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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 2, NUMBER 2, FEBRUARY 1989

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
IMPACTS

Item #d89feb73

"The Response of Annuals in Competitive Neighborhoods: Effects of Elevated CO₂," F.A. Bazzaz (Dept. Evolutionary Biol., Harvard Univ., Cambridge MA 02138), K. Garbutt, Ecol., 69(4), 937-946, Aug. 1988.

In this laboratory study, four species from an annual plant community were used to investigate the effects of increased CO₂ concentration and changing neighborhood complexity on performance of individuals and competitive outcome. Some species had increased biomass with increased CO₂, while others had decreased biomass. There were clear differences in species behavior in different competitive mixtures as assessed by total biomass, seed biomass, and by an index of response to neighbors. Strong statistical interactions between CO₂ and the identity of the competing species in mixtures were found to be primarily due to the as yet unexplained response of plants with CO₂ at 500 micro L/L.

Item #d89feb74

"Estimating the Consequences of CO₂-Induced Climatic Change on North American Grain Agriculture Using General Circulation Model Information," D.S. Wilks (Dept. Agronomy, Cornell Univ., Ithaca NY 14853), Climatic Change, 13(1), 19-42, Aug. 1988.

Illustrates a procedure to estimate the potential climatic effects of doubling CO₂ on agriculture combining general circulation models (GCMs) and process-oriented crop models. Specific agronomic predictions are found to depend critically on the details of the projected climate change. Uncertainties in the specification of the doubled-CO₂ climate by the GCM, particularly with respect to precipitation, dictate that agricultural predictions can only illustrate the impact assessment method at this time.

Item #d89feb75

"Repercussions of a CO₂ Doubling on the Water Cycle and on the Water Balance--A Case Study For Belgium," F. Bultot (Hydrology Section, Inst. Royal Meteorologique de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium), A. Coppens et al., J. Hydrology, 99(3/4), 319-347, May 30, 1988.

Three drainage basins in Belgium were used to test a hydrological model for present day climatic conditions and a doubling of CO₂ over an eighty-year period. Common responses of the three catchments were a strengthening of the potential and effective evapotranspiration throughout the year, increased frequency of daily values of the soil aeration zone water content below 60% or 40% of its capacity at saturation, and shortening of spells with snow cover. In catchments with more surface flow there was an increase in flood frequencies during winter months, a decrease in streamflow during the summer season, and possible restraints, in summer and autumn, on water supply from local groundwater storage.