Abstract:Eurasia is the core region of Belt and Road strategic planning. A good understanding of the response of vegetation to precipitation is the scientific and ecological foundation for the implement of this strategic plan. This study used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the global gridded climatic datasets for the period from 1982 to 2015 to analyze the different seasonal and spatial response of vegetation growth to precipitation (RNDVI-Prep) by using the partial correlation coefficient method, which removes the combined influence of temperature and solar radiation on vegetation. In summer, we found the regions with positive RNDVI-Prep were in the arid and semi-arid regions of Eurasia with the latitudes from 35°N to 60°N and in the northwestern part and southern part of the South Asia Sub-Continent. In spring and autumn, the area with significant positive RNDVI-Prep relationship was more concentrated distributed than that in summer. The boundaries for some regions with significant RNDVI-Prep correlation were consistent with the current eco-region map. We applied 17-year moving windows to analyze the patterns of RNDVI-Prep in different seasons from 1982 to 2015 and found that the latitude of the pixels where vegetation showed strong dependency on water in summer was higher than those in spring and autumn. In arid and semi-arid regions of central Asia, the vegetation showed greater dependency on water in spring and summer than in autumn. Meanwhile, in the arid and semi-arid regions of the northwestern parts of South Asia Sub-Continent and in the rainforest regions of southeastern Asia, the vegetation showed greater dependency on water in summer and autumn than in spring, especially in autumn with a more concentrated distribution. The results will improve the understanding of vegetation response to precipitation across different eco-regions in Eurasia, and also provide a base theory for policy making for regional development.