title: Overwintering of herbaceous plants in a changing climate. Still more questions than answers.
abstract: The increase in surface temperature of the Earth indicates a lower risk of exposure for temperate grassland and crop to extremely low temperatures. However, the risk of low winter survival rate, especially in higher latitudes may not be smaller, due to complex interactions among different environmental factors. For example, the frequency, degree and length of extreme winter warming events, leading to snowmelt during winter increased, affecting the risks of anoxia, ice encasement and freezing of plants not covered with snow. Future climate projections suggest that cold acclimation will occur later in autumn, under shorter photoperiod and lower light intensity, which may affect the energy partitioning between the elongation growth, accumulation of organic reserves and cold acclimation. Rising CO2 levels may also disturb the cold acclimation process. Predicting problems with winter pathogens is also very complex, because climate change may greatly influence the pathogen population and because the plant resistance to these pathogens is increased by cold acclimation. All these factors, often with contradictory effects on winter survival, make plant overwintering viability under future climates an open question. Close cooperation between climatologists, ecologists, plant physiologists, geneticists and plant breeders is strongly required to predict and prevent possible problems.
authors.affiliation: University of Agriculture in Kraków, Faculty of Agriculture and Economics, Department of Plant Physiology, ul. Podłużna 3, 30-239 Kraków, Poland. Electronic address: rrrapacz@cyf-kr.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rapacz
authors.affiliation: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Department of Plant Sciences, Box 5003, N-1432 Ås, Norway.
authors.forename: Ashild
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ergon
authors.affiliation: Bioforsk - Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research, Særheim, Postvegen 213, 4353 Klepp, Norway.
authors.forename: Mats
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Höglind
authors.affiliation: Bioforsk - Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research, Holt, Postboks 2284, 9269 Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Marit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jørgensen
authors.affiliation: University of Agriculture in Kraków, Faculty of Agriculture and Economics, Department of Plant Physiology, ul. Podłużna 3, 30-239 Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jurczyk
authors.affiliation: Bioforsk - Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research, Fureneset, 6967 Hellevik i Fjaler, Norway.
authors.forename: Liv
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ostrem
authors.affiliation: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Department of Plant Sciences, Box 5003, N-1432 Ås, Norway.
authors.forename: Odd Arne
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Rognli
authors.affiliation: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Department of Plant Sciences, Box 5003, N-1432 Ås, Norway.
authors.forename: Anne Marte
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tronsmo
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D002980:Climate; D057231:Climate Change; D010935:Plant Diseases; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D010944:Plants; D012621:Seasons; D012914:Snow; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013696:Temperature
keywords: Climate change; Forage grasses; Freezing tolerance; Plant breeding; Snow-mould fungi; Winter hardiness