The effects of climate change on Chinese Medicinal Yam over North China
under the high-resolution PRECIS projection
Abstract
The arid and semi-arid regions are highly vulnerable to climate change
and variability. Agricultural production in these regions is
particularly vulnerable because of its heavy dependence on on climate
conditions. Therefore, it is important to improve the projections of
future agro-climatic conditions. This study investigates the projections
of agroclimatology change during 2031–2050 under the Representative
Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 emission scenario in the semi-arid North
China. It is simulated by the agro-ecological zone (AEZ) model with
climate data provided by the regional climate model (RCM) of Providing
regional Climates for Impacts Studies (PRECIS). The Chinese Medicinal
Yam (CMY), which is genuinely produced over semi-arid regions, is taken
as an example to study the change of its yield and producing area under
future climate change. The results show that the high-resolution RCM
simulation corresponds better with the observations than the general
circulation model (GCM) in precipitation and temperature. In North
China, the CMY genuine production area, the precipitation will increase
by about 10% and the temperature will increase by about
2oC under the RCP8.5 scenario. After the evaluation
and projection of climate models, the potential yield of CMY and the
suitable planting regions are simulated by using the AEZ model. The CMY
production areas will expand northward in the future, due to the climate
warming in the north. The traditional yam production area still
maintains the suitability of CMY production. The production of CMY will
augment because of the increased production area.