Abstract

BARRADAS, Víctor L.; TAPIA VARGAS, Luis Mario  and  CERVANTES PEREZ, Juan. Consequences of climate change on the plant ecophysiology of a temperate forest in Veracruz. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2011, vol.2, n.spe2, pp.183-194. ISSN 2007-0934.

Global climate change is a phenomenon in which uncertainty prevails, due to the complexity and controversial nature of the not-matching answers of different models of climate change, thereby, generating confusing forecasts. Therefore, the danger facing by our planet's living organisms could be greater than is thought. Similarly, climate change involves not only a change in temperature and precipitation or the variables or climate change indices that are related to these, but also in all climate variables; since they all act together. On the other hand, the effect of climate change on living organisms is studied using models of potential distribution of species or niche that only consider the rates of climate change which are complex and imprecise. Thus, the results of the potential effect of climate change on any living species are much more controversial and imprecise. This paper presents an abstraction of the possible consequences of this phenomenon in the vegetation, from a functional point of view. In order to perform this, some aspects of climate change in the central region of Veracruz, Mexico are presented and its possible effect on pine and oak species, using an ecophysiological model based on stomatal function and its dependence on microclimatic variables.

Keywords : plant ecophysiology; precipitation trends; stomatal conductance; water potential.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )