Abstract
Abstract: Industry concerns in Australia about the impacts of climate change have, to date, focused on the effects of warming, particularly shorter maturation periods. The effects of elevated CO2 concentration (eCO2) on C3 plant physiology have been extensively studied and suggest that eCO2 impacts on viticulture could affect grapevine shoot growth, fruit production and fruit composition. We previously used open top chambers (OTC) with an active heating system to study the effects of elevated air temperature (eTemp) on mature grapevines in the field. This system was augmented with the ability to elevate atmospheric CO2 and established in a mature Shiraz vineyard in a factorial combination of eTemp and eCO2. Three seasons of observations on the eTemp only treatment corroborated our previous study; all aspects of phenology were advanced, but leaf function was largely unaffected. In contrast, the effects of eCO2 on phenology were small in the first season, but increased over the subsequent two seasons. Interactive effects of the treatments on gas exchange were observed; photosynthesis rates were significantly higher in the eCO2+eTemp treatment, compared to eCO2 alone, suggesting that the likely future climate will have a larger impact on viticulture than might be predicted from experiments examining only one of these factors.
Highlights
Industry concerns in Australia about the impacts of climate change have, to date, focused on the effects of warming, shorter maturation periods
We have established an open top chamber (OTC) facility in a major Australian winegrape growing region using mature Shiraz vines, managed to current industry best practice, which is able to impose an elevated CO2 concentration (eCO2) treatment of 650 ppm and an elevated air temperature (eTemp) treatment of +2°C relative to ambient, simulating the likely climate around 2075
Comparison of the environmental results from the control open top chambers (OTC) and the chamberless control plots indicated a small impact of the chamber infrastructure, for example an average air temperature increase close to 0.5 °C
Summary
Industry concerns in Australia about the impacts of climate change have, to date, focused on the effects of warming, shorter maturation periods. We have established an open top chamber (OTC) facility in a major Australian winegrape growing region using mature Shiraz vines, managed to current industry best practice, which is able to impose an eCO2 treatment of 650 ppm and an eTemp treatment of +2°C relative to ambient, simulating the likely climate around 2075. The facility applies these treatments in a factorial design and is able to separate effects of eCO2 and eTemp as well as be used to study their interaction. The facility was fully operational prior to the 2013/14 southern hemisphere growing season and has been running continuously since that time
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
