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Minet, J., Laloy, E., Tychon, B., & François, L. (2015). Bayesian inversions of a dynamic vegetation model at four European grassland sites. Biogeosciences, 12(9), 2809–2829.
Abstract: Eddy covariance data from four European grassland sites are used to probabilistically invert the CARAIB (CARbon Assimilation In the Biosphere) dynamic vegetation model (DVM) with 10 unknown parameters, using the DREAM((ZS)) (DiffeRential Evolution Adaptive Metropolis) Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampler. We focus on comparing model inversions, considering both homoscedastic and heteroscedastic eddy covariance residual errors, with variances either fixed a priori or jointly inferred together with the model parameters. Agreements between measured and simulated data during calibration are comparable with previous studies, with root mean square errors (RMSEs) of simulated daily gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (RECO) and evapotranspiration (ET) ranging from 1.73 to 2.19, 1.04 to 1.56 g C m(-2) day(-1) and 0.50 to 1.28 mm day(-1), respectively. For the calibration period, using a homoscedastic eddy covariance residual error model resulted in a better agreement between measured and modelled data than using a heteroscedastic residual error model. However, a model validation experiment showed that CARAIB models calibrated considering heteroscedastic residual errors perform better. Posterior parameter distributions derived from using a heteroscedastic model of the residuals thus appear to be more robust. This is the case even though the classical linear heteroscedastic error model assumed herein did not fully remove heteroscedasticity of the GPP residuals. Despite the fact that the calibrated model is generally capable of fitting the data within measurement errors, systematic bias in the model simulations are observed. These are likely due to model inadequacies such as shortcomings in the photosynthesis modelling. Besides the residual error treatment, differences between model parameter posterior distributions among the four grassland sites are also investigated. It is shown that the marginal distributions of the specific leaf area and characteristic mortality time parameters can be explained by site-specific ecophysiological characteristics.
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Orsini, F., Alnayef, M., Bona, S., Maggio, A., & Gianquinto, G. (2012). Low stomatal density and reduced transpiration facilitate strawberry adaptation to salinity. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 81, 1–10.
Abstract: Water and soil salinization are major constraints to agricultural productions because plant adaptation to hyperosmotic environments is generally associated to reduced growth and ultimately yield loss. Understanding the physiological/molecular mechanisms that link adaptation and growth is one of the greatest challenges in plant stress research since it would allow us to better define strategies to improve crop salt tolerance. In this study we attempted to establish a functional link between morphological and physiological traits in strawberry in order to identify margins to “uncouple” plant growth and stress adaptation. Two strawberry cultivars, Elsanta and Elsinore, were grown under 0, 10.20 and 40 mM NaCl. Upon salinization Elsanta plants maintained a larger and more functional leaf area compared to Elsinore plants, which were irreversibly damaged at 40 mM NaCl. The tolerance of Elsanta was correlated with a constitutive reduced transpirational flux due to low stomata! density (173 vs. 234 stomata mm(-2) in Elsanta and Elsinore, respectively), which turned out to be critical to pre-adapt plants to the oncoming stress. The reduced transpiration rate of Elsanta (14.7 g H2O plant(-1) h(-1)) respect to Elsinore (17.7 g H2O plant(-1) h(-1)) most likely delayed the accumulation of toxic ions into the leaves, preserved tissues dehydration and consented to adjust more effectively to the hyperosmotic environment. Although we cannot rule out the contribution of other physiological and molecular mechanisms to the relatively higher tolerance of Elsanta, here we demonstrate that low stomatal density may be beneficial for cultivars prescribed to be used in marginal environments in terms of salinity and/or drought. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Palosuo, T., Rotter, R. P., Salo, T., Peltonen-Sainio, P., Tao, F., & Lehtonen, H. (2015). Effects of climate and historical adaptation measures on barley yield trends in Finland. Clim. Res., 65, 221–236.
Abstract: In this study, the WOFOST crop simulation model was used together with comprehensive empirical databases on barley Hordeum vulgare L. to study the contributions of different yield-determining and -limiting factors to observed trends of barley yield in Finland from 1988 to 2008. Simulations were performed at 3 study sites representing different agro-ecological zones, and compared with the data from experimental sites and that reported by local farmers. Yield gaps between simulated potential yields and farmers’ yields and their trends were assessed. Positive observed yield trends of Finnish barley mostly resulted from the development and usage of new, high-yielding cultivars. Simulated trends in climatic potential and water-limited potential yields of individual cultivars showed a slight declining trend. Yield gaps showed an increasing trend in 2 out of 3 study areas. Since the mid-1990s, a major reason for this has been the lack of market and policy incentives favouring crop management decisions, i.e. annual fertilisation, soil maintenance, drainage and crop rotation decisions, aiming for higher yields. The study indicates potential options for increasing or maintaining barley yields in the future. The breeding of new climate-resilient cultivars is the primary option. However, this needs to work alongside overall adjustments to farm management and must be supported by financial incentives for farmers to increase yields.
