IAI-Science-ISP3-077-010:Patterns of production and precipitation-use-efficiency of winter wheat and native grasslands in the central Great Plains of the USA

"The Great Plains of the United States is characterized by a large
west-east gradient in annual precipitation and a similar large north-south
gradient in annual temperature. Native grasslands and winter wheat are found
over a large portion of the precipitation and temperature gradients. In this
article, we use long-term data to analyze the differences in the patterns in
aboveground net primary production and precipitation-use efficiency between
wheat and native grassland ecosystems in the central portion of Great Plains,
and their relationships to potential water availability (precipitation).
Aboveground net primary production of native grasslands shows a large response
to precipitation. Aboveground net primary production of winter wheat has a
smaller response to changing precipitation. Annual precipitation-use efficiency
of native grasslands is unaffected by increases in average annual
precipitation, but precipitation-use efficiency of summer-fallow wheat
ecosystems decreases substantially with increased average precipitation. Our
results suggest that in the wetter portion of the central Great Plains,
summer-fallow wheat management is relatively inefficient, because increased
water availability results in diminishing returns. Comparisons with data from
continuously cropped wheat confirmed this result. Shifts across the region to
continuous cropping of wheat potentially could have significant impacts on
regional wheat yield, carbon balance, and economic status". To read the full
article, access http://link.springer.de/link/service/journals/10021 to obtain
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