BIOL 1050 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Dendrochronology, Varietal, Little Ice Age
Document Summary
Little ice age effect of cooling: shortened growing seasons (1-2 months, less crop production, higher prices. Insufficient hay for overwintering animals: greater storage losses of grain, greater ergot infestation, ergot poisoning, st. anthony"s fire, famine, population decline, composition of forests changed, glaciers began advancing. Increased yields: ~30% in wheat soybeans (c3, ~10% in corn (c4, extreme weather, more floods, droughts, etc, new weed and disease pressure longer growing season temperature extremes may be more intense, unpredictable rainfall. Impacts on livestock production: heat waves, direct threat, effects crop production, pest and disease pressure lower quality forage, high co2 can increase yield, but lower nutritional quality. Predictions by ipcc intergovernment panel on climate change increased water stress: area suitable for agriculture will decrease, at margins of arid and semi-arid areas in some countries, the yield from rain-fed agriculture could decrease by 50%