## 6 Conclusions  
The Tarim Basin ecosystem is vulnerable to extreme climate change, and vegetation plays an important role in maintaining the regional ecosystem balance, retaining soil water, and reducing wind erosion. Studies on the effects of extreme climate on vegetation are helpful for formulating long-term vegetation adaptation strategies, maintaining ecological security, improving water resource utilization efficiency, and preventing desertification. Therefore, it is necessary to study the influence of extreme climate on vegetation in the Tarim Basin. This study utilized the Rclimdex model to calculate 12 extreme climate indices that are closely associated with vegetation, flooding disasters, and high and low temperatures in the Tarim Basin. The EQI was chosen as the vegetation ecological indicator. This study analyzed the dynamic changes in each extreme climate index and EQI, as well as the response of the EQI to each extreme climate factor. The main conclusions obtained were as follows:  
1. From 2000 to 2022, the growing season EQI in the Tarim Basin shows a significant upward trend. The agricultural vegetation EQI has the fastest rate of increase, while the desert vegetation EQI has the slowest rate of increase. Therefore, future ecological restoration measures can consider focusing on desert vegetation to improve the overall vegetation spatial changes in the Tarim Basin.
2. During the period of 2000 to 2022, the extreme temperature indices in the Tarim Basin indicated an increase in the warm indices and a decrease in the cold indices. Additionally, the extreme precipitation intensity indices exhibited an upward trend, and the number of dry days also increased. The risk of high-temperature disasters, persistent droughts, and floods will increase in the Tarim Basin in the future, which should be paid attention to, and it is necessary to implement increased measures for preventing this in order to deal with climate disasters.
3. On an inter-annual scale, the EQI is mainly negatively correlated with most extreme temperature indices, while it is positively correlated with extreme cold temperature and extreme precipitation intensity indices. Extreme precipitation plays a dominant role in the spatial distribution of the EQI. On an intra-annual scale, the correlation between them varies significantly due to the differences in EQI values, and the impact of extreme climate on the EQI shows clear regional concentration. The EQI in the Tarim Basin is not only influenced by a single extreme climate factor but is the result of the combined effects of various extreme climate factors, especially with significant impacts on forests and shrubs. Strategies for adapting vegetation to extreme climates need to consider the compound influence of various extreme climate factors. According to the difference in the influence of extreme climate on different vegetation types, appropriate ecological protection measures can be carried out for different vegetation types.  
Conceptualization, Y.Z. and Y.L.; methodology, Y.Z. and G.S.; software, Y.Z.; validation, Y.L. and G.S.; formal analysis, Z.Z. and X.Z.; investigation, L.L.; resources, L.L. and Z.Z.; data curation, Y.Z. and X.Z.; writing--original draft preparation, Y.Z.; writing--review and editing, Y.L.; visualization, Y.L.; supervision, Y.L.; project administration, L.L.; funding acquisition, Y.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This research was supported by The Third Xinjiang Scientific Expedition (2021 xjkk030401), Key scientific and technological research projects in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (2023 AB017-02), and the West Light Foundation for Young Scholars of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2021-XBQNXZ-018).  
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on request.  
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.