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1.
J Environ Manage ; 217: 429-441, 2018 Jul 01.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29627648

RESUMO

Large areas of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta floodplains (VMDF) are protected by high dikes to facilitate three rice crops per year. While this has increased rice production, there is evidence that triple rice systems have negative long-term effects, both environmental and economic. Double rice cropping, or other alternatives, may be more advantageous. We analyzed the costs and benefits of intensive rice systems over time and compared these with alternatives farming systems, based on data collected via field surveys and interviews with farmers in two provinces in the VMDF. Results show that farmers in areas with dikes high enough for triple rice production incurred rising production costs over time. Production costs were 58%-91% higher in high-dike, triple crop areas, than in low-dike double rice crop areas. Higher production costs are mainly the result of increased fertilizer and pesticide use. Profitability of triple rice farming systems was initially 57% more compared to double crop systems. After about 15 years, however, triple rice farmers earned only 6% more than double crop counterparts. Our results indicate that alternative farming systems, such as rice combined with vegetables, fisheries or other flood-based livelihood, could offer greater benefits than intensive rice monocultures. Importantly, these higher benefits can be obtained without the environmental costs and impact currently endured across the delta with triple rice cultivation in high dikes.


Assuntos
Fertilizantes , Oryza , Praguicidas , Agricultura , Produtos Agrícolas
2.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A ; 111(9): 3251-6, 2014 Mar 04.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-24344275

RESUMO

Humans directly change the dynamics of the water cycle through dams constructed for water storage, and through water withdrawals for industrial, agricultural, or domestic purposes. Climate change is expected to additionally affect water supply and demand. Here, analyses of climate change and direct human impacts on the terrestrial water cycle are presented and compared using a multimodel approach. Seven global hydrological models have been forced with multiple climate projections, and with and without taking into account impacts of human interventions such as dams and water withdrawals on the hydrological cycle. Model results are analyzed for different levels of global warming, allowing for analyses in line with temperature targets for climate change mitigation. The results indicate that direct human impacts on the water cycle in some regions, e.g., parts of Asia and in the western United States, are of the same order of magnitude, or even exceed impacts to be expected for moderate levels of global warming (+2 K). Despite some spread in model projections, irrigation water consumption is generally projected to increase with higher global mean temperatures. Irrigation water scarcity is particularly large in parts of southern and eastern Asia, and is expected to become even larger in the future.


Assuntos
Irrigação Agrícola/estatística & dados numéricos , Mudança Climática , Atividades Humanas/estatística & dados numéricos , Modelos Teóricos , Ciclo Hidrológico , Abastecimento de Água/estatística & dados numéricos , Simulação por Computador , Previsões , Humanos
3.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A ; 111(9): 3239-44, 2014 Mar 04.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-24344283

RESUMO

We compare ensembles of water supply and demand projections from 10 global hydrological models and six global gridded crop models. These are produced as part of the Inter-Sectoral Impacts Model Intercomparison Project, with coordination from the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project, and driven by outputs of general circulation models run under representative concentration pathway 8.5 as part of the Fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. Models project that direct climate impacts to maize, soybean, wheat, and rice involve losses of 400-1,400 Pcal (8-24% of present-day total) when CO2 fertilization effects are accounted for or 1,400-2,600 Pcal (24-43%) otherwise. Freshwater limitations in some irrigated regions (western United States; China; and West, South, and Central Asia) could necessitate the reversion of 20-60 Mha of cropland from irrigated to rainfed management by end-of-century, and a further loss of 600-2,900 Pcal of food production. In other regions (northern/eastern United States, parts of South America, much of Europe, and South East Asia) surplus water supply could in principle support a net increase in irrigation, although substantial investments in irrigation infrastructure would be required.


