The 2007 eastern US spring freeze: Increased cold damage in a warming world?

Lianhong Gu; Paul J. Hanson; W. Mac Post; Dale P. Kaiser; Bai Yang; Ramakrishna Nemani; Stephen G. Pallardy; Tilden Meyers

doi:10.1641/B580311

The 2007 eastern US spring freeze: Increased cold damage in a warming world?

Lianhong Gu, Paul J. Hanson, W. Mac Post, Dale P. Kaiser, Bai Yang, Ramakrishna Nemani, Stephen G. Pallardy, Tilden Meyers

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

517 Scopus citations

Abstract

Plant ecologists have long been concerned with a seemingly paradoxical scenario in the relationship between plant growth and climate change: warming may actually increase the risk of plant frost damage. The underlying hypothesis is that mild winters and warm, early springs, which are expected to occur as the climate warms, may induce premature plant development, resulting in exposure of vulnerable plant tissues and organs to subsequent late-season frosts. The 2007 spring freeze in the eastern United States provides an excellent opportunity to evaluate this hypothesis and assess its large-scale consequences. In this article, we contrast the rapid prefreeze phenological advancement caused by unusually warm conditions with the dramatic postfreeze setback, and report complicated patterns of freeze damage to plants. The widespread devastation of crops and natural vegetation occasioned by this event demonstrates the need to consider large fluctuations in spring temperatures a real threat to terrestrial ecosystem structure and functioning in a warming climate.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	253-262
Number of pages	10
Journal	BioScience
Volume	58
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1641/B580311
State	Published - Mar 2008

Funding

This study draws from work on the Missouri Ozark Ameri-Flux project—a joint effort of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the University of Missouri, and the National Oceanic and Aeronautics Administration (Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division), multiyear observations of the Throughfall Displacement Experiment and Walker Branch Watershed studies, and the Integrated Terrestrial Carbon Model project. All projects are supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research Program, Environmental Science Division. ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the US Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. Support from the US Department of Energy for the University of Missouri (grant DE-FG02-03ER63683) is also gratefully acknowledged. We thank Tris West and Rosier Matamala for lending us the switchgrass pictures. We appreciate the comments and suggestions from Charles Garten, Dennis Baldocchi, Rich Norby, and three anonymous reviewers, which greatly improved the article.

Funders	Funder number
Biological and Environmental Research Program, Environmental Science Division
US Department of Energy
US Department of Energy for the University of Missouri	DE-FG02-03ER63683
Office of Science
Oak Ridge National Laboratory	DE-AC05-00OR22725

Keywords

Carbon cycle
Climate warming
Extreme temperature fluctuation
Frost damage
Plant phenology

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1641/B580311

Cite this

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title = "The 2007 eastern US spring freeze: Increased cold damage in a warming world?",

abstract = "Plant ecologists have long been concerned with a seemingly paradoxical scenario in the relationship between plant growth and climate change: warming may actually increase the risk of plant frost damage. The underlying hypothesis is that mild winters and warm, early springs, which are expected to occur as the climate warms, may induce premature plant development, resulting in exposure of vulnerable plant tissues and organs to subsequent late-season frosts. The 2007 spring freeze in the eastern United States provides an excellent opportunity to evaluate this hypothesis and assess its large-scale consequences. In this article, we contrast the rapid prefreeze phenological advancement caused by unusually warm conditions with the dramatic postfreeze setback, and report complicated patterns of freeze damage to plants. The widespread devastation of crops and natural vegetation occasioned by this event demonstrates the need to consider large fluctuations in spring temperatures a real threat to terrestrial ecosystem structure and functioning in a warming climate.",

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AU - Kaiser, Dale P.

AU - Yang, Bai

AU - Nemani, Ramakrishna

AU - Pallardy, Stephen G.

AU - Meyers, Tilden

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AB - Plant ecologists have long been concerned with a seemingly paradoxical scenario in the relationship between plant growth and climate change: warming may actually increase the risk of plant frost damage. The underlying hypothesis is that mild winters and warm, early springs, which are expected to occur as the climate warms, may induce premature plant development, resulting in exposure of vulnerable plant tissues and organs to subsequent late-season frosts. The 2007 spring freeze in the eastern United States provides an excellent opportunity to evaluate this hypothesis and assess its large-scale consequences. In this article, we contrast the rapid prefreeze phenological advancement caused by unusually warm conditions with the dramatic postfreeze setback, and report complicated patterns of freeze damage to plants. The widespread devastation of crops and natural vegetation occasioned by this event demonstrates the need to consider large fluctuations in spring temperatures a real threat to terrestrial ecosystem structure and functioning in a warming climate.

KW - Carbon cycle

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The 2007 eastern US spring freeze: Increased cold damage in a warming world?

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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