| Records |
| Author |
Christen, B.; Kjeldsen, C.; Dalgaard, T.; Martin-Ortega, J. |
Title  |
Can fuzzy cognitive mapping help in agricultural policy design and communication? |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2015 |
Publication |
Land Use Policy |
Abbreviated Journal |
Land Use Policy |
| Volume |
45 |
Issue |
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Pages |
64-75 |
| Keywords |
Agricultural policy; Agro-environmental measures; Fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM); General Binding Rules; Stakeholder communication; Scottish agriculture |
| Abstract |
Highlights •Fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM)can help to improve agricultural policy design. •We analyse the views on regulation between farmers and non-farmers. •We demonstrate the utility of FCM in disentangling reasons for non-compliance. •Non-compliance is a result of dis-alignment of views rather than unwillingness. •FCM offers a critical, reflexive approach to how a regulatory process is conceived. Agricultural environmental regulation often fails to deliver the desired effects because of farmers adopting the related measures incorrectly or not at all. This is due to several barriers to the uptake of the prescribed environmentally beneficial farm management practices, most of which have been well established by social science research. Yet it is unclear why these barriers remain so difficult to overcome despite numerous and persistent attempts at the design, communication and enforcement of related agricultural policies. This paper examines the potential of fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) as a tool to disentangle the underlying reasons of this persistent problem. We present the FCM methodology as adapted to the application in a Scottish case study on how environmental regulation affects farmers and farming practice and what factors are important for compliance or non-compliance with this regulation. The study compares the views of two different stakeholder groups on this matter using FCM network visualizations that were validated by interviews and a workshop session. There was a farmers group representing a typical mix of Scottish farming systems and a non-farmers group, the latter comprising professionals from the fields of design, implementation, administration, consulting on and enforcement of agricultural policies. Between the two groups, the FCM process reveals a very different perception of importance and interaction of factors and strongly suggests that the problem lies in an institutional failure rather than in a simple unwillingness of farmers to obey the rules. FCM allows for a structured process of identifying areas of conflicting perceptions, but also areas where strongly differing groups of stakeholders might be able to gain common ground. In this way, FCM can help to identify anchoring points for targeted policy development and has the potential of becoming a useful tool in agricultural policy design and communication. Our results show the utility of FCM by pointing out how Scottish environmental regulation could be altered to increase compliance with the rules and where the reasons for the identified institutional failure might be sought. |
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LiveM, ftnotmacsur |
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MA @ admin @ |
Serial |
4620 |
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Montesino-San Martín, M.; Olesen, J.E.; Porter, J.R. |
| Title |
Can crop-climate models be accurate and precise? A case study for wheat production in Denmark |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2015 |
Publication |
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology |
| Volume |
202 |
Issue |
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Pages |
51-60 |
| Keywords |
Uncertainty; Model intercomparison; Bayesian approach; Climate change; Wheat; Denmark; uncertainty analysis; simulation-models; bayesian-approach; change; impact; yields; variability; projections; scale; calibration; framework |
| Abstract |
Crop models, used to make projections of climate change impacts, differ greatly in structural detail. Complexity of model structure has generic effects on uncertainty and error propagation in climate change impact assessments. We applied Bayesian calibration to three distinctly different empirical and mechanistic wheat models to assess how differences in the extent of process understanding in models affects uncertainties in projected impact. Predictive power of the models was tested via both accuracy (bias) and precision (or tightness of grouping) of yield projections for extrapolated weather conditions. Yields predicted by the mechanistic model were generally more accurate than the empirical models for extrapolated conditions. This trend does not hold for all extrapolations; mechanistic and empirical models responded differently due to their sensitivities to distinct weather features. However, higher accuracy comes at the cost of precision of the mechanistic model to embrace all observations within given boundaries. The approaches showed complementarity in sensitivity to weather variables and in accuracy for different extrapolation domains. Their differences in model precision and accuracy make them suitable for generic model ensembles for near-term agricultural impact assessments of climate change. |
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0168-1923 |
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CropM, ftnotmacsur |
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no |
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MA @ admin @ |
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4572 |
