Spatio-temporal variation in vegetation net primary productivity and its relationship with climatic factors in the Shule River basin from 2001 to 2010

The study area incorporated the Shule River basin, located in northwest Gansu Province, an important water source and ecological division within the Hexi Corridor. We calculated NPP using MODIS images, meteorological data, vegetation type maps, and the improved CASA NPP model. We analyzed NPP spatio-temporal characteristics in the study area for 2001–2010 using linear trend analysis, coefficient of variation, and the Hurst index. The following general outcomes were found: NPP in the study area showed considerable regional differences. NPP gradually decreased from southeast to northwest, with significant linear longitudinal patterns. Inter-annual variability showed overall growth over the study period. Significant NPP increase occurred for 25.15% of the total study area, whereas 11.93% showed significant decrease. The Hurst index indicated that the majority of NPP changes followed the same trend, with 78.3% of the study area expected to continuously increase, and 21.7% expected to decrease in the future. There was a weak relationship between NPP and annual precipitation, but no significant relationship between NPP and annual average temperature, indicating that precipitation was the key annual influence. Temperature was the dominant climatic factor affecting NPP on a monthly scale, and precipitation and temperature annual correlations were lower than those for the monthly scale.