Heat waves and drought are often considered the most damaging climatic stressors for wheat. In this study, we characterize and attribute the effects of these climate extremes on wheat yield anomalies (at global and national scales) from 1980 to 2010. Using a combination of up-to-date heat wave and drought indexes (the latter capturing both excessively dry and wet conditions), we have developed ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The date of emergence may have far-reaching implications for seedling performance. Seedlings emerging early in the growing season often have a greater rate of survival or grow better if early emergence provides advantages with respect to an environmental cue. As a result, the benefits of early emergence may be lost if the environmental stress creating the differences among c...

In recent decades, there has been a tendency toward increased summer floods in south China, increased drought in north China, and moderate cooling in China and India while most of the world has been warming. We used a global climate model to investigate possible aerosol contributions to these trends. We found precipitation and temperature changes in the model that were comparable to those obser...

Green roofs have the potential to function as islands of biodiversity within urban and suburban environments. However, plant diversity is constrained by the harsh environment of a green roof, especially summertime water deficit and heat stress. We hypothesized that Sedum species, which are highly tolerant of the roof-top environment, would reduce peak soil temperature and increase performance o...

      In order to study the effects of post-anthesis heat stress and nitrogen levels on grain yield and yield components of wheat genotypes, two separate field experiments were conducted in delayed and optimum sowing dates under Ahvaz conditions (2006-2007). The Ahvaz site located in south west of Iran (32°20' N, 40°20' E) with subtropical climate condition. The experiment site had a moderate w...

Green roofs are gaining momentum in the arid and semi-arid regions due to their multiple benefits as compared with conventional roofs. One of the most critical steps in green roof installation is the selection of drought and heat tolerant species that can thrive under extreme microclimate conditions. We monitored the water status, growth and survival of 11 drought-adapted shrub species grown on...

A useful approach to monitor tree response to climate change and environmental extremes is the recording of long-term time series of stem radial variations obtained with precision dendrometers. Here, we study the impact of environmental stress on seasonal growth dynamics and productivity of yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britton) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) in the Great Lakes, ...