High temperature around flowering and early grain filling greatly reduced maize yield. Hybrids responded differently to high temperature stress, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear, particularly from the perspective of growth season that is widely used to adapt different environments. For this, 162 maize inbred lines with different growing degree days (GDD) were planted at six different environments

Forested wetlands are important in regulating regional hydrology and climate. However, long-term studies on the hydrologic impacts of converting natural forested wetlands to pine plantations are rare for the southern US. From 2005-2018, we quantified water cycling in two post-harvest and newly-planted loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantations (YP2–7, 2–7 yrs old; YP2–8, 2–8 yrs old), a rotation-age loblolly

The role of temperature as a key driver for plant phenology is well established. However, an increasing lack of winter chilling may strongly slow down spring phenological advances in the course of warming. Along elevational gradients in the mountains, differential changes in winter chilling as well as more homogeneous leaf unfolding due to warming have been observed. In this study, we analyzed the

Methane (CH4) emissions from rice fields across China were estimated using the DNDC (DeNitrification-DeComposition) model. The results showed that the CH4 emissions from Chinese rice fields in 2012 were estimated to be 8.20 Tg CH4 yr−1 (ranging from 4.80 to 11.40 Tg CH4 yr−1); the values from early, late, and single cropping rice were 1.12, 2.86, and 4.23 Tg CH4 yr−1. Rice fields in AEZ (agricultural

Quantitative studies on the water and nutrient enrichment of throughfall and stemflow in the Cerrado are lacking, especially among tree species. This work tested the hypothesis that the chemistry of rainfall fractions is altered after passing through the canopy and that the chemistry of stemflow can substantially change among tree species. We compared the nutrient concentrations in rainfall, throughfall

Predicting biomass production is important for assessing yield losses caused by drought. Photosynthesis-driven crop growth models, such as SUCROS97, tend to overestimate crop production under severe drought, as they ignore slow post-drought recovery kinetics of leaf photosynthesis. In this study, Lilium plants (L. auratum × speciosum ‘Sorbonne’) were subjected to mild, intermediate and severe drought

Increased competition for water resources for agriculture calls for improved water productivities. Improved water productivities must start with accurate estimation of crop evapotranspiration (ET). Accurate estimation of ET has been a challenge for sparsely vegetated crops especially under varying soil water conditions. In this paper, we aim to improve estimation of ET using the Penman-Monteith (PM)

Early crop yield forecasts provide valuable information for growers and industry to base decisions on. This work considers early forecasting of macadamia nut yield at the individual orchard block level with input variables derived from spatio-temporal datasets including remote sensing, weather and elevation. Yield data from 2012–2019, for 101 blocks belonging to 10 orchards, was obtained. We forecast

Under global climate change, warmer temperatures and changing precipitation patterns will increase the relative importance of soil and atmospheric droughts in limiting productivities across different ecosystems, especially in the fragile and sensitive ecosystem on the Tibetan Plateau. Therefore, the present study examined the effects of atmospheric drought, soil drought and compound drought on alpine

Forest transpiration (Tr) is the major hydrologic flux from terrestrial ecosystems; it dominates the catchment water budget and land surface energy balance and can be used as an index of exchange efficiency between vegetation and the atmosphere. The thermal dissipation method (TDM) is used to obtain the xylem sap flux density (Fd) of individual tree stems; it is among the most powerful tools for estimating

Modeling dispersal of wind-borne pests can be a valuable tool in a broader context of areawide integrated pest management. In such models both biotic and abiotic factors play important roles. Many aspects of the life cycle and dispersal of the focal species are typically well studied and represented with robust measures. However, some important assessments may be either lacking or based on difficult

To further improve the yield estimation accuracy of regional winter wheat, based on En4DVar algorithm, an anisotropic background error and time window four-dimensional variation (ABT-4DVar) algorithm was constructed by introducing a variation time window. Based on a comparison with the simulated crop yield without data assimilation at a single point scale and in a typical test area, the effectiveness

For floodplain forests such as bottomland hardwood forests, large fluctuations in moisture availability can lead to stress from both flooded as well as drought conditions. Likewise, these forests can be diverse in species composition and the water use and drought strategies of co-occurring species will impact surrounding hydrology, nutrient dynamics and productivity. Therefore, the objectives of this

Accurately assessing ammonia (NH3) emissions from animal farms is necessary for determining the effectiveness of various mitigation practices to minimize related environmental risks and maximize the potential of recycling nitrogen from manure. This study attempted to validate a hypothesis formulated using a mass-flow inventory model, which suggested that "Barn only" housing facilities without open

Quantifying drought-induced ecosystem vulnerability, e.g. in terms of plant productivity, based on vulnerability curves and coupled processes is a frontier issue and a challenge in the field of climate change risk. Primary productivity vulnerability to drought varies among and within ecosystem types, obscuring generalized patterns of ecological stability. Thus, we constructed drought vulnerability