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Quain, M. D., Makgopa, M. E., Marquez-Garcia, B., Comadira, G., Fernandez-Garcia, N., Olmos, E., et al. (2014). Ectopic phytocystatin expression leads to enhanced drought stress tolerance in soybean (Glycine max) and Arabidopsis thaliana through effects on strigolactone pathways and can also result in improved seed traits. Plant Biotechnol. J., 12(7), 903–913.
Abstract: Ectopic cystatin expression has long been used in plant pest management, but the cysteine protease, targets of these inhibitors, might also have important functions in the control of plant lifespan and stress tolerance that remain poorly characterized. We therefore characterized the effects of expression of the rice cystatin, oryzacystatin-I (OCI), on the growth, development and stress tolerance of crop (soybean) and model (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants. Ectopic OCI expression in soybean enhanced shoot branching and leaf chlorophyll accumulation at later stages of vegetative development and enhanced seed protein contents and decreased the abundance of mRNAs encoding strigolactone synthesis enzymes. The OCI-expressing A. thaliana showed a slow-growth phenotype, with increased leaf numbers and enhanced shoot branching at flowering. The OCI-dependent inhibition of cysteine proteases enhanced drought tolerance in soybean and A. thaliana, photosynthetic CO2 assimilation being much less sensitive to drought-induced inhibition in the OCI-expressing soybean lines. Ectopic OCI expression or treatment with the cysteine protease inhibitor E64 increased lateral root densities in A. thaliana. E64 treatment also increased lateral root densities in the max2-1 mutants that are defective in strigolactone signalling, but not in the max3-9 mutants that are defective in strigolactone synthesis. Taken together, these data provide evidence that OCI-inhibited cysteine proteases participate in the control of growth and stress tolerance through effects on strigolactones. We conclude that cysteine proteases are important targets for manipulation of plant growth, development and stress tolerance, and also seed quality traits.
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Rötter, R. P., Appiah, M., Fichtler, E., Kersebaum, K. C., Trnka, M., & Hoffmann, M. P. (2018). Linking modelling and experimentation to better capture crop impacts of agroclimatic extremes-A review. Field Crops Research, 221, 142–156.
Abstract: Climate change implies higher frequency and magnitude of agroclimatic extremes threatening plant production and the provision of other ecosystem services. This review is motivated by a mismatch between advances made regarding deeper understanding of abiotic stress physiology and its incorporation into ecophysiological models in order to more accurately quantifying the impacts of extreme events at crop system or higher aggregation levels. Adverse agroclimatic extremes considered most detrimental to crop production include drought, heat, heavy rains/hail and storm, flooding and frost, and, in particular, combinations of them. Our core question is: How have and could empirical data be exploited to improve the capability of widely used crop simulation models in assessing crop impacts of key agroclimatic extremes for the globally most important grain crops? To date there is no comprehensive review synthesizing available knowledge for a broad range of extremes, grain crops and crop models as a basis for identifying research gaps and prospects. To address these issues, we selected eight major grain crops and performed three systematic reviews using SCOPUS for period 1995-2016. Furthermore, we amended/complemented the reviews manually and performed an in-depth analysis using a sub-sample of papers. Results show that by far the majority of empirical studies (1631 out of 1772) concentrate on the three agroclimatic extremes drought, heat and heavy rain and on the three major staples wheat, maize and rice (1259 out of 1772); the concentration on just a few has increased over time. With respect to modelling studies two model families, i.e. CERES-DSSAT and APSIM, are dearly dominating for wheat and maize; for rice, ORYZA2000 and CERES-Rice predominate and are equally strong. For crops other than maize and wheat the number of studies is small. Empirical and modelling papers don’t differ much in the proportions the various extreme events are dealt with drought and heat stress together account for approx. 80% of the studies. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of papers, especially after 2010. As a way forward, we suggest to have very targeted and well-designed experiments on the specific crop impacts of a given extreme as well as of combinations of them. This in particular refers to extremes addressed with insufficient specificity (e.g. drought) or being under-researched in relation to their economic importance (heavy rains/storm and flooding). Furthermore, we strongly recommend extending research to crops other than wheat, maize and rice.
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