TY - GEN A1 - Veste, Maik A1 - Littmann, Thomas A1 - Kunneke, Anton A1 - Du Toit, Ben A1 - Seifert, Thomas T1 - Windbreaks as part of climate-smart landscapes reduce evapotranspiration in vineyards, Western Cape Province, South Africa T2 - Plant, Soil and Environment N2 - Under the conditions of climate change in South Africa, ecological and technical measures are needed to reduce the water consumption of irrigated crops. Windbreak hedges are long-rated systems in agriculture that significantly reduce wind speed. Their possibilities to reduce evapotranspiration and water demand are being investigated at a vineyard in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Detailed measurements of meteorological parameters relevant for the computation of reference and crop-specific evapotranspiration following the FAO 56 approaches within a vineyard in the Western Cape Province of South Africa have shown the beneficial effect of an existing hedgerow consisting of 6 m high poplars (Populus simonii (Carrière) Wesm.). With reference to a control station in the open field, the mean wind speed in a position about 18 m from the hedgerow at canopy level (2 m) was reduced by 27.6% over the entire year and by 39.2% over the summer growing season. This effect leads to a parallel reduction of reference evapotranspiration of 15.5% during the whole year and of 18.4% over the growing season. When applying empirical crop-specific Kc values for well-irrigated grapes, the reduction of evapotranspiration is 18.8% over the summer growth period. The introduced tree shelterbelts are a suitable eco-engineering approach to reduce water consumption and to enhance water saving in vineyards. KW - dry areas KW - viticulture KW - climate change KW - agroforestry Y1 - 2020 UR - https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/web/pse.htm?type=article&id=616_2019-PSE U6 - https://doi.org/10.17221/616/2019-PSE SN - 1214-1178 SN - 1805-9368 VL - 66 IS - 3 SP - 119 EP - 127 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Porada, Philipp A1 - Bader, Maaike Y. A1 - Berdugo, Monica B. A1 - Colesie, Claudia A1 - Ellis, Christopher J. A1 - Giordani, Paolo A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike A1 - Ma, Yunyao A1 - Launiainen, Samuli A1 - Nascimbene, Juri A1 - Petersen, Imke A1 - Raggio Quílez, José A1 - Rodríguez-Caballero, Emilio A1 - Rousk, Kathrin A1 - Sancho, Leopoldo G. A1 - Scheidegger, Christoph A1 - Seitz, Steffen A1 - Van Stan, John T. A1 - Veste, Maik A1 - Weber, Bettina A1 - Weston, David J. T1 - A research agenda for non-vascular photoautotrophs under climate change T2 - New Phytologist N2 - Non-vascular photoautotrophs (NVP), including bryophytes, lichens, terrestrial algae, and cyanobacteria, are increasingly recognized as being essential to ecosystem functioning in many regions of the world. Current research suggests that climate change may pose a substantial threat to NVP, but it is highly uncertain to what extent this will affect the associated ecosystem functions and services. Here, we propose a research agenda to address this urgent question, focusing on physiological and ecological processes that link NVP to ecosystem functions while also taking into account the substantial taxonomic diversity across multiple ecosystem types. Accordingly, we developed a new categorization scheme, based on microclimatic gradients, which simplifies the high physiological and morphological diversity of NVP and worldwide distribution with respect to several broad habitat types. We found that habitat-specific ecosystem functions of NVP will likely be substantially affected by climate change, and more quantitative process understanding is required on (1) potential for acclimation (2) response to elevated CO2 (3) role of the microbiome and (4) feedback to (micro)climate. We suggest an integrative approach of innovative, multi-method laboratory and field experiments and eco-physiological modelling, for which sustained scientific collaboration on NVP research will be essential. KW - biocrusts KW - climate change KW - ecosystem services KW - epiphytes KW - functional traits KW - lichens and bryophytes KW - model–data integration KW - nonvascular vegetation Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18631 SN - 0028-646X SN - 1469-8137 VL - 237 (2023) IS - 5 SP - 1495 EP - 1504 ER - TY - GEN ED - Maltitz, Graham P. von ED - Midgley, Guy F. ED - Veitch, Jennifer ED - Brümmer, Christian ED - Rötter, Reimund P. ED - Viehberg, Finn A. ED - Veste, Maik T1 - Sustainability of Southern African Ecosystems under Global Change N2 - This open access book about the sustainability of marine and terrestrial ecosystems in southern Africa provides a synthesis of the research program Science Partnerships for the Adaptation to Complex Earth System Processes (SPACES II, 2018-2022). It addresses the scientific, social, and economic issues related to climate change, its potential impacts on the various ecosystems, adaptations, and management interventions for enhancing systems resilience in Southern Africa. It is written by numerous scientists from African states and Germany and summarizes the latest research findings, which are of great relevance for a better understanding of climate change impacts, adaptations, and vulnerabilities as well as for developing management options and policy options to reduce the associated risks. This is crucial considering that the projected African population increase is exceptional. Furthermore, climate change is assumed to hit southern Africa extremely hard with a significant increase in extreme events and the frequency of severe droughts, heat waves, and flooding. Southern Africa hosts a high variety of ecosystems, which belongs to important biodiversity hotspots for unique flora and fauna. The surrounding oceans form, in turn, a bottle neck within the ocean’s global thermohaline circulation, act as a still poorly understood carbon sink and source and play an important role for fisheries as they are highly productive. Considering these important aspects, the book is an important interdisciplinary contribution to the scientific literature and will find a wide readership. The book is aimed at students, teachers, and scientists in the fields of terrestrial and marine ecology, environmental, nature and landscape planning, agriculture, environmental and resource management, biodiversity, and nature conservation, as well as scientists and representatives in specialised authorities and associations, nature conservationists, and policy makers of related disciplines. KW - climate change KW - climate impacts KW - SPACES II KW - South Africa KW - Namibia Y1 - 2024 UR - https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-10948-5 SN - 978-3-031-10947-8 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10948-5 PB - Spinger CY - Heidelberg ET - 1. Auflage ER -