IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v114y2012i3p723-744.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Growing season expansion and related changes in monthly temperature and growing degree days in the Inter-Montane Desert of the San Luis Valley, Colorado

Author

Listed:
  • Ken Mix
  • Vicente Lopes
  • Walter Rast

Abstract

Most climate change studies on high elevation ecosystems identify changes in biota, while several report abiotic factors. However, very few report expansion of the freeze-free period, or discuss monthly changes of temperature and growing degree days (GDD) during the growing season. This study provides initial data on agriculturally-related aspects of climate change during the growing season (M-J-J-A-S) in the inter-montane desert of the San Luis Valley (SLV), Colorado. Temperature data were gathered from 7 climate stations within the SLV. Based on ordinal days, the last vernal freeze is occurring (p > 0.05) earlier at 3 stations than in prior years, ranging between 5.52 and 11.86 days during 1981–2007. Significantly-later autumnal freezes are occurring at 5 stations by 5.95–18.10 days, while expansion of the freeze-free period was significantly longer at all stations by 7.20–24.21 days. The freeze-free period averaged about 93 days prior to the 1980s, but now averages about 107 days. Increases (p > 0.05) in daily mean, maximum, minimum temperature occurred at nearly all stations for each month. Increases in GDD 10 , GDD 4.4 (potato) and GDD 5.5 (alfalfa) also occurred at nearly all stations for all months during 1994–2007. Higher temperatures increase the number of GDD, quickening crop growth and maturity, and potentially reducing yield and quality unless varieties are adapted to changes and water is available for the season extension and increased evapotranspiration. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Ken Mix & Vicente Lopes & Walter Rast, 2012. "Growing season expansion and related changes in monthly temperature and growing degree days in the Inter-Montane Desert of the San Luis Valley, Colorado," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 723-744, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:114:y:2012:i:3:p:723-744
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-012-0448-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10584-012-0448-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-012-0448-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Finger & Stéphanie Schmid, 2008. "Modeling agricultural production risk and the adaptation to climate change," Agricultural Finance Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 68(1), pages 25-41, May.
    2. Annette Menzel & Peter Fabian, 1999. "Growing season extended in Europe," Nature, Nature, vol. 397(6721), pages 659-659, February.
    3. Richard M. Adams, 1989. "Global Climate Change and Agriculture: An Economic Perspective," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 71(5), pages 1272-1279.
    4. Schimmelpfennig, David & Lewandrowski, Jan & Tsigas, Marinos & Parry, Ian, 1996. "Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change: Issues of Longrun Sustainability," Agricultural Economic Reports 262033, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    5. R. B. Myneni & C. D. Keeling & C. J. Tucker & G. Asrar & R. R. Nemani, 1997. "Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991," Nature, Nature, vol. 386(6626), pages 698-702, April.
    6. Gian-Reto Walther & Eric Post & Peter Convey & Annette Menzel & Camille Parmesan & Trevor J. C. Beebee & Jean-Marc Fromentin & Ove Hoegh-Guldberg & Franz Bairlein, 2002. "Ecological responses to recent climate change," Nature, Nature, vol. 416(6879), pages 389-395, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. V. P. Khanduri & C. M. Sharma & S. P. Singh, 2008. "The effects of climate change on plant phenology," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 143-147, June.
    2. Jörg Kaduk & Sietse Los, 2011. "Predicting the time of green up in temperate and boreal biomes," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 107(3), pages 277-304, August.
    3. Huicong An & Xiaorong Zhang & Jiaqi Ye, 2024. "Analysis of Vegetation Environmental Stress and the Lag Effect in Countries along the “Six Economic Corridors”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-18, April.
    4. Mo, Yu & Momen, Bahram & Kearney, Michael S., 2015. "Quantifying moderate resolution remote sensing phenology of Louisiana coastal marshes," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 312(C), pages 191-199.
    5. Russell, Stephen & Barron, Andrew B. & Harris, David, 2013. "Dynamic modelling of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony growth and failure," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 265(C), pages 158-169.
    6. Zhang, Jiarui & Jørgensen, Sven E. & Lu, Jianjian & Nielsen, Søren N. & Wang, Qiang, 2014. "A model for the contribution of macrophyte-derived organic carbon in harvested tidal freshwater marshes to surrounding estuarine and oceanic ecosystems and its response to global warming," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 294(C), pages 105-116.
    7. Jhon Villarreal-Veloz & Xavier Zapata-Ríos & Karla Uvidia-Zambrano & Carla Borja-Escobar, 2023. "Spatio-Temporal Description of the NDVI (MODIS) of the Ecuadorian Tussock Grasses and Its Link with the Hydrometeorological Variables and Global Climatic Indices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-24, July.
    8. Viorica GAVRILĂ, 2017. "The Stability of Fruit Production Under the Impact of Climate Factors – Scientific Literature-Based Approaches," Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Institute of Agricultural Economics, vol. 14(2), pages 267-274.
    9. Ken Mix & Vicente Lopes & Walter Rast, 2012. "Environmental Drivers of Streamflow Change in the Upper Rio Grande," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(1), pages 253-272, January.
    10. Keshav Paudel & Peter Andersen, 2013. "Response of rangeland vegetation to snow cover dynamics in Nepal Trans Himalaya," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 117(1), pages 149-162, March.
    11. Mayeul Dalleau & Stéphane Ciccione & Jeanne A Mortimer & Julie Garnier & Simon Benhamou & Jérôme Bourjea, 2012. "Nesting Phenology of Marine Turtles: Insights from a Regional Comparative Analysis on Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(10), pages 1-13, October.
    12. Melissa Dell & Benjamin F. Jones & Benjamin A. Olken, 2014. "What Do We Learn from the Weather? The New Climate-Economy Literature," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(3), pages 740-798, September.
    13. Ding, Yimin & Wang, Weiguang & Song, Ruiming & Shao, Quanxi & Jiao, Xiyun & Xing, Wanqiu, 2017. "Modeling spatial and temporal variability of the impact of climate change on rice irrigation water requirements in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 89-101.
    14. Bardsley, Douglas K. & Bardsley, Annette M., 2014. "Organising for socio-ecological resilience: The roles of the mountain farmer cooperative Genossenschaft Gran Alpin in Graubünden, Switzerland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 11-21.
    15. Monika Punia & Suman Nain & Amit Kumar & Bhupendra Singh & Amit Prakash & Krishan Kumar & V. Jain, 2015. "Analysis of temperature variability over north-west part of India for the period 1970–2000," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 75(1), pages 935-952, January.
    16. Finger, Robert, 2010. "Evidence of slowing yield growth - The example of Swiss cereal yields," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 175-182, April.
    17. Farnaz Pourzand & Kendom Bell, 2021. "How climate affects agricultural land values in Aotearoa New Zealand," Working Papers 21_16, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    18. F. Nelson & O. Anisimov & N. Shiklomanov, 2002. "Climate Change and Hazard Zonation in the Circum-Arctic Permafrost Regions," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 26(3), pages 203-225, July.
    19. Feng Dong & Chih-Ming Hung & Shou-Hsien Li & Xiao-Jun Yang, 2021. "Potential Himalayan community turnover through the Late Pleistocene," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 1-10, January.
    20. Chan, Nathan & Wichman, Casey, 2017. "The Effects of Climate on Leisure Demand: Evidence from North America," RFF Working Paper Series 17-20, Resources for the Future.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:114:y:2012:i:3:p:723-744. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.