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Caubel, J.; García de Cortázar-Atauri, I.; Launay, M.; de Noblet-Ducoudré, N.; Huard, F.; Bertuzzi, P.; Graux, A.-I. |
| Title |
Broadening the scope for ecoclimatic indicators to assess crop climate suitability according to ecophysiological, technical and quality criteria |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2015 |
Publication |
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology |
| Volume |
207 |
Issue |
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Pages |
94-106 |
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Climate suitability; Indicator-based method of evaluation; Ecoclimatic; indicator; Crop phenology; Crop ecophysiology; Crop management; Yield; quality; high-temperature; heat-stress; change scenarios; maize; wheat; growth; yield; agriculture; systems; time |
| Abstract |
The cultivation of crops in a given area is highly dependent of climatic conditions. Assessment of how the climate is favorable is highly useful for planners, land managers, farmers and plant breeders who can propose and apply adaptation strategies to improve agricultural potentialities. The aim of this study was to develop an assessment method for crop-climate suitability that was generic enough to be applied to a wide range of issues and crops. The method proposed is based on agroclimatic indicators that are calculated over phenological periods (ecoclimatic indicators). These indicators are highly relevant since they provide accurate information about the effect of climate on particular plant processes and cultural practices that take place during specific phenological periods. Three case studies were performed in order to illustrate the potentialities of the method. They concern annual (maize and wheat) and perennial (grape) crops and focus on the study of climate suitability in terms of the following criteria: ecophysiological, days available to carry out cultural practices, and harvest quality. The analysis of the results revealed both the advantages and limitations of the method. The method is general and flexible enough to be applied to a wide range of issues even if an expert assessment is initially needed to build the analysis framework. The limited number of input data makes it possible to use it to explore future possibilities for agriculture in many areas. The access to intermediate information through elementary ecoclimatic indicators allows users to propose targeted adaptations when climate suitability is not satisfactory. |
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0168-1923 |
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CropM |
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no |
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MA @ admin @ |
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4553 |
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| Author |
Pilbeam, D.J. |
| Title |
Breeding crops for improved mineral nutrition under climate change conditions |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2015 |
Publication |
Journal of Experimental Botany |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. Experim. Bot. |
| Volume |
66 |
Issue |
12 |
Pages |
3511-3421 |
| Keywords |
Breeding/*methods; *Climate Change; Crops, Agricultural/*growth & development; Environment; Minerals/*metabolism; *Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Micronutrient; nitrogen; nutrient availability; nutrient use efficiency; phosphorus; quantitative trait loci (QTLs) |
| Abstract |
Improvements in understanding how climate change may influence chemical and physical processes in soils, how this may affect nutrient availability, and how plants may respond to changed availability of nutrients will influence crop breeding programmes. The effects of increased atmospheric CO2 and warmer temperatures, both individually and combined, on soil microbial activity, including mycorrhizas and N-fixing organisms, are evaluated, together with their implications for nutrient availability. Potential changes to plant growth, and the combined effects of soil and plant changes on nutrient uptake, are discussed. The organization of research on the efficient use of macro- and micronutrients by crops under climate change conditions is outlined, including analysis of QTLs for nutrient efficiency. Suggestions for how the information gained can be used in plant breeding programmes are given. |
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1460-2431; 0022-0957 |
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Review |
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CropM |
Approved |
no |
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MA @ admin @ |
Serial |
4575 |
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| Author |
Minet, J.; Laloy, E.; Tychon, B.; François, L. |
| Title |
Bayesian inversions of a dynamic vegetation model at four European grassland sites |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2015 |
Publication |
Biogeosciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Biogeosciences |
| Volume |
12 |
Issue |
9 |
Pages |
2809-2829 |
| Keywords |
eddy-covariance data; terrestrial ecosystem model; bioclimatic affinity; groups; monte-carlo-simulation; dry-matter content; leaf-area; climate-change; stomatal conductance; parameter-estimation; plant |
| 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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1726-4189 |
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CropM LiveM, ft_macsur |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
MA @ admin @ |
Serial |
4571 |
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