Global climate change is expected to produce increased carbon dioxide
levels in the atmosphere, higher temperatures, aberrant precipitation
patterns and a host of other climatic changes that would affect all life
on this planet. This review article addresses the impact of climate
change on fruit trees and the response of the trees to a changing
environment. The response of fruit trees to increasing carbon dioxide
levels, phenological changes occurring in the trees themselves due to
increased temperature and the lower chilling hours especially in the
temperate regions, ecophysiological adaptations of the trees to the
changing climate, impact of aberrant precipitation, etc. are reviewed.
There is very little data on the impact of rising CO2 levels on fruit
tree performance or productivity including the temperate region. Based
on a large number of observations on the phenology, there is reason to
believe that the flowering and fruiting of most species have advanced by
quite a few days, but with variations in different crops and on
different continents. The chilling hours have also grown shorter in many
regions, causing considerable reductions in yield for several species.
In the tropics, there is very little work on fruit trees; however, the
available data show that precipitation is a major factor regulating
their phenology and yield. The ecophysiological adaptations vary from
species to species, and there is a need to develop phenological models
in order to estimate the impact of climate change on plant development
in different regions of the world. More research is also called for to
develop adaptation strategies to circumvent the negative impacts of
climate change.
