Education of agroclimatology at ELTE: a review with special focus on wheat and grape ( vinifera)*

Ferenc Ács, ELTE Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Department of Meteorology

*Invited presentation at Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, 14th November 2018 Content -- shortly • General remarks • Basic theory (vegetation, environment) Vegetation related basics

Environment [natural (climate: biophyisical climate classifications, (agroclimatological zones), social (political decisions, economical aspects] (51 transparencies) • Methods for characterizing cultural vegetation (crop) – environment interaction (long term field experiments, agroclimatological models) (13 transparencies)

• Crops which determined human civilizations (e.g. wheat, grape) (31 transparencies)

• Closing remarks General remarks • Agroclimatology is a graduate-level course [1st year MSc (MSc = master of science) subject].

• It is educated only on specialization „climatology”.

• It is taught from the „earth science” point of you. Agronomical point of view is much less represented in the treatment! Goals

• To get basic knowledge referring to vegetation.

• To understande better the human-cultural vegetation coevolution.

• To answer the question: Why is bread so cheap and what is the cost of this? Vegetation

Conquest of the land- surface: stomata, stem, roots, soil

Soil is joint product of the parrent material, vegetation and micro- organisms. Stomata – the most relevant organ of vegetation? • For meteorologists YES! „ … the physiology of stomata are just as relevant to understanding climate as are clouds and convection” (Bonan, 2002). • Jarvis (1976) formula represents its simplest model!

rst min  Fad rc  . LAI GLF  Fma Vegetation – stomata - rstmin

• rstmin is a parameter of special importance!

• It represents water vapor transport resistance that exerts when its opening is maximum. Environment as sensed by vegetation • Radiation, base temperature, growing-degree days, photosynthesis, respiration, net photosynthesis and its environmental dependence, photosysntetic efficency (leaf, canopy, ecosystem scale), productivity, water use efficency (WUE), drought, frost (its biophysics), phenology, phenology-physiology relationship, phenometry (vegetation canopy height, leaf area index (LAI)), allocation, soil texture, plant available soil water content, nutrient-soil texture relationship are discussed. Impact of radiation on vegetation Base temperature of some crops (e.g. winter wheat, , muskmelon, seasoning pepper) Growing degree days

• Vegetation period,

• temperature sum [Σi(Ti – Tb)],

• temperature sum is strongly correlated with global radiation sum. Photosynthesis

• transport of CO2 from air to chloroplast • Light reaction (ATP, NADPH) • Dark reaction. Light reaction – absorption of light

• Absorption spectra of chlorofyll Photosynthesis types C3–C4--CAM Respiration

• The reverse process of photosynthesis for getting energy

• Types: photorespiration, respiration (they differ physiologically) Net photosynthesis Net photosynthesis curve Photosynthetic efficency (PhEf)

In average free energy of the dry mass is 17,5 kJg-1 Photosynthetic efficency

• Maximum value for leafs: 3-4%.

QUANTITY/PHOTOSYNTHESIS C3 C4 Quantum need 15-22 19 Molecular level 10,8–16% 12,6%

Molecular level with respect 4,5-6,8% 5,4% to global radiation PhEf efficency

Respiration losses in canopy PhEf: canopy scale, year PhEf: ecosystem scale, year PhEf: calculation procedure

• Temperate cereals:

2000 g 2000 17,5 kJ    100%  p 2 GJ 2 GJ 2000 17,5 104% 1,75% 2 PhEf: rice

• PhEf of rice is 2,62%. Let we see that is 0.87% greater than of other temperate cereals. This is almost 50% (0,87/1,75). Productivity

• Let we see that productivity is CO2 flux density -2 -1 (mg CO2 m s )

• Productivity, environmental stress functions, LAI

• In temperate zones, limiting factor is temperature, in the tropics water availability. WUE, drought, drought tolerance Frost, frost tolerance Phenology

phainesthai – appearing, phainomenon – phenomenon, logos – disciple

• Phenology is an old science, it relates vegetation morphology (developmental stage) and the environmental variables. Phenophases and their duration for some chosen crops Phenometry

• Phenometry treats state variables (morphological characteristics) of vegetation and vegetation canopy.

