Vegetation plays a very important role of carbon (C) sinks in the global C cycle. With its complex terrain and diverse vegetation types, the Lancang River Basin (LRB) of southwest China has huge C storage capacity. Therefore, understanding the spatial variations and controlling mechanisms of vegetation C storage is important to understand the regional C cycle. In this study, data from a forest ...

Increasing evidence indicates that current dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) have suffered from insufficient realism and are difficult to improve, particularly because they are built on plant functional type (PFT) schemes. Therefore, new approaches, such as plant trait-based methods, are urgently needed to replace PFT schemes when predicting the distribution of vegetation and investigati...

Climate change and the widespread alteration of natural habitats are major drivers of vegetation change in drylands. In the Chihuahuan Desert, large areas of grasslands dominated by perennial grass species have transitioned over the last 150 years to shrublands dominated by woody species, accompanied by accelerated water and wind erosion. Multiple mechanisms drive the shrub-encroachment process...

Trophic level interactions between predators create complex relationships such as intraguild predation. Theoretical research has predicted two possible paths to stability in intraguild systems: intermediate predators either outcompete higher-order predators for shared resources or select habitat based on security. The effects of intraguild predation on intermediate mammalian predators such as s...

Earth's future carbon balance and regional carbon exchange dynamics are inextricably linked to plant photosynthesis. Spectral vegetation indices are widely used as proxies for vegetation greenness and to estimate state variables such as vegetation cover and leaf area index. However, the capacity of green leaves to take up carbon can change throughout the season. We quantify photosynthetic capac...

     Drought is a disaster phenomenon especially in arid and semi-arid areas. Vegetation and its production play a main role in the social and economic issues in every country. In this study, Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data have been used to monitor drought and the vegetation condition in Sonqor Abad in, Kermanshah province.  Meteoro...

The vegetation cover and rangeland production are the most important factors to determine the proper planning system for effective utilization and management of rangelands. In this research, the effect of climatic factors (temperature and rainfall) were studied on vegetation cover and forage production of four species (Festuca ovina, Bromus tomentellus, Dactylis glomerata and Agropyron trichoph...