Assuntos
Irrigação Agrícola/métodos , Agricultura/métodos , Mudança Climática , Modelos Teóricos , Abastecimento de Água/estatística & dados numéricos , Irrigação Agrícola/economia , Agricultura/economia , Dióxido de Carbono/análise , Simulação por Computador , Previsões
4.
Ambio ; 2024 May 25.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38795281

RESUMO

Living with wildfires in an era of climate change requires adaptation and weaving together many forms of knowledge. Empirical evidence of knowledge co-production in wildfire management is lacking in Mediterranean European areas. We explored how local ecological knowledge can be leveraged to reduce wildfire risk through an adaptation pathways process in the Montseny massif and wider Tordera River watershed of Catalonia, Spain: an area stewarded through forestry and agriculture, tourism, nature conservation, and fire management. We combined different methods (e.g., a timeline and Three Horizons framework) throughout three workshops with agents of change to co-create adaptation pathways to reduce wildfire risk, integrating a historical perspective of the landscape while envisioning desirable futures. Our results showed that local ecological knowledge and other soft adaptation strategies contribute to innovative sustainable development initiatives that can also mitigate wildfire risk. The adaptation pathways approach holds much potential to inform local policies and support wildfire-based community initiatives in diverse contexts.

5.
Heliyon ; 9(8): e19180, 2023 Aug.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37664704

RESUMO

Salinity varies with location and time of the year. It can significantly impact crop production. The level of negative impacts depends on the salt concentration and time of its occurrence, which, however, has not been studied for many crops, especially for rice grown in the coastal area of Bangladesh. Our study explored the impact of spatio-temporal fluctuations in soil and water salinity on boro rice production in the south-central coast of Bangladesh. Here, we simulated the soil salinity from November 2020 to May 2021 for fourteen locations classes using the SWAP-WOFOST model. The model was calibrated and validated with measured secondary data. Next, the yield of two salt-tolerant boro rice varieties (BRRI dhan47 and BRRI dhan67) was simulated using the customized soil, weather, and crop data. We also simulated the yield by adopting agronomic management practices (i.e., changing planting time and using fresh irrigation water). Our results showed that salinity levels varied with different soil textural classes, soil depth, location, and time of the year, and that had a significant influence on boro rice production, giving spatial variability. Specifically, boro rice had a higher yield in coarse texture soil than in fine texture soil. Simulated yields in areas proximate to the sea ranged from 668 to 1239 kg ha-1, yields that are significantly lower than those simulated in moderate (2098-4843 kg ha-1) and low salinity zones (4213-4843 kg ha-1). Moreover, the simulation of yield with sowing/planting rice earlier by fifteen days provided a higher yield than the current planting practice since it could avoid salinity at later stages of growth. For a similar reason, growing rice inside the polder provided a higher yield than outside the polder. The insights gained from our study carry significant implications for contemporary crop-level adaptation strategies and policy-making in coastal districts.

6.
Sci Total Environ ; 899: 165539, 2023 Nov 15.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37487896

RESUMO

The agriculture sector is vital to the world's economy and weather and climate are key drivers that affect the productivity and profitability of agricultural systems. At the same time, weather-related risks pose significant challenges to farmers' livelihoods. Although scientific weather forecast (SFK) is available, many farmers, especially in the Global South, have limited access to this information, and they rely on local forecast knowledge (LFK) to make farming decisions. Many studies also recognize the value of combining both forecasting systems; yet, unlike SFK which is readily available, indicators for LFK needs to be collected first. Therefore, this study identifies and documents the spatial distribution of LFK use for agriculture across the globe through a systematic literature review. Results show that a high number of LFK regions with a total of around 1350 local environmental indicators were found in Africa and Asia and less in South and North America. The low usability of scientific weather forecasts is perceived as the main reason farmers use LFK instead of SFK, yet the accessibility of LFK both for scientists and users, needs to be improved. Indicators based on animals and meteorology appeared to be more frequently used for weather predictions than plant- and astronomy-based indicators. Digitalizing the LFK inventory and collecting more detailed information about the regions where LFK was identified could promote and foster research on integrating scientific and local forecasting systems. This study will draw attention to the importance of LFK in weather forecasting, maintain this knowledge and enhance it.