• The two most important state variables: vegetation canopy height(H) and leaf area index (LAI). Remote sensing

• Remote sensing is the basic tool in phenometry and phenology. Allocation – organic matter obtained in leafes has to be distributed to all non- photosynthetic parts Plant available soil water content

θf = field capacity,

θw = wilting point Soil hydraulic properties – soil texture dependence Nutrient availability – soil texture dependence

• Sand = particle diameters between 50 – 2000 μm, high water conductivity, low cation exchange capacity (CEC)

• Loam = particle diameters between 2 – 50 μm, moderate water conductivity, moderate cation exchange capacity,

• Clay = particle diameters below 2 μm, low water conductivity, high ion exchange capacity. Environment

Environment = human + climate + soil

Human → agricultural politics, agricultural economy, agricultural technics, plant breeding

In the modern agriculture, plant production and plant breeding are separated (Lelley, 1980).

Climate → radiation, heat and water availability

Soil → water and nutrient availability Human – agricultural politics

Plant protection zones in the EU Human – Agricultural economy

Bee: gratis pollinization

Costly

• Pesticides

• Herbicides

• Fungicides Human – agricultural technics

• Already American indians knew that maize has to be scarcely planted, otherwise it doesn’t yield. Human – plant breeding

• Maize is amazing plant: it grows rapidly.

• Record-yields: 1 seed is able to produce up to 800 seeds. And this is only an ear of corn!

• Plant breeding is the key of this enormous result. Human – landuse -- past Rivers in the Carpathian Basin before flood control Human – landuse -- present

Landcover types

Hungary is agricultural land, it has no wild territory. Human – wheat – weed (ragweed) coexistence N surplus because of fertilizing Climate – sunshine duration

Area distribution of the annual sunshine duration in Hungary Climate – global radiation

Area distribution of annual sum of global radiation (MJm-2) in Hungary Climate -- evapotranspiration, soil water content

Annual course of evapotranspiration and soil water content for different soil textures Evapotranspiration, soil water content

Area distribution of annual evapotranspiration and soil water content in Hungary Evapotranspiration, soil water content

Area distribution of monthly evapotranspiration and soil water content in Hungary (month: July) Climate – according to Thornthwaite Climate – according to Feddema Climate -- frost last frost in spring, first frost in autumn Methods for characterizing crop- environment interaction Most important: to possess independent datasets for crop and environment Fluctuating prices of weat and oat at Dupré de Saint-Maur, Paris Methods for characterizing crop- environment interaction

• Longterm experiments [collecting crop and environmental data in the field during long time interval (if possible more than 100 years) to study the effect of human intervention (e.g. fertilizing)]

• Agroclimatological models (application of mathematical and physical methods using observed data, goals: to understand the system and to predict the future) Longterm experiments A location of longterm experiments (datasets obtained are treated as national treasury) The impact of fertilization on yield of rape (2004-2007 years average [tha-1]) Agroclimatological models

Types:

• Phenology models • Statistical yield models • Nutrient transport models • Vegetation disease and pest models • Crop models • Agricultural system analysis mdels Phenology models

• Phenology models treat phenophase duration – climate element relationships mostly by using statistical methods.

• Climate elements: Factors characterizing heat and/or water availability (global radiation, temperature, different indices etc.) Yield models • Yield models treat crop yield – climate element relationships mostly by using statistical methods (e.g. multiple linear regression model).

• Important: yield and environmental data have to be independent.

• They are not universal, each of them refer to a concrete location and time interval. Nutrient transport models

• These models treat e.g. N, P, K, S, Mn transport in the soil and their uptake by vegetation.

