The effect of climate change on thermal bioclimate indices in the Iasi region

Abstract

The influence of environmental factors on plant growth and development is a well-known fact, and in agrometeorology, bioclimatic indices are used to quantify this influence. In recent years, plant growth technologies have been manipulating these factors to ensure the optimal conditions needed to improve agricultural production. In greenhouses, these factors can be controlled to ensure optimal growing conditions, but in the field, plants will be influenced by their variation. In order to understand how bioclimatic indicesvary as a result of climate change, we propose the evaluation of the most important thermal index in horticulture, namely the growing degree days index. The analysis of the air growing degree days is important to be able to calculate the state of vegetation in which the plant is, but also to estimate the period when it passes from one growing stage to another. Global warming has as a consequence the increase of the heat accumulated by the plant in a season, which is calculated as the number of temperature degrees accumulated during the vegetation period (from April 1st to September 30th). In the present study, we evaluated how this indicator has changed in Iasi in the last 6 decades. The results show a significant increase in the accumulated temperature degrees during growing seasonwhich requires an agroclimatological study on future plant varieties that will be grown in the coming years.