8.
Nature ; 438(7069): 846-9, 2005 Dec 08.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-16341012

RESUMO

Savannas are globally important ecosystems of great significance to human economies. In these biomes, which are characterized by the co-dominance of trees and grasses, woody cover is a chief determinant of ecosystem properties. The availability of resources (water, nutrients) and disturbance regimes (fire, herbivory) are thought to be important in regulating woody cover, but perceptions differ on which of these are the primary drivers of savanna structure. Here we show, using data from 854 sites across Africa, that maximum woody cover in savannas receiving a mean annual precipitation (MAP) of less than approximately 650 mm is constrained by, and increases linearly with, MAP. These arid and semi-arid savannas may be considered 'stable' systems in which water constrains woody cover and permits grasses to coexist, while fire, herbivory and soil properties interact to reduce woody cover below the MAP-controlled upper bound. Above a MAP of approximately 650 mm, savannas are 'unstable' systems in which MAP is sufficient for woody canopy closure, and disturbances (fire, herbivory) are required for the coexistence of trees and grass. These results provide insights into the nature of African savannas and suggest that future changes in precipitation may considerably affect their distribution and dynamics.


Assuntos
Ecossistema , Chuva , Árvores/fisiologia , África , Animais , Biomassa , Clima Desértico , Poaceae/fisiologia , Solo/análise , Madeira
9.
Sci Total Environ ; 768: 144467, 2021 May 10.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33454464

RESUMO

Climate change is recognized as one of the greatest challenges of 21st century. This study investigated climate and hydrological regimes of the high-altitude Indus basin for the historical period and extreme scenarios of future climate during 21st century. Improved datasets of precipitation and temperature were developed and forced to a fully-distributed physically-based energy-balance Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrological model to simulate the water balance at regional and sub-basin scale. Relative to historical baseline, the results revealed highly contrasting signals of climate and hydrological regime changes. Against an increase of 0.6 °C during the last 40 years, the median annual air temperature is projected to increase further between 0.8 and 5.7 °C by the end of 21st century. Similarly, a decline of 11.9% in annual precipitation is recorded, but future projections are highly conflicting and spatially variable. The Karakoram region is anticipated to receive more precipitation, while SW-Hindukush and parts of W-Himalayan region may experience decline in precipitation. The Model for Interdisciplinary Research On Climate version-5 (MIROC5) generally shows increases, while Max Planck Institute Earth System Model at base resolution (MPI-ESM-LR) indicates decreases in precipitation and river inflows under three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) of 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5. Indus-Tarbela inflows are more likely to increase compared to Kabul, Jhelum and Chenab river inflows. Substantial increase in the magnitudes of peak flows and one-month earlier attainment is projected for all river gauges. High flows are anticipated to increase under most scenarios, while low flows may decrease for MPI-ESM-LR in Jhelum, Chenab and Kabul river basins. Hence, hydrological extremes are likely to be intensified. Critical modifications in the strategies and action plans for hydropower generation, construction and operation of storage reservoirs, irrigation withdrawals, flood control and drought management will be required to optimally manage water resources in the basin.

10.
Sci Total Environ ; 786: 147142, 2021 Sep 10.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33965826

RESUMO

Siloed-approaches may fuel the misguided development of hydropower and subsequent target-setting under the sustainable development goals (SDGs). While hydropower development in the Indus basin is vital to ensure energy security (SDG7), it needs to be balanced with water use for fulfilling food (SDG2) and water (SDG6) security. Existing methods to estimate hydropower potential generally focus on: only one class of potential, a methodological advance for either of hydropower siting, sizing, or costing of one site, or the ranking of a portfolio of projects. A majority of them fall short in addressing sustainability. Hence, we develop a systematic framework for the basin-scale assessment of the sustainable hydropower potential by integrating considerations of the water-energy-food nexus, disaster risk, climate change, environmental protection, and socio-economic preferences. Considering the case of the upper Indus, the framework is developed by combining advances in literature, insights from local hydropower practitioners and over 30 datasets to represent real-life challenges to sustainable hydropower development, while distinguishing between small and large plants for two run-of-river plant configurations. The framework first addresses theoretical potential and successively constrains this further by stepwise inclusion of technical, economical, and sustainability criteria to obtain the sustainable exploitable hydropower potential. We conclude that sustainable hydropower potential in complex basins such as the Indus goes far beyond the hydrological boundary conditions. Our framework enables the careful inclusion of factors beyond the status-quo technological and economic criterions to guide policymakers in hydropower development decisions in the Indus and beyond. Future work will implement the framework to quantify the different hydropower potential classes and explore adaptation pathways to balance SDG7 with the other interlinked SDGs in the Indus.