Tropical deciduous forests are unique in terms of their geographical distribution, strong seasonality and their contribution to global carbon dynamics, but yet their carbon sequestration potential is poorly sampled. In the current study, we report the carbon balance of 65-year-old tropical dry deciduous forest in central India using the multi-year eddy covariance measurements from November 2011 to

Rapidly colonizing species often thrive in a wide-range of conditions due to a high degree of phenotypic plasticity that results in populations of “general purpose” genotypes. Alternatively, species with high genetic variation could rapidly respond to forces of selection such that a local population evolves traits that provide an advantage in its local environment. We tested this generalist versus

The three-dimensional (3-D) spatiotemporal distribution of forest canopy photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) is a major determinant of within-crown variations of leaf photosynthesis and transpiration. However, it remains challenging to map the 3-D spatiotemporal distribution of PAR within and under the forest canopy due to the limited ability to capture the detailed 3-D structures of forest canopies

Tropical forests have evolved under relatively narrow temperature regimes, and therefore may be more susceptible to climatic change than forests in higher latitudes. Recent evidence shows that lowland tropical forest canopies may already be exceeding thermal maxima for photosynthesis. Height can strongly influence both the microclimate and physiology of forest canopy foliage, yet vertical trends in

The relationships between crop yields and meteorology are naturally non-stationary because of spatiotemporal heterogeneity. Many studies have examined spatial heterogeneity in the regression model, but only limited research has attempted to account for both spatial autocorrelation and temporal variation. In this article, we develop a novel spatiotemporally varying coefficient (STVC) model to understand

Intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium (Host) Barkworth & D.R. Dewey) is being developed for use as a new perennial grain crop through breeding and agronomic research. However, progress has been hampered by lack of understanding of environmental requirements for flowering and grain production. Therefore, we developed a phenology model for IWG adapted from the STICS soil-crop model. The model

Understanding water use characteristics of revegetation species is crucial for evaluating plant adaptability and guiding the sustainability of vegetation restoration in semiarid regions. Ecological restoration projects have been implemented for decades in degraded ecosystems, achieving significant changes in vegetation cover. However, water use characteristics of the main tree species at different

The mechanisms for the different temperature (T) responses of leaf photosynthetic rate (A) and stomatal conductance (gs) have not been thoroughly elucidated, and the uncertainties and limitations facing the optimal-stomata models have not been systematically investigated. In the present study, the temperature responses of A, gs, and mesophyll conductance (gm) were studied in the selected rice and wheat

Climate change is impacting temperate tree species phenology, especially the timing of budburst, which is mainly driven by air temperature. However, interactions with biotic or other environmental factors also influence the timing of budburst and are usually overlooked. We studied the influence of forest stand composition on the budburst date of adult trees belonging to two species: sessile oak (Quercus

The impact of extreme desert conditions on long-term nighttime sap flow dynamics in desert-dwelling shrubs is poorly understood. Based on heat-balance measurements in a semiarid area of northwest China, we investigated the nighttime sap flow (transpiration) dynamics in Salix psammophila as affected by changes in site biophysical variables over a six-year period (2012-2017). Nocturnally, sap flow rate

Although the effectiveness of windbreaks in reducing wind speed and sediment transport is highly dependent on the efficiency of individual elements, few field studies have evaluated the effectiveness of single plants typical of arid areas such as Tamarix. A series field experiments were conducted in the Niatak area of Sistan to assess the effectiveness of a single Tamarix tree in reducing wind speed

The agricultural use of peatlands usually requires drainage, thereby transforming these organic soils from a net carbon sink into a net source. The Seeland region of Switzerland is characterised by fens that have been intensively used for agriculture for 150 years. Our site is a degraded fen with a remaining peat layer of 60 cm that had been used as cropland until 2009. In connection to a nature protection

Deep-rooted fruit trees mine more water from deep soils than their shallow-rooted counterparts. Understanding how deep soil water (DSW) is replenished and subsequently depleted by deep-rooted fruit trees, therefore, are important for informing sustainable water resources management particularly in arid regions. In this study, we collected soil samples from the surface down to 20 m under four land use

We present results from the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) Global Gridded Crop Model Intercomparison (GGCMI) Phase I, which aligned 14 global gridded crop models (GGCMs) and 11 climatic forcing datasets (CFDs) in order to understand how the selection of climate data affects simulated historical crop productivity of maize, wheat, rice and soybean. Results show that

The timescale dependence of environmental factors’ influence on net ecosystem productivity (NEP), evapotranspiration (ET), and the effect of high and cool air temperature (Ta) across multiple timescales need to be quantified to identify the response mechanisms of forest ecosystems. We analyzed NEP and ET over 11 years in a subtropical coniferous plantation, and wavelet analysis was used to determine

Salix psammophila and Caragana korshinskii are pioneer species used for revegetating farmlands on the Loess Plateau. Understanding the water-use strategies and physiological characteristics of these two species are important for evaluating their adaptability in water-limited ecosystems. We used stable isotopes (D and 18O), physiological parameters (e.g. midday and predawn leaf water potential and stomatal

