INRA - Climate Change

COP21. © INRA, Véronique Gavalda

Climate Change

News

The Miombo woodlands during the pre-rain season © C. Ryan

Press release

13 Aug 2018

Satellite observations reveal secrets of dry tropical forest greening

In dry tropical forests, vegetation takes up water at the end of the wet season and stores it during the driest season of the year. This large amount of stored water enables trees to flush new leaves about one month before the next rainy season. This surprising phenomenon has been revealed for the first time using satellite observations, mainly in the African region of Miombo (around four times the surface area of France), in a study coordinated by the University of Copenhagen and INRA in collaboration with the CEA, CNRS, CNES and Bordeaux Science Agro.

A field of Farandole wheat. © INRA, WEBER Jean

Press release

24 Apr 2018

A clearer understanding of the impact of extreme climate events on wheat yields

France, the major bread-basket for Western Europe, experienced catastrophic yield losses in 2016. Scientists from INRA, CNRS and CEA¹ have shown that in 2016, and in other years, abnormally high temperatures in late autumn accentuated the negative effect on wheat production of excessive rainfall the next spring. These extreme climatic conditions – some of which are likely to recur in the future – raise questions regarding both agricultural production systems and the prediction of crop yields.

Changes in aboveground vegetation carbon stocks in sub-Saharan Africa over 2010–2016. Regions with significant negative (carbon source) or positive (carbon sink) carbon changes are shown, respectively, in red or green. © INRA, M. Brandt – Université de Copenhague

Press release

09 Apr 2018

A new tool to monitor the carbon budget of vegetation: first application to the African continent

How do the vegetation carbon stocks change at the continental scale? What are the drivers of these changes? These are central questions for the sciences of Climate and for the application of international agreements on climate. A study coordinated by the University of Copenhagen (1) has developed a new approach to investigate this issue. In collaboration with scientific teams (2) from CEA, CNES and CNRS, INRA has coordinated the development of the new data set derived from space-borne microwave observations which is used to quantify vegetation carbon stocks. The study demonstrates that over the African continent and during the 2010-2016 period, the net carbon balance is negative (corresponding to a decrease of the quantity of carbon stored in the vegetation biomass) and that most of the carbon losses occurred in dryland savannahs. These results were published on 9th April 2018 in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

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Magazines

27 Nov 2015

4 per 1000 initiative: storing carbon in the soil for food security and climate. © INRA

Soils for food security and the climate

The "4 parts per 1000" initiative proposes to increase organic matter contents and encourage carbon sequestration in soils, through the application of appropriate farming and forestry practices.

12 Feb 2015

Quarry in Saône-et-Loire.. © INRA, PAILLARD Gérard

Symposium at the Salon International de l'Agriculture 2015: soils

The 68^th United Nations General Assembly declared 2015 as the International Year of Soils. INRA thus devoted its symposium at the Salon International de l’Agriculture to "Soils: their services and uses".

05 Nov 2014

. © INRA

Planting a revolution

François Tardieu, Research Director at the Joint Research Unit for Ecophysiology of Plants under Environmental Stress at INRA Montpellier, is the winner of the 2014 Agricultural Research Award for Scientific Excellence.

31 Jan 2013

PhénoArch

Film shot at INRA Montpellier where scientists have a unique experimental platform at their disposal.

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Reports

Bean crop using direct seeding under cover. Experiment in Ponta Grossa (Brazil). © INRA, INRA, Stéphane de Tourdonnet

Conservation agriculture: blazing a trail through research

Guyaflux: a TOWER for measuring the carbon flow. Experimental facility to measure the carbon stocks in the Guyanese forest and the CO2 balance between the forest and the atmosphere. © Ch. Maître

Environmental research infrastructure

L'Unité Expérimentale de Gotheron développe des programmes d'expérimentation-recherche sur les systèmes de production durable en ARBORICULTURE fruitière (abricotiers, pêchers, pommiers, poiriers). © MAITRE Christophe

Water and agriculture

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