On a global scale, climate plays the largest role in determining the structure of both vegetation and soil in natural ecosystems. Temperature and the balance between precipitation and evapotranspiration are particularly important, since they determine the rate at which plants grow and produce. Recent studies on the climate system allow to better understand the natural and human causes of warming trends and its effects on variability and likely changes in climate. The global surface air temperature record shows a gradually rising for the last 100 years, and more steeply in the past two decades. The last ten years are the warmest decade on record. The overall warming was about 0.5 °C during the present century. The records for Mediterranean areas show similar trends. More controversial seems to determine definite trends of rainfall. Le Houèrou reported on no changes in rainfall patterns in Europe. However, Gregory and Mitchell showed that the regionally averaged total annual rainfall increases at latitudes greater than 45° N, and decreases in middle latitudes (35-40° N) with a decrease in the number of rain-days. Climate change effects on natural vegetation will likely occur at a number of scales in time and space, influencing plant physiology, competition between species, and global distribution of major ecosystems. Several investigations were conducted on the impacts of climate change on different forest ecosystems, mainly focusing on the eco-physiological level. However, there is a lack of information on the potential effects of climate variability and changes on the Mediterranean forests. Plant response to climate change is a crucial aspect of monitoring programs, particularly in those areas where changes could occur. This is important in Mediterranean Basin where the structural and functional characteristics of ecosystems are determined by annual variability of temperature and precipitation. The objectives of this study are (i) to examine temperature and precipitation variations on decadal and local scales and (ii) to evaluate the effect of annual fluctuations of temperature and rainfall on phenological occurrence and physiological response of plants in a Mediterranean ecosystem.
Effect of climate variability on phenology and physiology of Mediterranean vegetation
Duce P;Cesaraccio C;
2000
Abstract
On a global scale, climate plays the largest role in determining the structure of both vegetation and soil in natural ecosystems. Temperature and the balance between precipitation and evapotranspiration are particularly important, since they determine the rate at which plants grow and produce. Recent studies on the climate system allow to better understand the natural and human causes of warming trends and its effects on variability and likely changes in climate. The global surface air temperature record shows a gradually rising for the last 100 years, and more steeply in the past two decades. The last ten years are the warmest decade on record. The overall warming was about 0.5 °C during the present century. The records for Mediterranean areas show similar trends. More controversial seems to determine definite trends of rainfall. Le Houèrou reported on no changes in rainfall patterns in Europe. However, Gregory and Mitchell showed that the regionally averaged total annual rainfall increases at latitudes greater than 45° N, and decreases in middle latitudes (35-40° N) with a decrease in the number of rain-days. Climate change effects on natural vegetation will likely occur at a number of scales in time and space, influencing plant physiology, competition between species, and global distribution of major ecosystems. Several investigations were conducted on the impacts of climate change on different forest ecosystems, mainly focusing on the eco-physiological level. However, there is a lack of information on the potential effects of climate variability and changes on the Mediterranean forests. Plant response to climate change is a crucial aspect of monitoring programs, particularly in those areas where changes could occur. This is important in Mediterranean Basin where the structural and functional characteristics of ecosystems are determined by annual variability of temperature and precipitation. The objectives of this study are (i) to examine temperature and precipitation variations on decadal and local scales and (ii) to evaluate the effect of annual fluctuations of temperature and rainfall on phenological occurrence and physiological response of plants in a Mediterranean ecosystem.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