11.
Sci Total Environ ; 649: 601-609, 2019 Feb 01.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30176471

RESUMO

The river flow regime and water resources are highly important for economic growths, flood security, and ecosystem dynamics in the Mekong basin - an important transboundary river basin in South East Asia. The river flow, although remains relatively unregulated, is expected to be increasingly perturbed by climate change and rapidly accelerating socioeconomic developments. Current understanding about hydrological changes under the combined impacts of these drivers, however, remains limited. This study presents projected hydrological changes caused by multiple drivers, namely climate change, large-scale hydropower developments, and irrigated land expansions by 2050s. We found that the future flow regime is highly susceptible to all considered drivers, shown by substantial changes in both annual and seasonal flow distribution. While hydropower developments exhibit limited impacts on annual total flows, climate change and irrigation expansions cause changes of +15% and -3% in annual flows, respectively. However, hydropower developments show the largest seasonal impacts characterized by higher dry season flows (up to +70%) and lower wet season flows (-15%). These strong seasonal impacts tend to outplay those of the other drivers, resulting in the overall hydrological change pattern of strong increases of the dry season flow (up to +160%); flow reduction in the first half of the wet season (up to -25%); and slight flow increase in the second half of the wet season (up to 40%). Furthermore, the cumulative impacts of all drivers cause substantial flow reductions during the early wet season (up to -25% in July), posing challenges for crop production and saltwater intrusion in the downstream Mekong Delta. Substantial flow changes and their consequences require careful considerations of future development activities, as well as timely adaptation to future changes.

12.
Ambio ; 47(6): 635-649, 2018 Oct.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29478182

RESUMO

Climate change and accelerating socioeconomic developments increasingly challenge flood-risk management in the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta-a typical large, economically dynamic and highly vulnerable delta. This study identifies and addresses the emerging challenges for flood-risk management. Furthermore, we identify and analyse response solutions, focusing on meaningful configurations of the individual solutions and how they can be tailored to specific challenges using expert surveys, content analysis techniques and statistical inferences. Our findings show that the challenges for flood-risk management are diverse, but critical challenges predominantly arise from the current governance and institutional settings. The top-three challenges include weak collaboration, conflicting management objectives and low responsiveness to new issues. We identified 114 reported solutions and developed six flood management strategies that are tailored to specific challenges. We conclude that the current technology-centric flood management approach is insufficient given the rapid socioecological changes. This approach therefore should be adapted towards a more balanced management configuration where technical and infrastructural measures are combined with institutional and governance resolutions. Insights from this study contribute to the emerging repertoire of contemporary flood management solutions, especially through their configurations and tailoring to specific challenges.


Assuntos
Mudança Climática , Planejamento em Desastres , Inundações , Risco , Gestão de Riscos
13.
Sci Total Environ ; 607-608: 294-303, 2017 Dec 31.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28692899

RESUMO

Water allocation is facing profound challenges due to climate change uncertainties. To identify adaptive water allocation strategies that are robust to climate change uncertainties, a model framework combining many-objective robust decision making and biophysical modeling is developed for large rivers. The framework was applied to the Pearl River basin (PRB), China where sufficient flow to the delta is required to reduce saltwater intrusion in the dry season. Before identifying and assessing robust water allocation plans for the future, the performance of ten state-of-the-art MOEAs (multi-objective evolutionary algorithms) is evaluated for the water allocation problem in the PRB. The Borg multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (Borg MOEA), which is a self-adaptive optimization algorithm, has the best performance during the historical periods. Therefore it is selected to generate new water allocation plans for the future (2079-2099). This study shows that robust decision making using carefully selected MOEAs can help limit saltwater intrusion in the Pearl River Delta. However, the framework could perform poorly due to larger than expected climate change impacts on water availability. Results also show that subjective design choices from the researchers and/or water managers could potentially affect the ability of the model framework, and cause the most robust water allocation plans to fail under future climate change. Developing robust allocation plans in a river basin suffering from increasing water shortage requires the researchers and water managers to well characterize future climate change of the study regions and vulnerabilities of their tools.

