Responses of plant productivity and carbon fluxes to short-term experimental manipulations of climate change and species loss in a Mongolian grassland

Understanding plant phenological change is of great concern in the context of global climate change. Phenological models can aid in understanding and predicting growing season changes and can be parameterized with gross primary production (GPP) estimated using the eddy covariance (EC) technique. This study used nine years of EC-derived GPP data from three mature subtropical longleaf pine forests in the southeastern United States with differing soil water holding capacity in combination with site-specific micrometeorological data to parameterize a photosynthesis-based phenological model. We evaluated how weather conditions and prescribed fire led to variation in the ecosystem phenological processes. The results suggest that soil water availability had an effect on phenology, and greater soil water availability was associated with a longer growing season (LOS). We also observed that prescribed fire, a common forest management activity in the region, had a limited impact on phenological processes. Dormant season fire had no significant effect on phenological processes by site, but we observed differences in the start of the growing season (SOS) between fire and non-fire years. Fire delayed SOS by 10 d ± 5 d (SE), and this effect was greater with higher soil water availability, extending SOS by 18 d on average. Fire was also associated with increased sensitivity of spring phenology to radiation and air temperature. We found that interannual climate change and periodic weather anomalies (flood, short-term drought, and long-term drought), controlled annual ecosystem phenological processes more than prescribed fire. When water availability increased following short-term summer drought, the growing season was extended. With future climate change, subtropical areas of the Southeastern US are expected to experience more frequent short-term droughts, which could shorten the region’s growing season and lead to a reduction in the longleaf pine ecosystem’s carbon sequestration capacity.

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The Effects of Biotic and Abiotic Factors on the Community Dynamics in a Mountain Subtropical Forest

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12040427 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 427

Author(s):

Tianyang Zhou ◽

Jiaxin Zhang ◽

Yunzhi Qin ◽

Mingxi Jiang ◽

Xiujuan Qiao

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Forest Dynamics ◽

Community Dynamics ◽

Abiotic Factors ◽

Subtropical Forest ◽

Above Ground Biomass ◽

Short Term ◽

Forest Ecosystem Services ◽

Number Of Individuals

From supporting wood production to mitigating climate change, forest ecosystem services are crucial to the well-being of humans. Understanding the mechanisms that drive forest dynamics can help us infer how to maintain forest ecosystem services and how to improve predictions of forest dynamics under climate change. Despite the growing number of studies exploring above ground biomass (AGB) dynamics, questions of dynamics in biodiversity and in number of individuals still remain unclear. Here, we first explored the patterns of community dynamics in different aspects (i.e., AGB, density and biodiversity) based on short-term (five years) data from a 25-ha permanent plot in a subtropical forest in central China. Second, we examined the relationships between community dynamics and biodiversity and functional traits. Third, we identified the key factors affecting different aspects of community dynamics and quantified their relative contributions. We found that in the short term (five years), net above ground biomass change (ΔAGB) and biodiversity increased, while the number of individuals decreased. Resource-conservation traits enhanced the ΔAGB and reduced the loss in individuals, while the resource-acquisition traits had the opposite effect. Furthermore, the community structure contributed the most to ΔAGB; topographic variables and soil nutrients contributed the most to the number of individuals; demographic process contributed the most to biodiversity. Our results indicate that biotic factors mostly affected the community dynamics of ΔAGB and biodiversity, while the number of individuals was mainly shaped by abiotic factors. Our work highlighted that the factors influencing different aspects of community dynamics vary. Therefore, forest management practices should be formulated according to a specific protective purpose.

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Examining the short-term impacts of diverse management practices on plant phenology and carbon fluxes of Old World bluestems pasture

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology ◽

10.1016/j.agrformet.2017.01.018 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 237-238 ◽

pp. 60-70 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Yuting Zhou ◽

Xiangming Xiao ◽

Pradeep Wagle ◽

Rajen Bajgain ◽

Hayden Mahan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Management Practices ◽

Carbon Fluxes ◽

Plant Phenology ◽

Short Term ◽

Old World ◽

Old World Bluestems

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Short-term rainfall forecasts as a soft adaptation to climate change in irrigation management in North-East India

Agricultural Water Management ◽

10.1016/j.agwat.2013.06.001 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 127 ◽

pp. 97-106 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Ashok Mishra ◽

Christian Siderius ◽

Kenny Aberson ◽

Martine van der Ploeg ◽

Jochen Froebrich

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Irrigation Management ◽

Adaptation To Climate Change ◽

Short Term ◽

North East India ◽

North East

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Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Its Mitigation Strategies: A Review

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13031318 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 1318

Author(s):

Gurdeep Singh Malhi ◽

Manpreet Kaur ◽

Prashant Kaushik

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Plant Productivity ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Economic Losses ◽

Agriculture Sector ◽

Pest Infestation ◽

Average Global Temperature ◽

Metabolic Activities ◽

Global Threat ◽

Food And Nutritional Security

Climate change is a global threat to the food and nutritional security of the world. As greenhouse-gas emissions in the atmosphere are increasing, the temperature is also rising due to the greenhouse effect. The average global temperature is increasing continuously and is predicted to rise by 2 °C until 2100, which would cause substantial economic losses at the global level. The concentration of CO2, which accounts for a major proportion of greenhouse gases, is increasing at an alarming rate, and has led to higher growth and plant productivity due to increased photosynthesis, but increased temperature offsets this effect as it leads to increased crop respiration rate and evapotranspiration, higher pest infestation, a shift in weed flora, and reduced crop duration. Climate change also affects the microbial population and their enzymatic activities in soil. This paper reviews the information collected through the literature regarding the issue of climate change, its possible causes, its projection in the near future, its impact on the agriculture sector as an influence on physiological and metabolic activities of plants, and its potential and reported implications for growth and plant productivity, pest infestation, and mitigation strategies and their economic impact.

