PCIC science brief: Projected changes to grasslands and three US crops
Date
2017-05
Authors
Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC)
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC)
Abstract
Two recently published articles explore how projected changes to climate and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may affect grasslands in temperate regions and three crops in the United States. Addressing the first question in Nature Climate Change, Obermeier et al. (2017) find that the carbon dioxide fertilization effect in C3 grasslands is reduced when conditions are wetter, dryer or hotter than the conditions to which the grasses are adapted. Publishing in Nature Communications, Schauberger et al. (2017) examine the second question. They find that yields for wheat, soy and corn decline at projected temperatures greater than 30°C, with reductions in yield of 22% for wheat, 40% for soy and 49% for corn. While carbon fertilization does reduce the loss in yields, the effect is much smaller than that of irrigation, suggesting that water stress at higher temperatures may be largely responsible for losses.
Description
Keywords
UN SDG 13: Climate Action, #science brief, #PCIC publication