14.
Sci Total Environ ; 559: 317-325, 2016 07 15.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-27070383

RESUMO

Iran Urmia Lake, the world second largest hypersaline lake, has been largely desiccated over the last two decades resulting in socio-environmental consequences similar or even larger than the Aral Sea disaster. To rescue the lake a new water management plan has been proposed, a rapid 40% decline in irrigation water use replacing a former plan which intended to develop reservoirs and irrigation. However, none of these water management plans, which have large socio-economic impacts, have been assessed under future changes in climate and water availability. By adapting a method of environmental flow requirements (EFRs) for hypersaline lakes, we estimated annually 3.7·10(9)m(3) water is needed to preserve Urmia Lake. Then, the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrological model was forced with bias-corrected climate model outputs for both the lowest (RCP2.6) and highest (RCP8.5) greenhouse-gas concentration scenarios to estimate future water availability and impacts of water management strategies. Results showed a 10% decline in future water availability in the basin under RCP2.6 and 27% under RCP8.5. Our results showed that if future climate change is highly limited (RCP2.6) inflow can be just enough to meet the EFRs by implementing the reduction irrigation plan. However, under more rapid climate change scenario (RCP8.5) reducing irrigation water use will not be enough to save the lake and more drastic measures are needed. Our results showed that future water management plans are not robust under climate change in this region. Therefore, an integrated approach of future land-water use planning and climate change adaptation is therefore needed to improve future water security and to reduce the desiccating of this hypersaline lake.

15.
Sci Total Environ ; 548-549: 289-306, 2016 Apr 01.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-26802357

RESUMO

Scarcity of in-situ observations coupled with high orographic influences has prevented a comprehensive assessment of precipitation distribution in the high-altitude catchments of Indus basin. Available data are generally fragmented and scattered with different organizations and mostly cover the valleys. Here, we combine most of the available station data with the indirect precipitation estimates at the accumulation zones of major glaciers to analyse altitudinal dependency of precipitation in the high-altitude Indus basin. The available observations signified the importance of orography in each sub-hydrological basin but could not infer an accurate distribution of precipitation with altitude. We used Kriging with External Drift (KED) interpolation scheme with elevation as a predictor to appraise spatiotemporal distribution of mean monthly, seasonal and annual precipitation for the period of 1998-2012. The KED-based annual precipitation estimates are verified by the corresponding basin-wide observed specific runoffs, which show good agreement. In contrast to earlier studies, our estimates reveal substantially higher precipitation in most of the sub-basins indicating two distinct rainfall maxima; 1st along southern and lower most slopes of Chenab, Jhelum, Indus main and Swat basins, and 2nd around north-west corner of Shyok basin in the central Karakoram. The study demonstrated that the selected gridded precipitation products covering this region are prone to significant errors. In terms of quantitative estimates, ERA-Interim is relatively close to the observations followed by WFDEI and TRMM, while APHRODITE gives highly underestimated precipitation estimates in the study area. Basin-wide seasonal and annual correction factors introduced for each gridded dataset can be useful for lumped hydrological modelling studies, while the estimated precipitation distribution can serve as a basis for bias correction of any gridded precipitation products for the study area.

