Scarcity of in-situ observations coupled with high orographic influences has prevented a comprehensive assessment of precipitation distribution in the high-altitude catchments of Indus basin. Available data are generally fragmented and scattered with different organizations and mostly cover the valleys. Here, we combine most of the available station data with the indirect precipitation estimate...

Monthly, maximum-value-composited normalized difference vegetation indices (NDVI), calculated from NOAAAVHRR images, were correlated with annual transpiration (TR) estimates (i.e. annual precipitation minus runoff) for seven watersheds in Pennsylvania. A moderate relationship between the standardized variables was detected. The NDVI–TR relationship dramatically improved with improved watershed ...

Condensed tannins (CT’s) are a dominant class of plant secondary metabolites that play important roles in regulating ecosystem processes such as herbivory, decomposition, and nutrient cycling. However, the factors shaping the global distribution pattern of the abundance of CT’s in tree leaves are still poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to assess the global distribution pattern of...

Evolutionary ecologists have long sought to understand the conditions under which perennial (iteroparous) versus annual (semelparous) plant life histories are favored. We evaluated the idea that aridity and variation in the length of droughts should favor the evolution of an annual life history, both by decreasing adult survival and by increasing the potential for high seedling survival via red...

Yuanmou Basin of Yunnan, SW China, is a famous locality with hominids, hominoids, mammals and plant fossils. Based on the published megaflora and palynoflora data from Yuanmou Basin, the climate of Late Pliocene is reconstructed using the Coexistence Approach. The results indicate a warm and humid subtropical climate with a mean annual temperature of ca. 16-17°C and a mean annual precipitation ...

Climate gradients shape spatial variation in the richness and composition of plant communities. Given future predicted changes in climate means and variability, and likely regional variation in themagnitudes of these changes, it is important to determine how temporal variation in climate influences temporal variation in plant community structure. Here, we evaluated how species richness, turnove...

Precipitation is important factor affecting vegetation and controlling key ecological processes. In order to quantify spatial patterns of precipitation in Chongqing tobacco planting region, China, under ArcGIS platform, three multivariate geostatistical methods including cokriging, small grid and regression kriging, coupled with auxiliary topographic factors extracted from a 1:100000 DEM were a...

The Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement Final Run (IMERGF) product has now been upgraded to Version 4 (V4), which has been available since March 2017. Therefore, it is desirable to evaluate the characteristic differences between the V4 and the previous V3 products. A comprehensive performance evaluation of the errors of the successive V3 and V4 IMERGF prod...

The complex topography and high climatic variability of the North Western Mediterranean Basin (NWMB) require a detailed assessment of climate change projections at high resolution. ECHAM5/MPIOM global climate projections for mid-21st century and three different emission scenarios are downscaled at 10 km resolution over the NWMB, using the WRF-ARW regional model. High resolution improves the spa...