• They are closely related to soil water transport modelling.

• They serve frequently as submodels in the crop models. Vegetation disease and pest models

These models estimate the appearing time, duration and intensity of diseases and pests.

INPUT MODEL OUTPUT

Vegetation Characterising factors Time appearing, disease or pest duration, related intensity processes Meteorological factors Crop models

• They estimate crop’s biomass and yield at the end of the vegetation period.

• They can use phenology and nutrient transport submodels.

• Their most important part is the net- photosynthesis submodel.

• They can be pretty process-based. Crop models their principle structure Crop models

• OUTPUT: accumulated PET, ET, soil water, daily net-photosynthesis, accumulated biomass, LAI, seed number, seed mass, dry mass of different vegetation parts. Agricultural system analysis models

• They are used in the agricultural economy analysis! Crops which determine human civilizations Civilizations around 1500 (middle ages)

Hunting Run Hoe based agriculture (Braudel, 1985) Plow based agriculture Human – cultural plant coevolution • This coevolution can be seen as symbiotic reaction in which human and crop benefit by their interaction. The process began about at least 10-15 tousand years ago. • So, humans affected crop and vice versa crop affected humans. • There are many unknown details of this long interaction process, I will try to sketch the main points of this coexistence treating separately the human → crop and the crop → human effects. Human ↔ crop coevolution in steps • Beginning: gathering, sorting (unintentionally, knowingly), gathering with intention • Cultivation is the sowing and planting, tending and harvesting of useful wild or domestic plants, with or without soil tillage (Harris, 2003) • Domestication means that plants and animals have been changed morphologically, physiologically and/or behaviourally as a result of cultural selection and have become dependent on humans for their long-term survival (Harris, 2003). Human ↔ crop coevolution in steps

• Agriculture is defined as the production of (domesticated) crops, normally involving systematic tillage.

• Pastoralism refers to the management of domesticated livestock in system of mixing farming Wheat European society is consuming wheat-based society

• European history can also be analyzed from the „How did bread become so cheap?” question aspect since the bread is extremely cheap in our days. This is result of the „agricultural revolution”

BUDGET OF A STONEMASON FAMILY PRICE OF A ROLL Gene centre of wheat (origin) Human → wheat effects • Formation of gluten (when „wild wheat” transformed into the spelt), • increased frost tolerance, • plant canopy height became lower, • more and larger grains per spike Human → wheat effects

During these changes humans

• changed some physiological processes, and allocation, • increased stomatal conduction by increasing stomata cross section area (transparency 8). Wheat → human effects • Setting (starting with cultivation, continuing with domestication), • soft bread (with formation of gluten), • spreading to the north (with increased frost tolerance of autumn wheat), • changing agricultural land use (wheat needs crop rotation: 1) wheat – ley-farming (south Europe), 2) wheat – oats – ley-farming (north Europe); wheat should be always sowed on ley-farming), • domestic animal keeping (wheat needs fertilization), • civilization collapses (e.g. old-world states). Wheat → human effect, the increase of population

The yield of wheat is poor! Only few weeds after one weed.

Cities strongly depend on wheat surplus. Wheat → human effect, the increase of population • In our days, we become about sixty weeds after one sowed weed.

• We have about 500-550 spikes/m2 (let we suppose plant distance of 7-8 cm and three spikes per plant). • Supposing twenty grains per spike and grain mass of 0.04 g, we obtain 4 - 5 ton/hectare yield. Wheat → human, civilization collapses

• Such events were fairly frequent in old-world times (Behringer, 2010). Grape Grape – one source of vivacity? Gerard van Honthorst: The Happy Violinist with a Glass of Wine Origin, spread • Origin of vitis sylvestris: (South Caucasus) in our days North Turkey, North Iran, , Georgia, Azerbaijan Human ↔ grape coevolution during vitis sylvestris → transformation

