Human Land-Use Practices Lead to Global Long-Term Increases in Photosynthetic Capacity

Remote Sensing

Thomas Mueller⁶  Gunnar Dressler⁵  Compton J. Tucker¹  Jorge E. Pinzon¹  Peter Leimgruber²  Ralph O. Dubayah⁴  George C. Hurtt⁴  Katrin Böhning-Gaese³ 

[1] Code 610.9, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; E-Mails:;Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, VA 22630, USA; E-Mail:;Biodiversity and Climate Research Center, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt, Germany; E-Mail:;Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20771, USA; E-Mails:;Department of Ecological Modeling, Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research-UFZ, D-04318 Leipzig, Germany; E-Mail:;Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; E-Mail:

关键词: NDVI;    land-use;    anthropogenic biomes;    anthromes;    global change;    GIMMS3g;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs6065717

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Long-term trends in photosynthetic capacity measured with the satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) are usually associated with climate change. Human impacts on the global land surface are typically not accounted for. Here, we provide the first global analysis quantifying the effect of the earth’s human footprint on NDVI trends. Globally, more than 20% of the variability in NDVI trends was explained by anthropogenic factors such as land use, nitrogen fertilization, and irrigation. Intensely used land classes, such as villages, showed the greatest rates of increase in NDVI, more than twice than those of forests. These findings reveal that factors beyond climate influence global long-term trends in NDVI and suggest that global climate change models and analyses of primary productivity should incorporate land use effects.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland