Investigating net primary production in climate regions of central Zagros, Iran, using MODIS and meteorological data

Rangeland production is sensitive to climate conditions. In this study, we monitored actual and potential production in the climate zones of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province in central Zagros, Iran, from 2000-2016. Net primary production (NPP), light use efficiency (LUE) and rain use efficiency (RUE) were extracted from climatic and MODIS satellite data using the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford approach (CASA) and Miami models. The accuracy of the modeled NPP maps was assessed using regression analysis, based on field data collected at 750 sites under different rangeland conditions. The spatial distribution of NPP and RUE indicated that annual production and photosynthetic efficiency in degraded rangelands with poor and very poor conditions have decreased compared to those of moderate-good classes. The highest relationship between the field and modeled NPP was associated with the Astragal us spp.-Ferula spp. (R-2 = 0.865, p < 0.001) in the humid and cold climate zone with good rangeland conditions while the lowest was observed in the annual grasses-annual forbs (R-2 = 0.198, p < 0.001) vegetation type with very poor rangeland conditions within the semi-arid and cold climate zone. Furthermore, the highest and lowest NPP values were observed in the Daphne mucronata-Prangos ferulacea (48.38 g C m(-2) yr(-1)) and annual grasses-annual forbs (3.42 g C m(-2) yr(-1)) vegetation types with LUE values of 0.13 and 0.02 g C MJ(-1) within the humid and cold and the semi-humid and cold climate zones, respectively. According to these findings, remote sensing-based differences between actual and potential NPP can be used as a valuable tool for identification of human impacts on broad rangeland ecosystems.