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Vitis sylvestris It can be similarly characterized as the human ↔ wheat coevolution (domestication stages, agriculture) Vitis vinifera – basic environmental characteristics

• Base temperature: bud 4°C, leaf 7 °C, flower 10 °C, • temperature sum: it depends on grape variety (between 1000 - 2000 °C), • mean annual temperature should be 9-21 °C, • annual precipitation sum 500 – 600 mm, • frost tolerance depends on variety. Human → grape effect

Vitis sylvestris Vitis vinifera

• dioecious → monoecious • smaller → greater berries • lower → higher sugar content • less → more collors

87 Vitis vinifera Vitis sylvestris Human → grape effects

During these changes humans

• changed some physiological processes and allocation, • increased stomatal conduction by increasing stomata cross section area (transparency 8). Grape (vitis vinifera) → human effect

• Beginning: • Irán: 7000 years old pottery for storage of wine • Caucasus (Armenia): 6000 years old cellarage for wine

89 Grape → human effect, Ozirisz antiquity

Ancient Egypt • Vineyards and winemaking in ancient Egypt circa 1500 BC • Egyptians used wine in their religious ceremonies. 90 Grape → human effect, antiquity

Phoenicians: • Wine trade determined amfora Phoenicians’ life. • Phoenicians Amphorae designed for marine transport determined wine culture in ancient and Rome.

91 Grape → human effect, antiquity

Ancient Greece

• Wine trade Dionüszosz • Using of amforae • Wine in the arts and mithology

92 Grape → human effect, antiquity Roman Empire

• Winery became business, Bacchus • establishment of almost all West European vineyard regions, • regular use of bottles and barrels, • Speyer wine bottle: the world's oldest known bottle of wine.

93 Grape → human effect, middle age Europe

• Wine trade between South and North Europe.

• Improved grape and monastic wine production.

Abbaye de Valmagne, Franciaország 94 Grape → human effect, modern era

• Increasing number of cropping technologies, • increasing number of new varieties, • development of new plant breeding tools. • became science, life sence, life style. Cabernet-Sauvignon Merlot

95 Cristianity doesn’t prohibit wine consuming Wine is deeply in the Europeans’ life sense, thinking and soul.

Giotto: A kánai menyegző (1306)

Leonardo da Vinci: Az utolsó vacsora (1498) 96 My favorite: table grape

Especially this: without seeds Closing remarks

• Cultural vegetation is affected by both climate and humans. The influence of climate is comparable with the influence of humans.

• That is, the cultural vegetation – human interaction is as important as the cultural vegetation – climate interaction. Closing remarks

• In our days, plant production is industrialized.

• Huge areas are covered by monocultures , therefore food is as cheap as possible.

• Monocultural plant production is antinatural decreasing species diversity that can lead to ecosystem dysfunction. Closing remarks

• Is this war against vegetation or a plant production area? References

• Behringer W., 2010: A Klíma kultúrtörténete: A jégkorszaktól a globális felmelegedésig. Corvina Kiadó Kft., 343 pp. ISBN 978 963 13 5883 4.

• Bonan G., 2002: Ecological Climatology: Concepts and applications, Cambridge University Press, 678 pp, ISBN 0 521 80032 3.

• Braudel, F., 1985: Anyagi kultúra, gazdaság és kapitalizmus XV-XVIII. Század, A mindennapi élet struktúrái, Gondolat, Budapest, 636 pp.

• Harris DR, 2003: Climatic change and the beginnings of agriculture: the case of the Younger Dryas, 379-394, in: Evolution on Planet Earth: The Impact of the Physical Environment, edited by: Rotschild LJ, Lister AM, Academic Press, ISBN 0-12-598655-6. References

• Jarvis PG, 1976: The interpretations of variations in leaf water potential and stomatal conductance found in canopies in the field. Philosophical Transections of the Royal Society of London, 273B: 593-610.

• Lelley, J., 1980: Ember és kenyere, Gondolat, Budapest, 127 pp.