Charles W. Culpepper

Bio: Charles W. Culpepper is an academic researcher from United States Department of Agriculture. The author has contributed to research in topics: Petiole (botany) & Asparagus. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 10 publications receiving 101 citations.

Starting dates and basic temperatures in phenological observations of plants

Abstract: Several methods have been used in plant phenology to find the best starting date in spring and the best threshold or basic temperature for growth and development of perennial plants. In the present paper the date giving the highest correlation coefficient for development to various phenophases, in relation to 24-hourly mean air temperatures was chosen as the best starting value in further analyses. For many woody plants this date was very often found to be 1 April based on phenological and climatological observations at about 60 sites in western Norway (at about 61°N). The early flowering species Corylus avellana and Salix caprea and the early leaf-bud breaking Prunus padus seemed to start development earlier in Spring, while the late sprouting Fraxinus excelsior showed the highest correlation coefficient using 15 April. If daytime temperatures were used in the calculations, the ”best” starting date was generally found to be later than for the 24-hour mean temperatures. This variation must be seen as resulting from the different basic temperatures for the development of various species. Estimates of basic temperatures in various species and periods may be given, for example by finding the value having the least variance in heat sums or by various regression analyses. A technique has been developed to minimise the influence of significance of correlation, using the intercept with the temperature axis by merging the two least squares rectilinear regression lines that can be found between plant development and mean air temperature (from the estimated best starting date) at r=+1 or –1. The basic temperature seemed to vary from –5.9°C for leaf-bud break of P. padus to 5.5°C for leaf-bud break of F. excelsior, with basic temperatures of several other woody plants having intermediate values. These values are compared with those found by other methods.

Determining degree-day thresholds from field observations

Abstract: This paper compares several methods for determining degree-day (°D) threshold temperatures from field observations. Three of the methods use the mean developmental period temperature and simple equations to estimate: (1) the smallest standard deviation in °D, (2) the least standard deviation in days, and (3) a linear regression intercept. Two additional methods use iterations of cumulative °D and threshold temperatures to determine the smallest root mean square error (RMSE). One of the iteration methods uses a linear model and the other uses a single triangle °D calculation method. The method giving the best results was verified by comparing observed and predicted phenological periods using 7 years of kiwifruit data and 10 years of cherry tree data. In general, the iteration method using the single triangle method to calculate °D provided threshold temperatures with the smallest RMSE values. However, the iteration method using a linear °D model also worked well. Simply using a threshold of zero gave predictions that were nearly as good as those obtained using the other two methods. The smallest standard deviation in °D performed the worst. The least standard deviation in days and the regression methods did well sometimes; however, the threshold temperatures were sometimes negative, which does not support the idea that development rates are related to heat units.

Effects of climate change on stream temperature, dissolved oxygen, and sediment concentration in the Sierra Nevada in California

Abstract: [1] Warmer temperatures are expected to raise mountain stream temperatures, affecting water quality and ecosystem health. We demonstrate the importance of climate-driven changes in hydrology as fundamental to understanding changes in the local water quality. In particular, we focus on changes in stream temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations, and sediment transport in mountainous, snowmelt-dominated, and water-limited systems, using the Sierra Nevada as our case study. Downscaled output from an ensemble of general circulation model projections for the A2 (higher greenhouse gas) emission scenario was used to drive the Soil and Water Assessment Tool with a new integrated stream temperature model on the subbasin scale. Spring and summer stream temperature increase by 1°C–5.5°C, with varying increases among subbasins. The highest projected stream temperatures are in the low-elevation subbasins of the southern Sierra Nevada, while the northern Sierra Nevada, with distinct impacts on snowmelt and subsurface flow contributions to streamflow, shows moderated increases. The spatial pattern of stream temperature changes was the result of differences in surface and subsurface hydrologic, snowmelt, and air temperature changes. Concurrent with stream temperature increases and decreases in spring and summer flows, simulations indicated decreases in DO (10%) and sediment (50%) concentrations by 2100. Stream temperature and DO concentrations for several major streams decline below survival thresholds for several native indicator species. These results highlight that climatic changes in water-limited mountain systems may drive changes in water quality that have to be understood on the reach scale for developing adaptive management options.