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Agronomy
Special Issues
Mediterranean Agriculture under Climate Change: Threats and Opportunities
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Mediterranean Agriculture under Climate Change: Threats and Opportunities

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Horticultural and Floricultural Crops".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 September 2022) | Viewed by 5214

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Helder Fraga

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: viticulture; grapevines; wine; olive trees; olive oil; climate modelling; crop modelling; adaptation measures
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Mediterranean basin is considered a climate change hotspot, being one of the regions worldwide that is expect to suffer more severe effect of warming and drying. Several crops, such as viticulture, olive, almond and chestnut trees, among others, are part of the Mediterranean ecosystem and are largely acknowledged within the food sector. Taking into account the key influence of the climatic factors on yields and quality attributes of these crops, climate change may indeed affect these important food resources. It is a fact that past trends point to an increase in temperatures, as well as a decrease in precipitation, within the Mediterranean basin. Furthermore, future climate scenarios point towards enhanced stress conditions for crop growth until the end of the century. Although the Mediterranean crops tend to have a high resilience to harsh environments, the strong evidence for climate change in the upcoming decades urges the adoption of suitable adaptation measures to be taken by the sector. The current Special Issue of Agronomy welcomes articles related to the field of climate and climate change impacts on Mediterranean agriculture,  including the assessment of potential adaptation measures against these threats. Field trials and/or modelling approaches (crop or climate modelling) are also valuable contributions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Helder Fraga
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mediterranean crops
  • future scenarios
  • climate change
  • viticulture
  • olive
  • almond
  • chestnut
  • nuts
  • warming
  • drying
  • pasture

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 2053 KiB  
Article
Adaptation of the SIMPLE Model to Oilseed Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) for Arid and Semi-Arid Environments
by Yue Li, Gerrit Hoogenboom, Senthold Asseng, Jun-Yi Niu, Ling Wu and Liang-He Kang
Agronomy 2022, 12(6), 1267; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy12061267 - 25 May 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1683
Abstract
Oilseed flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is an important oil crop, and the SIMPLE model is a very effective tool to simulate crop production. In this study, to adapt the SIMPLE model for the overall improvement of flax production and yield, three promising [...] Read more.
Oilseed flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is an important oil crop, and the SIMPLE model is a very effective tool to simulate crop production. In this study, to adapt the SIMPLE model for the overall improvement of flax production and yield, three promising cultivars of North China—Longya Hybrid No. 1, Baxuan No. 3 and Zhangya No. 2—were selected. Experiments were conducted in Dingxi, Wulanchabu, Datong and Zhangjiakou in Northern China from 2016 to 2020. The SIMPLE model was first calibrated and then evaluated for the simulation of flax growth and development and grain yield and biomass. A base temperature of 5 °C was used for phenology, with optimum temperatures from 16 to 20 °C for the third pair of true leaves to unfolded to the budding stage, and from 20 to 25 °C for the flowering stage. In the results, the average simulated value of aboveground biomass in Dingxi was 8772 kg ha−1, with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 1239 kg ha−1 (d-index = 0.69). The simulations were also good in the other three sites according to a comparison of the predicted and observed biomasses (RMSE 135 kg ha−1 and d-index 0.90 at Zhangjiakou, RMSE 280 kg ha−1 and d-index 0.95 at Wulanchabu, and RMSE 140 kg ha−1 and d-index 0.97 at Datong). Flax grain yield was well simulated compared with the observed values, with a RMSE of 55 kg ha−1 and a d-index of 0.96 for Dingxi, a RMSE of 63 kg ha−1 and a d-index of 0.93 for Wulanchabu, and a RMSE of 5 kg ha−1 and a d-index of 0.97 for Zhangjiakou, whereas the yield was somewhat underestimated for Datong (RMSE of 176 kg ha−1 and d-index of 0.91). Overall, the SIMPLE model provided satisfactory predictions under different environments and management. Care should be taken when transferring the SIMPLE-Flax model to other environments, as vernalization and day-length sensitivity are not included in this model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mediterranean Agriculture under Climate Change: Threats and Opportunities)
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16 pages, 3366 KiB  
Article
Climate Change Projections for Bioclimatic Distribution of Castanea sativa in Portugal
by Teresa R. Freitas, João A. Santos, Ana P. Silva, Joana Martins and Hélder Fraga
Agronomy 2022, 12(5), 1137; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy12051137 - 08 May 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3021
Abstract
The chestnut tree is an important forestry species worldwide, as well as a valuable food resource. Over recent years, Portugal has shown an increasing trend in chestnut tree area, as well as increases in production, hinting at the socioeconomic relevance of this agro-forestry [...] Read more.
The chestnut tree is an important forestry species worldwide, as well as a valuable food resource. Over recent years, Portugal has shown an increasing trend in chestnut tree area, as well as increases in production, hinting at the socioeconomic relevance of this agro-forestry species. In this study, bioclimatic indices are applied to analyse the spatial distribution of chestnut trees in mainland Portugal, namely growing degree days (GDD; 1900–2400 °C), annual mean temperature (AMT; 8–15 °C), summer days with maximum temperature below 32 °C (NTX), and annual precipitation (PRE; 600–1600 mm). These indices are assessed for the baseline (IBERIA01, 1989–2005) and future climates (EURO-CORDEX: 2021–2040, 2041–2060, and 2061–2080) under two forcing pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5), also taking into account the chestnut tree land cover. For the baseline, the GDD showed only 10% suitability for chestnut tree cultivation in southern Portugal, whereas much higher values are found in the north of the country, and at higher altitudes (50–90%). For the AMT, higher elevation areas in northern Portugal show almost 100% suitability. Concerning NTX, the suitability reduces from the west (100–90%) to the east (40%). Regarding PRE, the suitability is heterogeneous throughout the territory, with areas under 50%. A new Chestnut Suitability Index (CSI) was then computed, which incorporates information from the four previous indices. The CSI reveals a suitability ranging from 100 to 75% in the north, while central and southern Portugal show values from 25 to 50%. For future climates, a progressive reduction in CSI was found, particularly for RCP8.5 and in the long-term period. Changes in bioclimatic conditions may restrict the 100% suitability to a narrow area in the north of the country. These reductions in chestnut bioclimatic suitability may have socio-economic and ecological implications for the management of the important agro-forestry species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mediterranean Agriculture under Climate Change: Threats and Opportunities)
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