While research is ongoing to try to understand how the more than 1,000 aroma compounds identified in wine affect our flavor perception, many compounds appear to be sensitive to climate, particularly in the later stages of grape ripening. Some desirable compounds like rotundone, which gives Syrah its typical black pepper aroma, appear to accumulate more at cooler sites and in cooler years, so warmer-climate Syrahs have less of this character. Winegrowers and winemakers have many options to adapt to warming climates. Growers are experimenting with new wine regions, cooler locations within existing regions (such as moving from warmer valleys to cooler hillsides), trying new varieties better suited to warmer conditions, and farming methods that provide more shade on the fruit. Winemakers can use approaches including alcohol removal and acid addition to improve wine balance. Steps like these can go a long way towards preserving great wines under climate change. Ultimately, though, there are economic and biophysical limits to this adaptation. There are also cultural limitations: the know-how and sense of place that growers cultivate along with the land over generations of family farming is not easily moved, and consumers have come to expect a distinct flavor profile from wines from their preferred regions. Great wine is grown, not made; it reflects its place of origin. If the climate changes even a little bit, local knowledge and skills that have taken generations to hone can become less relevant, even in familiar territory. But the changes we’re facing in climate are not small ones. Under our current trajectory of fossil fuel use, scientists project that the global average temperature will increase 4.7 to 8.6°F (2.6 to 4.8°C) over the next few generations. Even the low end of this range would be the difference in annual average temperatures between the winegrowing regions of Napa and Fresno today. Currently, Cabernet grapes from cooler Napa are worth more than 10 times as much as those from Fresno- a difference of over $3,000 a ton. Wine illustrates our deep reliance on nature to provide us with everything we need to live, and many of the things that make life worth living. We are in a moment of critical climate choices. Choosing to limit climate change gives us more options for a more healthy, thriving, fair, and delicious world- including more of the traditional flavors of your favorite wines.
Led by Kate Brauman from the University of Minnesota, and along with Bonnie Keeler from the Natural Capital Project, we are convening an Ecosystem Services session at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, California. The meeting will be December 15-19, 2014 (we'll find out the exact date of our session in the fall).
We promise excellent, innovative science, and the best selection of chocolate at AGU! Please submit an abstract by clicking on the session link below. Submission Deadline: Wednesday, 6 August 2014. Session 2163: Ecosystem Services: Translating Biophysical Functions to Human Benefits and Values Climate change and land-use changes affect many of the benefits that people derive from nature. Maintaining important ecosystem services requires improved measurement and management of service delivery. However, our ability to model and predict changes in ecosystem services requires linking measures of ecosystem structure and function (e.g., net primary productivity, water flows and quality) with information on the preferences of beneficiaries in order to quantify the goods and services that directly benefit people (e.g., crop yields, flood protection, disease reduction, enhanced recreation). This session will highlight work from a range of disciplines and research areas focused on the nexus of biophysical science and ecosystem service assessment. Submissions that go even further along this causal chain, examining how ecosystem services translate into benefits (e.g., contribute to human health and well-being) and values (both monetary and non-), are especially encouraged. |
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