Projecting the effects of climate change on the distribution of maize races and their wild relatives in Mexico

Climate change is expected to be a significant threat to biodiversity, including crop diversity at centers of origin and diversification. As a way to avoid food scarcity in the future, it is important to have a better understanding of the possible impacts of climate change on crops. We evaluated the...

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Main Authors: Ureta, C., Martínez Meyer, E., Perales R.H., Álvarez Buylla, E.R.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Wiley 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/35776
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author Ureta, C.
Martínez Meyer, E.
Perales R.H.
Álvarez Buylla, E.R.
author_browse Martínez Meyer, E.
Perales R.H.
Ureta, C.
Álvarez Buylla, E.R.
author_facet Ureta, C.
Martínez Meyer, E.
Perales R.H.
Álvarez Buylla, E.R.
author_sort Ureta, C.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Climate change is expected to be a significant threat to biodiversity, including crop diversity at centers of origin and diversification. As a way to avoid food scarcity in the future, it is important to have a better understanding of the possible impacts of climate change on crops. We evaluated these impacts on maize, one of the most important crops worldwide, and its wild relatives Tripsacum and Teocintes. Maize is the staple crop in Mexico and Mesoamerica, and there are currently about 59 described races in Mexico, which is considered its center of origin . In this study, we modeled the distribution of maize races and its wild relatives in Mexico for the present and for two time periods in the future (2030 and 2050), to identify the potentially most vulnerable taxa and geographic regions in the face of climate change. Bioclimatic distribution of crops has seldom been modeled, probably because social and cultural factors play an important role on crop suitability. Nonetheless, rainfall and temperature still represent a major influence on crop distribution pattern, particularly in rainfed crop systems under traditional agrotechnology. Such is the case of Mexican maize races and consequently, climate change impacts can be expected. Our findings generally show significant reductions of potential distribution areas by 2030 and 2050 in most cases. However, future projections of each race show contrasting responses to climatic scenarios. Several evaluated races show new potential distribution areas in the future, suggesting that proper management may favor diversity conservation. Modeled distributions of Tripsacum species and Teocintes indicate more severe impacts compared with maize races. Our projections lead to in situ and ex situ conservation recommended actions to guarantee the preservation of the genetic diversity of Mexican maize.
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spelling CGSpace357762025-11-12T05:45:34Z Projecting the effects of climate change on the distribution of maize races and their wild relatives in Mexico Ureta, C. Martínez Meyer, E. Perales R.H. Álvarez Buylla, E.R. biodiversity climate change climatic factors geographical distribution germplasm conservation maize tripsacum wild plants zea mays Climate change is expected to be a significant threat to biodiversity, including crop diversity at centers of origin and diversification. As a way to avoid food scarcity in the future, it is important to have a better understanding of the possible impacts of climate change on crops. We evaluated these impacts on maize, one of the most important crops worldwide, and its wild relatives Tripsacum and Teocintes. Maize is the staple crop in Mexico and Mesoamerica, and there are currently about 59 described races in Mexico, which is considered its center of origin . In this study, we modeled the distribution of maize races and its wild relatives in Mexico for the present and for two time periods in the future (2030 and 2050), to identify the potentially most vulnerable taxa and geographic regions in the face of climate change. Bioclimatic distribution of crops has seldom been modeled, probably because social and cultural factors play an important role on crop suitability. Nonetheless, rainfall and temperature still represent a major influence on crop distribution pattern, particularly in rainfed crop systems under traditional agrotechnology. Such is the case of Mexican maize races and consequently, climate change impacts can be expected. Our findings generally show significant reductions of potential distribution areas by 2030 and 2050 in most cases. However, future projections of each race show contrasting responses to climatic scenarios. Several evaluated races show new potential distribution areas in the future, suggesting that proper management may favor diversity conservation. Modeled distributions of Tripsacum species and Teocintes indicate more severe impacts compared with maize races. Our projections lead to in situ and ex situ conservation recommended actions to guarantee the preservation of the genetic diversity of Mexican maize. 2012-03 2014-06-10T08:26:16Z 2014-06-10T08:26:16Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/35776 en Limited Access application/pdf Wiley Ureta, C.; Martinez-Meyer, E.; Perales R.H.; Alvarez-Buylla, E.R. -2011-Projecting the effects of climate change on the distribution of maize races and their wild relatives in Mexico-Global Change Biology 18(3)-p. 1073-1082
spellingShingle biodiversity
climate change
climatic factors
geographical distribution
germplasm conservation
maize
tripsacum
wild plants
zea mays
Ureta, C.
Martínez Meyer, E.
Perales R.H.
Álvarez Buylla, E.R.
Projecting the effects of climate change on the distribution of maize races and their wild relatives in Mexico
title Projecting the effects of climate change on the distribution of maize races and their wild relatives in Mexico
title_full Projecting the effects of climate change on the distribution of maize races and their wild relatives in Mexico
title_fullStr Projecting the effects of climate change on the distribution of maize races and their wild relatives in Mexico
title_full_unstemmed Projecting the effects of climate change on the distribution of maize races and their wild relatives in Mexico
title_short Projecting the effects of climate change on the distribution of maize races and their wild relatives in Mexico
title_sort projecting the effects of climate change on the distribution of maize races and their wild relatives in mexico
topic biodiversity
climate change
climatic factors
geographical distribution
germplasm conservation
maize
tripsacum
wild plants
zea mays
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/35776
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