Response of Vegetation Phenology to Meteorological Factors in Different Eco-Geographic Zones in China

Vegetation phenology is highly sensitive to climate change, and an examination of vegetation phenology across diverse climatic conditions is crucial for identifying key factors influencing vegetation dynamics. However, there is a significant lack of macroscopic research and quantitative assessments on the response of vegetation phenology to meteorological factors in large-scale zones. This study employed Whittaker filtering and dynamic thresholding to extract phenological parameters of vegetation in China. Trend analysis was used to investigate the spatiotemporal changes in vegetation phenology from 1982 to 2022, while partial correlation and ridge regression analysis were conducted to quantify the response of vegetation in different zones to meteorological factors. The findings of this study demonstrate that over the past four decades, the start of the growing season (SOS) of vegetation in China has progressively advanced annually, whereas the end of the growing season (EOS) has progressively delayed annually, leading to an annual increase in the length of the growing season (LOS). Notably, these changes exhibit significant spatial variations. The response of vegetation phenology to temperature and precipitation is relatively complex and is closely related to local climatic conditions, humidity, vegetation type, etc. Different zones and diverse vegetation types have very different sensitivities to the same meteorological factor, sometimes even demonstrating contrasting responses. Consequently, this study is expected to clarify the response relationship between different vegetation ecosystems and meteorological factors in large-scale areas.