16.
Evolution ; 58(12): 2682-92, 2004 Dec.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-15696747

RESUMO

Leaf ecophysiological traits related to carbon gain and resource use are expected to be under strong selection in desert annuals. We used comparative and phenotypic selection approaches to investigate the importance of leaf ecophysiological traits for Helianthus anomalus, a diploid annual sunflower species of hybrid origin that is endemic to active desert dunes. Comparisons were made within and among five genotypic classes: H. anomalus, its ancestral parent species (H. annuus and H. petiolaris), and two backcrossed populations of the parental species (designated BC2ann and BC2pet) representing putative ancestors of H. anomalus. Seedlings were transplanted into H. anomalus habitat at Little Sahara Dunes, Utah, and followed through a summer growing season for leaf ecophysiological traits, phenology, and fitness estimated as vegetative biomass. Helianthus anomalus had a unique combination of traits when compared to its ancestral parent species, suggesting that lower leaf nitrogen and greater leaf succulence might be adaptive. However, selection on leaf traits in H. anomalus favored larger leaf area and greater nitrogen, which was not consistent with the extreme traits of H. anomalus relative to its ancestral parents. Also contrary to expectation, current selection on the leaf traits in the backcross populations was not consistently similar to, or resulting in evolution toward, the current H. anomalus phenotype. Only the selection for greater leaf succulence in BC2ann and greater water-use efficiency in BC2pet would result in evolution toward the current H. anomalus phenotype. It was surprising that the action of phenotypic selection depended greatly on the genotypic class for these closely related sunflower hybrids grown in a common environment. We speculate that this may be due to either phenotypic correlations between measured and unmeasured but functionally related traits or due to the three genotypic classes experiencing the environment differently as a result of their differing morphology.


Assuntos
Adaptação Fisiológica , Evolução Biológica , Helianthus/genética , Hibridização Genética , Folhas de Planta/anatomia & histologia , Seleção Genética , Análise de Variância , Biomassa , Água Corporal , Isótopos de Carbono , Clima Desértico , Genótipo , Helianthus/anatomia & histologia , Nitrogênio/metabolismo , Folhas de Planta/genética , Utah
17.
Am Nat ; 164(2): 145-56, 2004 Aug.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-15278840

RESUMO

The diploid hybrid species Helianthus deserticola inhabits the desert floor, an extreme environment relative to its parental species Helianthus annuus and Helianthus petiolaris. Adaptation to the desert floor may have occurred via selection acting on transgressive, or extreme, traits in early hybrids between the parental species. We explored this possibility through a field experiment in the hybrid species' native habitat using H. deserticola, H. annuus, H. petiolaris, and two populations of early-generation (BC(2)) hybrids between the parental species, which served as proxies for the ancestral genotype of the ancient hybrid species. Character expression was evaluated for each genotypic class. Helianthus deserticola was negatively transgressive for stem diameter, leaf area, and flowering date, and the latter two traits are likely to be advantageous in a desert environment. The BC(2) hybrids contained a range of variation that overlapped these transgressive trait means, and an analysis of phenotypic selection revealed that some of the selective pressures on leaf size and flowering date, but not stem diameter, would move the BC(2) population toward the H. deserticola phenotype. Thus, H. deserticola may have originated from habitat-mediated directional selection acting on hybrids between H. annuus and H. petiolaris in a desert environment.


Assuntos
Clima Desértico , Helianthus/fisiologia , Seleção Genética , Adaptação Fisiológica , Especiação Genética , Genótipo , Helianthus/anatomia & histologia , Helianthus/genética , Hibridização Genética
18.
Oecologia ; 155(3): 487-96, 2008 Mar.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-18309522

RESUMO

Recently, cover of large trees in African savannas has rapidly declined due to elephant pressure, frequent fires and charcoal production. The reduction in large trees could have consequences for large herbivores through a change in forage quality. In Tarangire National Park, in Northern Tanzania, we studied the impact of large savanna trees on forage quality for wildebeest by collecting samples of dominant grass species in open grassland and under and around large Acacia tortilis trees. Grasses growing under trees had a much higher forage quality than grasses from the open field indicated by a more favourable leaf/stem ratio and higher protein and lower fibre concentrations. Analysing the grass leaf data with a linear programming model indicated that large savanna trees could be essential for the survival of wildebeest, the dominant herbivore in Tarangire. Due to the high fibre content and low nutrient and protein concentrations of grasses from the open field, maximum fibre intake is reached before nutrient requirements are satisfied. All requirements can only be satisfied by combining forage from open grassland with either forage from under or around tree canopies. Forage quality was also higher around dead trees than in the open field. So forage quality does not reduce immediately after trees die which explains why negative effects of reduced tree numbers probably go initially unnoticed. In conclusion our results suggest that continued destruction of large trees could affect future numbers of large herbivores in African savannas and better protection of large trees is probably necessary to sustain high animal densities in these ecosystems.


