used to identify main statistical
determinants
of synchrony and of geographic patterns in synchrony.
Results:
The first main result is that there is a pronounced and
previously unrecognized geography of synchrony for terrestrial vegetation.
Some areas such as the Sahara and Southern Africa
exhibited nearly perfect
synchrony, whereas other areas such as the Pacific coast of South America
showed very little synchrony. Spatial modeling provided the second main
result that synchrony in temperature and precipitation were major
determinants of sy
nchrony in EVI,
supporting the presences of
dual global
Moran effects. These effects depended on the timescales on which
3
synchrony was assessed, providing our third main result: synchrony of EVI
and its geography are timescale specific.
Main conclusions:
T
o our knowledge, this study is the first to document
the geography of synchrony in terrestrial vegetation
.
W
e showed geographic
variation in synchrony is pronounced. We used geographic patterns to
identify determinants of synchrony. This study is one of ve
ry few studies to
demonstrate two separate synchronous environmental variables driving
synchrony simultaneously. The geography of synchrony is apparently a
major phenomenon that has been little explored.
Previous work demonstrated a pronounced geography of
synchrony for marine phytoplankton, and used that geography to infer
statistical
environmental determinants of synchrony. He
re we determine if
terrestrial vegetation (measured by the Enhanced Vegetation Index, EVI)
also shows a geography of synchrony, and we infer determinants of EVI
synchrony. As vegetation is the basis of the terrestrial food web, changes in
spatio
-
temporal v
egetation dynamics may have major consequences.
Location:
The land.
Time period:
2001
-
2014
.
Major taxa:
Plants
.
Methods:
Synchrony in terrestrial vegetation is mapped globally.
Spatial statistics and model selection are used to identify main statistical
determinants
of synchrony and of geographic patterns in synchrony.
Results:
The first main result is that there is a pronounced and
previously unrecognized geography of synchrony for terrestrial vegetation.
Some areas such as the Sahara and Southern Africa
exhibited nearly perfect
synchrony, whereas other areas such as the Pacific coast of South America
showed very little synchrony. Spatial modeling provided the second main
result that synchrony in temperature and precipitation were major
determinants of sy
nchrony in EVI,
supporting the presences of
dual global
Moran effects. These effects depended on the timescales on which
3
synchrony was assessed, providing our third main result: synchrony of EVI
and its geography are timescale specific.
Main conclusions:
T
o our knowledge, this study is the first to document
the geography of synchrony in terrestrial vegetation
.
W
e showed geographic
variation in synchrony is pronounced. We used geographic patterns to
identify determinants of synchrony. This study is one of ve
ry few studies to
demonstrate two separate synchronous environmental variables driving
synchrony simultaneously. The geography of synchrony is apparently a
major phenomenon that has been little explored.
Date Issued
2017-05-29
Date Acceptance
2017-03-20
Citation
Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2017, 26 (8), pp.878-888
ISSN
1466-8238
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
878
End Page
888
Journal / Book Title
Global Ecology and Biogeography
Volume
26
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2017 The Authors. Global Ecology and Biogeography Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Grant Number
NE/I011889/1
Subjects
0602 Ecology
0501 Ecological Applications
Ecology
Publication Status
Published