Schönhart, M., Mitter, H., Schmid, E., Heinrich, G., & Gobiet, A. (2014). Integrated analysis of climate change impacts and adaptation measures in Austrian agriculture. German Journal of Agricultural Economics, 63(3), 156–176.
Abstract: An integrated modelling framework (IMF) has been developed and applied to analyse climate change impacts and the effectiveness of adaptation measures in Austrian agriculture. The IMF couples the crop rotation model CropRota, the bio-physical process model EPIC and the bottom-up economic land use model PASMA at regional level (NUTS-3) considering agri-environmental indicators. Four contrasting regional climate model (RCM) simulations represent climate change until 2050. The RCM simulations are applied to a baseline and three adaptation and policy scenarios. Climate change increases crop productivity on national average in the IMF. Changes in average gross margins at national level range from 0% to + 5% between the baseline and the three adaptation and policy scenarios. The impacts at NUTS-3 level range from -5% to + 7% between the baseline and the three adaptation and policy scenarios. Adaptation measures such as planting of winter cover crops, reduced tillage and irrigation are effective in reducing yield losses, increasing revenues, or in improving environmental states under climate change. Future research should account for extreme weather events in order to analyse whether average productivity gains at the aggregated level suffice to cover costs from expected higher climate variability.
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Conradt, T., Wechsung, F., & Bronstert, A. (2013). Three perceptions of the evapotranspiration landscape: comparing spatial patterns from a distributed hydrological model, remotely sensed surface temperatures, and sub-basin water balances. Hydrol. Earth System Sci., 17(7), 2947–2966.
Abstract: A problem encountered by many distributed hydrological modelling studies is high simulation errors at interior gauges when the model is only globally calibrated at the outlet. We simulated river runoff in the Elbe River basin in central Europe (148 268 km(2)) with the semi-distributed eco-hydrological model SWIM (Soil and Water Integrated Model). While global parameter optimisation led to Nash-Sutcliffe efficiencies of 0.9 at the main outlet gauge, comparisons with measured runoff series at interior points revealed large deviations. Therefore, we compared three different strategies for deriving sub-basin evapotranspiration: (1) modelled by SWIM without any spatial calibration, (2) derived from remotely sensed surface temperatures, and (3) calculated from long-term precipitation and discharge data. The results show certain consistencies between the modelled and the remote sensing based evapotranspiration rates, but there seems to be no correlation between remote sensing and water balance based estimations. Subsequent analyses for single sub-basins identify amongst others input weather data and systematic error amplification in inter-gauge discharge calculations as sources of uncertainty. The results encourage careful utilisation of different data sources for enhancements in distributed hydrological modelling.
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Żarski, J., Dudek, S., Kuśmierek-Tomaszewska, R., Bojar, W., Knopik, L., & Żarski, W. (2014). Agroklimatologiczna ocena opadów atmosferycznych okresu wegetacyjnego w rejonie Bydgoszczy (Agro-climatological assessment of the growing season rainfall in the Bydgoszcz region). Infrastruktura i Ekologia Terenów Wiejskich (Infrastructure and Ecology of Rural Areas), Ii(3), 643–656.
Abstract: The aim of the research was an agro-climatologic assessment of the amount of rainfall on a local scale, mainly aimed to identify trends in their changes and a possible rise in their variability over time. In the studies also we wanted to demonstrate the impact of the amount of rainfall in the region of Bydgoszcz on the yield of some crops. Material for the study consists of rainfall measurements, carried out in a stand- ard way in the years 1981-2010 at the Research Station of the University of Technology and Life Sciences in Bydgoszcz. Station is located in the village of Mochle, located approximately 20 km from the city centre (φ=53013’ N, λ=17051’E, h=98.5 m above sea level) in sparsely urbanized and industrialized area. We also used data of the yield of selected crops (potato, barley, corn for grain, legumes), from the production in the region of Kujawy and Pomorze as well as from our own experimental field. It has been shown that the average long-term rainfall during the growing season allows for classifying Bydgoszcz region as the area with the lowest rainfall in Poland. Analyzed rainfalls were characterized by a very high variability in time, resulting in climatic risk of plant growing. The largest temporal variability related to August. However, there was no extension of the time variability of rainfall totals in the period 1996-2010, as compared to the period 1981-1995. The sole significant growth trend during the period 1981-2010 was found in May. It appeared a tendency to a decline in summer rainfall totals (VI-VIII) in the annual rainfall total, which is consistent with the IPCC projections. Rainfall totals had highly signi cant impact on yields of selected crops. The highest correlation coefficients were found in relations crop-rainfall in the months of increased water needs of plants. Better correlations rainfall-crop were found using data from the production scale as compared with the scale of experimental field.
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Fürst, C., Helming, K., Lorz, C., Müller, F., & Verburg, P. H. (2013). Integrated land use and regional resource management--a cross-disciplinary dialogue on future perspectives for a sustainable development of regional resources. J. Environ. Manage., 127 Suppl, S1–S5.
Abstract: Our paper introduces objectives and ideas of the special issue “Integrated land use and regional resource management – A cross-disciplinary dialogue on future perspectives for a sustainable development of regional resources” and provides an overview on the contributions of the single papers in the special issue to this topic. Furthermore, we discuss and present major challenges and demands on integrated land use and regional resource management and we come up with an analytical framework how to correspond these demands.
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Hamidov, A., Helming, K., Bellocchi, G., Bojar, W., Dalgaard, T., Ghaley, B. B., et al. (2018). Impacts of climate change adaptation options on soil functions: A review of European case-studies. Land Degradation & Development, 29(8), 2378–2389.
Abstract: Soils are vital for supporting food security and other ecosystem services. Climate change can affect soil functions both directly and indirectly. Direct effects include temperature, precipitation, and moisture regime changes. Indirect effects include those that are induced by adaptations such as irrigation, crop rotation changes, and tillage practices. Although extensive knowledge is available on the direct effects, an understanding of the indirect effects of agricultural adaptation options is less complete. A review of 20 agricultural adaptation case-studies across Europe was conducted to assess implications to soil threats and soil functions and the link to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The major findings are as follows: (a) adaptation options reflect local conditions; (b) reduced soil erosion threats and increased soil organic carbon are expected, although compaction may increase in some areas; (c) most adaptation options are anticipated to improve the soil functions of food and biomass production, soil organic carbon storage, and storing, filtering, transforming, and recycling capacities, whereas possible implications for soil biodiversity are largely unknown; and (d) the linkage between soil functions and the SDGs implies improvements to SDG 2 (achieving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture) and SDG 13 (taking action on climate change), whereas the relationship to SDG 15 (using terrestrial ecosystems sustainably) is largely unknown. The conclusion is drawn that agricultural adaptation options, even when focused on increasing yields, have the potential to outweigh the negative direct effects of climate change on soil degradation in many European regions.
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