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Altitudinal Vascular Plant Richness and Climate Change in the Alpine Zone of the Lefka Ori, Crete

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d13010022 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 22

Author(s):

George Kazakis ◽

Dany Ghosn ◽

Ilektra Remoundou ◽

Panagiotis Nyktas ◽

Michael A. Talias ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Species Richness ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Monitoring Network ◽

Mediterranean Area ◽

Mean Annual Temperature ◽

High Mountain ◽

Species Loss ◽

Total Species Richness

High mountain zones in the Mediterranean area are considered more vulnerable in comparison to lower altitudes zones. Lefka Ori massif, a global biodiversity hotspot on the island of Crete is part of the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA) monitoring network. The paper examines species and vegetation changes with respect to climate and altitude over a seven-year period (2001–2008) at a range of spatial scales (10 m Summit Area Section-SAS, 5 m SAS, 1 m2) using the GLORIA protocol in a re-survey of four mountain summits (1664 m–2339 m). The absolute species loss between 2001–2008 was 4, among which were 2 endemics. At the scale of individual summits, the highest changes were recorded at the lower summits with absolute species loss 4 in both cases. Paired t-tests for the total species richness at 1 m2 between 2001–2008, showed no significant differences. No significant differences were found at the individual summit level neither at the 5 m SAS or the 10 m SAS. Time series analysis reveals that soil mean annual temperature is increasing at all summits. Linear regressions with the climatic variables show a positive effect on species richness at the 5 m and 10 m SAS as well as species changes at the 5 m SAS. In particular, June mean temperature has the highest predictive power for species changes at the 5 m SAS. Recorded changes in species richness point more towards fluctuations within a plant community’s normal range, although there seem to be more significant diversity changes in higher summits related to aspects. Our work provides additional evidence to assess the effects of climate change on plant diversity in Mediterranean mountains and particularly those of islands which remain understudied.

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Modelling above-ground carbon dynamics using multi-temporal airborne lidar: insights from a Mediterranean woodland

Biogeosciences ◽

10.5194/bg-13-961-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 961-973 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

W. Simonson ◽

P. Ruiz-Benito ◽

F. Valladares ◽

D. Coomes

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Large Scale ◽

Critical Role ◽

Carbon Fluxes ◽

Carbon Dynamics ◽

Airborne Lidar ◽

Lidar Data ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Data Set ◽

Multi Temporal

Abstract. Woodlands represent highly significant carbon sinks globally, though could lose this function under future climatic change. Effective large-scale monitoring of these woodlands has a critical role to play in mitigating for, and adapting to, climate change. Mediterranean woodlands have low carbon densities, but represent important global carbon stocks due to their extensiveness and are particularly vulnerable because the region is predicted to become much hotter and drier over the coming century. Airborne lidar is already recognized as an excellent approach for high-fidelity carbon mapping, but few studies have used multi-temporal lidar surveys to measure carbon fluxes in forests and none have worked with Mediterranean woodlands. We use a multi-temporal (5-year interval) airborne lidar data set for a region of central Spain to estimate above-ground biomass (AGB) and carbon dynamics in typical mixed broadleaved and/or coniferous Mediterranean woodlands. Field calibration of the lidar data enabled the generation of grid-based maps of AGB for 2006 and 2011, and the resulting AGB change was estimated. There was a close agreement between the lidar-based AGB growth estimate (1.22 Mg ha−1 yr−1) and those derived from two independent sources: the Spanish National Forest Inventory, and a tree-ring based analysis (1.19 and 1.13 Mg ha−1 yr−1, respectively). We parameterised a simple simulator of forest dynamics using the lidar carbon flux measurements, and used it to explore four scenarios of fire occurrence. Under undisturbed conditions (no fire) an accelerating accumulation of biomass and carbon is evident over the next 100 years with an average carbon sequestration rate of 1.95 Mg C ha−1 yr−1. This rate reduces by almost a third when fire probability is increased to 0.01 (fire return rate of 100 years), as has been predicted under climate change. Our work shows the power of multi-temporal lidar surveying to map woodland carbon fluxes and provide parameters for carbon dynamics models. Space deployment of lidar instruments in the near future could open the way for rolling out wide-scale forest carbon stock monitoring to inform management and governance responses to future environmental change.

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Satellites, Self-reports, and Submersion: Exposure to Floods in Bangladesh

The American Economic Review ◽

10.1257/aer.p20151095 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 105 (5) ◽

pp. 232-236 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Raymond Guiteras ◽

Amir Jina ◽

A. Mushfiq Mobarak

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Economic Activity ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Objective Data ◽

Short Term ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

Flood Exposure ◽

Self Reports ◽

Term Variation

A burgeoning “Climate-Economy” literature has uncovered many effects of changes in temperature and precipitation on economic activity, but has made considerably less progress in modeling the effects of other associated phenomena, like natural disasters. We develop new, objective data on floods, focusing on Bangladesh. We show that rainfall and self-reported exposure are weak proxies for true flood exposure. These data allow us to study adaptation, giving accurate measures of both long-term averages and short term variation in exposure. This is important in studying climate change impacts, as people will not only experience new exposures, but also experience them differently.

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Climate change: long-term targets and short-term commitments

Global Environmental Change ◽

10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2003.09.001 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 277-293 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Jan Corfee-Morlot ◽

Niklas Höhne

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Short Term

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