Abstract
We investigated the responses of cropland phenophases to changes of agricultural thermal conditions in Northeast China using the SPOT-VGT Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) ten-day-composed time-series data, observed crop phenophases and the climate data collected from 1990 to 2010. First, the phenological parameters, such as the dates of onset-of-growth, peak-of-growth and end-of-growth as well as the length of the growing season, were extracted from the smoothed NVDI time-series dataset and showed an obvious correlation with the observed crop phenophases, including the stages of seedling, heading, maturity and the length of the growth period. Secondly, the spatio-temporal trends of the major thermal conditions (the first date of ⩾ 10°C, the first frost date, the length of the temperature-allowing growth period and the accumulated temperature (AT) of ⩾ 10°C) in Northeast China were illustrated and analyzed over the past 20 years. Thirdly, we focused on the responses of cropland phenophases to the thermal conditions changes. The results showed that the onset-of-growth date had an obvious positive correlation with the first date of ⩾ 10°C (P < 0.01), especially in the northern part of the Songnen Plain, the eastern part of the Sanjiang Plain and the middle and eastern parts of Jilin Province. For the extracted length of growing season and the observed growth period, notable correlations were found in almost same regions (P < 0.05). However, there was no obvious correlation between the end-of-growth date and the first frost date in the study area. Opposite correlations were observed between the length of the growing season and the AT of ⩾ 10°C. In the northern part of the Songnen Plain, the eastern part of the Sanjiang Plain and the middle part of Jilin and Liaoning Provinces, the positive correlation coefficients were higher than the critical value of 0.05, whereas the negative correlation coefficients reached a level of 0.55 (P < 0.05) in the middle and southern parts of Heilongjiang Province and some parts of the Sanjiang Plain. This finding indicated that the crop growth periods were shortened because of the elevated temperature; in contrast, the extended growth period usually meant a crop transformation from early- or middle-maturing varieties into middle or late ones.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beck P S A, Atzberger C, Hogda K A et al., 2006. Improved monitoring of vegetation dynamics at very high latitudes: A new method using MODIS NDVI. Remote Sensing of Environment, 100: 321–334.
Eklundh L, Jönsson P, 2010. TIMESAT 3.0 — Software Manual. Lund: Lund University.
Fang J L, Wu B F, 2004. A methodology for retrieving cropping index from NDVI profile. Journal of Remote Sensing, 8(6): 628–636. (in Chinese)
Fang X Q, Sheng J F, 2000. Human adaptation to climate change: A case study of changes in paddy planting area in Heilongjiang province. Journal of Natural Resources, 15(3): 213–217. (in Chinese)
Fang X Q, Wang Y, Xu T et al., 2004. Contribution of climate warming to rice yield in Heilongjiang Province. Acta Geographica Sinica, 59(6): 820–828. (in Chinese)
Gao Y G, Gu H, Ji J Z et al., 2007. Simulation study of climate change impact on crop yield in Heilongjiang Province from 1961 to 2003. Quarterly Journal of Applied Meteorology, 18(4): 532–538. (in Chinese)
Guo J P, 2010. Temporal Trend of Agroclimatic Resources in China under Climate Change. Beijing: China Meteorological Press. (in Chinese)
Guo Z X, Zhang X N, Wang Z M et al., 2010. Responses of vegetation phenology in Northeast China to climate change. Chinese Journal of Ecology, 29(3): 578–585. (in Chinese)
Han X L, 1999. Agroclimatology. Taiyuan: Shanxi Sciences & Technology Press. (in Chinese)
Heumann B W, Seaquist J W, Eklundh L et a1., 2007. AVHRR derived phenological change in the Sahel and Soudan Africa, 1982–2005. Remote Sensing of Environment, 108: 385–392.
Hird J N, McDermid G J, 2009. Noise reduction of NDVI time series: An empirical comparison of selected techniques. Remote Sensing of Environment, 113: 248–258
Jia J Y, Guo J P, 2009. Studies on climatic resources change for maize over last 46 years in Northeast China. Chinese Journal of Agrometeorology, 30(3): 302–307. (in Chinese)
Jiang D, Wang N B, Yang X H et al., 2002. Principles of the interaction between NDVI profile and the growing situation of crops. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 22(2): 247–252. (in Chinese)
Jin Z Q, Ge D K, Shi C L et al., 2002. Several strategies of food crop production in the Northeast China Plain for adaptation to global climate change: A modeling study. Acta Agronomica Sinica, 28(1): 24–31. (in Chinese)
Jönsson P, Eklundh L, 2002. Seasonality extraction by function fitting to time-series of satellite sensor data. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 40:1824–1932.
Jönsson Per, Eklundh L, 2004. TIMESAT: A program for analyzing time-series of satellite sensor data. Computers & Geosciences, 30: 833–845.
Li Z G, Yang P, Zhou Q B et al., 2009. Spatiotemporal variations of crop phenological characteristics in Northeast China based on NDVI time series data. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 29(11): 6216–6226. (in Chinese)
Liu J Y, Liu M L, Zhuang D F et al., 2002. Analysis of time-space patterns of recent landuse variations in China. Sciences in China (Series D), 32(12): 1031–1040. (in Chinese)
Liu Z J, Yang X G, Wang W F et al., 2009. Characteristics of agricultural climate resources in three provinces of Northeast China under global climate change. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 20(9): 2199–2206. (in Chinese)
Ma S Q, An G, Wang Q et al., 2000. Study on the variation laws of the thermal resources in maize-growing belt of Northeast China. Resources Science, 22(5): 41–45. (in Chinese)
Ma S Q, Wang Q, Luo X L, 2008. Effect of climate change on maize growth and yield based on stage sowing. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 28(5): 2131–2139. (in Chinese)
Peng D L, Huang J F, Jin H M, 2006. The monitoring for sequential cropping index of arable land in Zhejiang Province using MODIS-NDVI. Scientia Agricultura Sinica, 39(7): 1352–1357. (in Chinese)
Piao S, Fang J, Zhou L et a1., 2006. Variations in satellite-derived phenology in China’s temperate vegetation. Global Change Biology, 12: 672–685.
Ren G Y, Chu Z Y, Zhou Y Q et al., 2005. Recent progresses in studies of regional temperature changes in China. Climatic and Environmental Research, 10(4): 701–716. (in Chinese)
Simpson J J, Stitt J R, 1998. A procedure for the detection and removal of cloud shadow from AVHRR data over land. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 36: 880–897.
Tang G P, Li X B, Fisher G et al., 2000. Climate change and its impacts on China’s agriculture. Acta Geographica Sinica, 55(2): 129–138. (in Chinese)
Tanré D, Holben B N, Kaufman Y J, 1992. Atmospheric correction algorithm for NOAA AVHRR products: Theory and application. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 30: 231–248.
Wang P, 2004. An Introduction to Crop Science. Beijing: China Agricultural University Press. (in Chinese)
Wang S L, Zhuang L W, Wang F T, 2003. Impacts of climate warming on thermal and moisture conditions in Northeast China in recent 20 years. Quarterly Journal of Applied Meteorology, 14(2): 152–163. (in Chinese)
Wang X H, Piao S L, Ciais P et al., 2011. Spring temperature change and its implication in the change of vegetation growth in North America from 1982 to 2006. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108: 1240–1245.
Wang Y, Fang X Q, Xu T et al., 2005. Impact of climate warming and adaptation activities of rice plantation in Northeast China. Resources Science, 27(1): 121–127. (in Chinese)
Wang Z M, Song K S, Li X Y et al., 2007. Effects of climate change on yield of maize in maize zone of Songnen Plain in the past 40 years. Journal of Arid Land Resources and Environment, 21(9): 112–117. (in Chinese)
Wang Z, Zheng Y P, 2001. Impacts of global change on China’s food security. Geographical Research, 20(3): 282–289. (in Chinese)
Wu W B, Yang P, Tang H J et al., 2009a. Monitoring spatial patterns of cropland phenology in North China based on NOAA NDVI data. Scientia Agricultura Sinica, 42(2): 552–560. (in Chinese)
Wu W B, Yang P, Tang H J et al., 2009b. Spatio-temporal variations in the starting dates of growing season in China’s cropland over the past 20 years. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 29(4): 1777–1786. (in Chinese)
Xiao G J, Zhang Q, Wang J, 2007. Impact of global climate change on agroecosystem: A review. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 18(8): 1877–1885. (in Chinese)
Xin J F, Yu Z R, Driessen P M, 2001. Monitoring phenological key stages of winter wheat with NOAA NDVI data. Journal of Remote Sensing, 6(5): 442–447. (in Chinese)
Xiong Q X, Huang J F, 2009. Estimation of autumn harvest crop planting area based on NDVI sequential characteristics. Transactions of the CSAE, 25(1): 144–148. (in Chinese)
Yan H M, Cao M K, Liu J Y et al., 2005. Characterizing spatial patterns of multiple cropping system in China from multi-temporal remote sensing images. Transactions of the CSAE, 21(4): 85–90. (in Chinese)
Yu X F, Zhuang D F, 2006. Monitoring forest phenophases of Northeast China based on MODIS NDVI data. Resources Science, 28(4): 111–117. (in Chinese)
Yun Y R, Fang X Q, Wang Y et al., 2005. Main grain crops structural change and its climate background in Heilongjiang Province during the past two decades. Journal of Natural Resources, 20(5): 697–704. (in Chinese)
Zhang F, Wu B F, Liu C L et al., 2004a. Methods of monitoring crop phonological stages using time series of vegetation indicator. Transactions of the CSAE, 20(1): 155–159.
Zhang F, Wu B F, Liu C L et al., 2004b. A method for extract regional crop growth profile with time series of NDVI Data. Journal of Remote Sensing, 8(6): 515–528. (in Chinese)
Zhu X L, Li Q, Shen M G et al., 2008a. A methodology for multiple cropping index extraction based on NDVI time-series. Journal of Natural Resources, 23(3): 534–544. (in Chinese)
Zhu X X, Fang X Q, Wang Y, 2008b. Responses of corn and rice planting area to temperature changes based on RS in the west of Heilongjiang Province. Scientia Geographica Sinica, 28(1): 66–71. (in Chinese)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Foundation: National Basic Program of China (973 Program), No.2010CB951502; National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 40930101, No. 41001381 and No. 41001246; Ministry of Finance of China through Non-profit National Research Institute, No. IARRP-2011-015
Author: Li Zhengguo (1980–), Ph.D, specialized in remote sensing, climate change and food security.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, Z., Tang, H., Yang, P. et al. Spatio-temporal responses of cropland phenophases to climate change in Northeast China. J. Geogr. Sci. 22, 29–45 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-012-0909-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-012-0909-2