Annual and seasonal variation of NDVI explained by current and previous precipitation across Northern Patagonia

Temporal variation of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) of arid ecosystems has been associated with precipitation regimes with different results. The objective of this paper was to characterize the relationship between interannual variation of annual and seasonal Normalized Difference Vegetation index (NDVI), as a surrogate for ANPP, and precipitation in the steppes of Northern Patagonia. In 11 sites encompassing a wide range of conditions and vegetation physiognomies, we studied a 20-year monthly data set of NDVI and precipitation. We took into account the precipitation of current, as well as previous periods of variable length. Interannual variation of annual NDVI was little correlated with annual precipitation, either current or previous. In contrast, it was highly and widely correlated with precipitation accumulated during a few months of the previous growing season. Interannual variation of seasonal NDVI was little correlated With Current seasonal precipitation. In contrast, it was significantly correlated with precipitation accumulated during previous periods of variable length according to the season and site under consideration. NDVI was more tightly coupled with precipitation in drier ecosystems. Lags of response between NDVI and precipitation provide an opportunity for forecasting ANPP and suggest even longer lags between climatic variation and herbivore performance. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd, All rights reserved.