The use of near-surface remote sensing for monitoring vegetation phenology has advanced greatly over the past decade. The Phenocam Network has deployed more than 500 web-enabled cameras across the globe that use digital repeat photography to capture color information and measure changes in vegetation phenology across diverse ecosystems. Vegetation indices (VIs) such as the Green Chromatic Coordinate

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in the world, and its demand is expected to increase about 60% by 2050. Thus, appropriate and reliable yield forecasts are fundamental to ensure price stability and food security around the globe. In this study, we developed a Machine Learning (ML) approach to combine satellite and climate data with antecedent wheat yield information (YieldBaseLine) from

Agricultural insurance is crucial for transferring a significant portion of the risk due to unfavourable weather conditions outside the farm. Index-based insurances were proposed as an alternative to traditional products based on direct damage assessment because of their potential to reduce insurance costs while being unaffected by subjectivity during damage quantification. However, they may be affected

The moisture content of dead leaves, twigs and bark on the forest floor is a key determinant of fire behaviour. The microclimate inside forests, which drive the moisture content of these dead fuel components, is typically measured at screen height (150 cm). However, in some forest types, the surface fuel at ground level may be subject to additional sheltering from low shrubs, ferns and grasses, which

The global gross primary productivity (GPP) product derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is perhaps the most widely used GPP product. However, there is still a large uncertainty associated with the MODIS GPP product partly due to the uncertainty in the default Biome specified Parameters Look-Up Table (BPLUT) of the MODIS photosynthesis (PSN) model. Here, we used the

Salt marshes are large carbon reservoirs as part of blue carbon ecosystems. Unfortunately, there is limited information about the net ecosystem (NEE) and methane (CH4) exchange between salt marshes and the atmosphere to fully understand their carbon dynamics. We tested the influence of biophysical drivers by plant phenological phases (i.e., Greenup, Maturity, Senescence and Dormancy) on NEE and CH4

Alpine regions are generally referred to as water towers for the lowlands, yet the water balance has not been quantified for alpine catchments with different vegetation types. This paper presented a multi-year time series of evapotranspiration (ET) and water supply (precipitation minus ET) during the warm-season (June to September), measured using eddy covariance techniques for an upper alpine shrub

With global warming, recent winters in Switzerland have been milder than in previous decades, and this trend is predicted to continue. Survival during the cold season could increase for insect species sensitive to winter cold events. Forest pests, such as the pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) and green spruce aphid (Elatobium abietinum), as well as some crop pests, such as the southern

Estimating actual vapor pressure (ea) without relative humidity (RH) data continues to draw research attention. One of the accurate ways to estimate ea is through estimation of dew point temperature (Tdew) from minimum (Tmin) or mean temperature (Tmean). Two existing methods have been largely used to estimate ea. The first method (method I) assumes that Tdew is close to Tmin. The other one (method

Using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and climate data, we calculated the end of the growing season (EOS; unit: day-of-year (DOY)) on the Mongolian Plateau and explored the effects of the climate, the start of the growing season (SOS), and the annual peak growth (APG, unit: NDVI) of vegetation and its timing (peak growth time, PGT) on the EOS for the period of 1982-2013. The spatial

Increasing drought stress under climate change exerting large impacts on vegetation has aroused growing concern, yet how vegetation greenness and carbon cycle respond to extreme drought is not well understood. In this paper, we studied this issue with various data sources including satellite observation, flux sites upscaling estimation, atmospheric inversion, and Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (DGVM)

Vegetation indices derived from solar and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) sensors (i.e. radiation derived) have been under-utilized in inferring ecosystem function, despite measurement capability at hundreds of sites. This under-utilization may be attributed to reported mismatches among the seasonality of radiation- and satellite-derived vegetation indices and canopy photosynthesis; herein

The boreal forests of Central Asia play a vital role in biodiversity protection and regional economic development. It is important to study potential changes in the growth dynamics of boreal species in a context of global change. In this study, we developed a network of 34 tree-ring chronologies for two tree species, Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) and Siberian pine (Pinus sibirica Du Tour)

Rice is a staple food crop that provides more calories to the global population than any other crop. Rice production is also a major consumer of fresh-water resources. Hence, changes in rice evapotranspiration (ETc) due to projected warming patterns is becoming necessary in any management of water resources and food security assessments. Here, air temperature (Ta) measurements from 1003 meteorological

Representations of the seasonal peak uptake of CO2 and climate extremes effects have important implications for accurately estimating annual magnitude and inter-annual variations of terrestrial carbon fluxes, however the consistency of such representations among different satellite models and process-based (PB) models remain poorly known. Here we investigated these issues over North America based on

The hydrothermal process within the aeolian sand layer on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) plays a key role in understanding the interaction between desertification and underlying frozen soil. However, little is known about the hydrothermal dynamics of aeolian sand and underling soil layer in the frozen soil zone on the QTP. In this study, a sparse vegetation cover site and three aeolian sand cover