Assuntos
Acacia/fisiologia , Ração Animal/análise , Ecossistema , Poaceae/metabolismo , Ruminantes/fisiologia , Animais , Fibras na Dieta/metabolismo , Proteínas de Plantas/metabolismo , Poaceae/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Tanzânia
19.
Oecologia ; 152(1): 13-25, 2007 May.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-17165094

RESUMO

Plant water-use efficiency (WUE) is expected to affect plant fitness and thus be under natural selection in arid habitats. Although many natural population studies have assessed plant WUE, only a few related WUE to fitness. The further determination of whether selection on WUE is direct or indirect through functionally related traits has yielded no consistent results. For natural populations of two desert annual sunflowers, Helianthus anomalus and H. deserticola, we used phenotypic selection analysis with vegetative biomass as the proxy for fitness to test (1) whether there was direct and indirect selection on WUE (carbon isotope ratio) and related traits (leaf N, area, succulence) and (2) whether direct selection was consistent with hypothesized drought/dehydration escape and avoidance strategies. There was direct selection for lower WUE in mesic and dry H. anomalus populations, consistent with dehydration escape, even though it is the longer lived of the two species. For mesic H. anomalus, direct selection favored lower WUE and higher N, suggesting that plants may be "wasting water" to increase N delivery via the transpiration stream. For the shorter lived H. deserticola in the direr habitat, there was indirect selection for lower WUE, inconsistent with drought escape. There was also direct selection for higher leaf N, succulence and leaf size. There was no direct selection for higher WUE consistent with dehydration avoidance in either species. Thus, in these natural populations of two desert dune species higher fitness was associated with some combination direct and indirect selection for lower WUE, higher leaf N and larger leaf size. Our understanding of the adaptive value of plant ecophysiological traits will benefit from further consideration of related traits such as leaf nitrogen and more tests in natural populations.


Assuntos
Clima Desértico , Helianthus/metabolismo , Seleção Genética , Água/metabolismo , Helianthus/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Nitrogênio/metabolismo , Fenótipo , Folhas de Planta/metabolismo
20.
Oecologia ; 148(2): 219-25, 2006 Jun.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-16456684

RESUMO

Recent research has shown that many C3 plant species have significant stomatal opening and transpire water at night even in desert habitats. Day-time stomatal regulation is expected to maximize carbon gain and prevent runaway cavitation, but little is known about the effect of soil resource availability on night-time stomatal conductance (g) and transpiration (E). Water (low and high) and nutrients (low and high) were applied factorially during the growing season to naturally occurring seedlings of the annual Helianthus anomalus. Plant height and biomass were greatest in the treatment where both water and nutrients were added, confirming resource limitations in this habitat. Plants from all treatments showed significant night-time g (approximately 0.07 mol m(-2) s(-1)) and E (approximately 1.5 mol m(-2) s(-1)). In July, water and nutrient additions had few effects on day- or night-time gas exchange. In August, however, plants in the nutrient addition treatments had lower day-time photosynthesis, g and E, paralleled by lower night-time g and E. Lower predawn water potentials and higher integrated photosynthetic water-use efficiency suggests that the nutrient addition indirectly induced a mild water stress. Thus, soil resources can affect night-time g and E in a manner parallel to day-time, although additional factors may also be involved.


Assuntos
Clima Desértico , Helianthus/fisiologia , Transpiração Vegetal/fisiologia , Ritmo Circadiano , Fertilizantes , Helianthus/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Nitratos , Fósforo , Solo , Água
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