Spatiotemporal Response of Vegetation to Rainfall and Air Temperature Fluctuations in the Sahel: Case Study in the Forest Reserve of Fina, Mali

Sustainability

Abdulkadir Aishetu¹  Birhanu Zemadim Birhanu²  Karamoko Sanogo³  Abdramane Ba³  Souleymane Sanogo³ 

[1]Department of Geography, Bosso Campus, Federal University of Technology, Minna PMB 65, Nigeria

[2]International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT-Mali), Bamako BP 320, Mali

[3]Laboratoire d’Optique, de Spectroscopie et des Sciences de l’atmosphère (LOSSA), Université des Sciences de Techniques et de Technologie de Bamako, Bamako BPE 3206, Mali

关键词: NDVI;    rainfall;    air temperature;    vegetation response;    Fina forest reserve;    Mali;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su13116250

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Forests constitute a key component of the Earth system but the sustainability of the forest reserves in the semi-arid zone is a real concern since its vegetation is very sensitive to the climate fluctuation. The understanding of the mechanisms for the vegetation–climate interaction is poorly studied in the context of African Sahel. In this study, the characteristics of the vegetation response to the fluctuations of precipitation and temperature is determined for the forest reserve of Fina. Rainfall estimates, air temperature and NDVI were re-gridded to a same spatial resolution and standardized with respect to their respective long-term mean. Lag-correlations analysis was used to estimate lag times between changes of climate variables and vegetation response at both seasonal and interannual bases. Results show increasing tendency of NDVI started from the 1990s coinciding the recovery of the rainfall from the 1980s drought, and the obtained correlation (r = 0.66) is statistically significant (p value < 0.01). The strongest responses of vegetation to rainfall and temperature fluctuations were found after 30 and 15 days, respectively. Moreover, at a shorter time lag (e.g., 15 days), more pronounced vegetation responses to both rainfall and temperature were found in agriculturally dominated land while at a longer time lag (e.g., 30 days), a stronger response was observed in Bare-dominated land. The vegetation response to the climate fluctuation is modulated by the land-use/cover dynamics.

【 授权许可】

Unknown