title: Climatic change controls productivity variation in global grasslands.
abstract: Detection and identification of the impacts of climate change on ecosystems have been core issues in climate change research in recent years. In this study, we compared average annual values of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with theoretical net primary productivity (NPP) values based on temperature and precipitation to determine the effect of historic climate change on global grassland productivity from 1982 to 2011. Comparison of trends in actual productivity (NDVI) with climate-induced potential productivity showed that the trends in average productivity in nearly 40% of global grassland areas have been significantly affected by climate change. The contribution of climate change to variability in grassland productivity was 15.2-71.2% during 1982-2011. Climate change contributed significantly to long-term trends in grassland productivity mainly in North America, central Eurasia, central Africa, and Oceania; these regions will be more sensitive to future climate change impacts. The impacts of climate change on variability in grassland productivity were greater in the Western Hemisphere than the Eastern Hemisphere. Confirmation of the observed trends requires long-term controlled experiments and multi-model ensembles to reduce uncertainties and explain mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Qingzhu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Wenquan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: John Muir Institute of the Environment, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Hasbagan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ganjurjav
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Yunfan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: John Muir Institute of the Environment, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D065948:Grassland; D015233:Models, Statistical; D013696:Temperature