Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Adapting to extreme climates: raising animals in hot and arid ecosystems in Australia

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Biometeorology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of adaptation to extreme climate changes using the Australian animal husbandry data. The paper finds that farmers have adapted to a hot and arid climate regime through animal husbandry. The number of sheep vastly increases into arid ecosystems while the number of beef cattle does not decline in high temperatures. In the future climate system in which Australia becomes hotter and more arid, we predict that farmers will increase by large percentages the numbers of beef cattle and/or sheep owned in order to adapt to a highly unfavorable climate condition, especially into the arid ecosystems. This paper shows how humanity has adapted to climate extremes taking into account changing ecosystems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The statistics are calculated from all the Local Statistical Areas of Australia without exceptions.

  2. That is, we exclude major cities with 75 % of its population living in an urban setting.

  3. Temperature variables are 30 year averages, i.e., climate normals (Seo 2013b). Average temperature is highly correlated with precipitation variation measured as coefficient of variation in precipitation (CVP) with correlation coefficient around 0.85. Hence, we used the average temperature for the regressions throughout the paper.

  4. A2 scenario is one of the most severe climate change scenarios which assume rapid economic growth by using up fossil fuels, and the carbon-dependent culture remains the same as today’s.

References

  • Adams R, Rosenzweig C, Peart RM, Ritchie JT, McCarl BA, Glyer JD, Curry RB, Jones JW, Boote KJ, Allen LH (1990) Global climate change and US agriculture. Nature 345:219–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ainsworth EA, Long SP (2005) What have we learned from 15 years of free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE)? A meta-analysis of the responses of photosynthesis, canopy properties and plant production to rising CO2. New Phytology 165:351–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amundson JL, Mader TL, Rasby RJ, Hu QS (2006) Environmental effects on pregnancy rate in beef cattle. J Anim Sci 84:3415–3420

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2010a) Year book of Australia, 2009–2010. The Australian Government, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2010b) National regional profile, 2005–2009. The Australian Government, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • Butt TA, McCarl BA, Angerer J, Dyke PT, Stuth JW (2005) The economic and food security implications of climate change in Mali. Clim Chang 68:355–378

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CSIRO (2008) Sustainability in Australia’s arid lands. Canberra, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Danielson JJ, Gesch DB (2011) Global multi-resolution terrain elevation data 2010 (GMTED2010). U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1073, 26 p

  • Deschenes O, Greenstone M (2012) The economic impacts of climate change: evidence from agricultural output and random fluctuations in weather: reply. Am Econ Rev 102:3761–3773

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Driessen P, Deckers J, Nachtergaele F (2001) Lecture notes on the major soils of the world. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Dudal R (1980) Soil-Related Constraints to Agricultural Development in the Tropics. International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Philippines.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterling WE, Aggarwal PK, Batima P, Brander KM, Erda L, Howden SM, Kirilenko A, Morton J, Soussana J-F, Schmidhuber J, Tubiello FN (2007) Food, fibre and forest products. In: Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 273–313

  • Emanuel K (2005) Increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the past 30 years. Nature 436:686–688

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Evenson R, Gollin D (2003) Assessing the impact of the Green Revolution 1960–2000. Science 300:758–762.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fischlin A, Midgley GF, Price JT, Leemans R, Gopal B, Turley C, Rounsevell MDA, Dube OP, Tarazona J, Velichko AA (2007) Ecosystems, their properties, goods, and services. In: Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

  • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2003) The digital soil map of the world (DSMW) CD-ROM. Rome

  • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2005) Global Agro-ecological Assessment for Agriculture in the Twenty-first Century. CD-ROM. FAO Land and Water Digital Media Series. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford J, Katondo KM (1977) Maps of tsetse fly (Glossina) distribution in Africa, 1973, according to subgeneric groups on a scale of 1:5000000. Bull Anim Health Prod Afr 15:187–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox NJ, Marion G, Davidson RS, White PCL, Hutchings MR (2012) Livestock Helminths in a changing climate: approaches and restrictions to meaningful predictions. Animals 2:93–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garnaut R (2010) Climate change and the Australian agricultural and resource industries. Aust J Agric Resour Econ 54:9–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon C, Cooper C, Senior CA, Banks HT, Gregory JM, Johns TC, Mitchell JFB, Wood RA (2000) The simulation of SST, sea ice extents and ocean heat transports in a version of the Hadley Centre coupled model without flux adjustments. Clim Dyn 16:147–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hahn GL, Gaughan JB, Mader TL, Eigenberg RA (2009) Chapter 5: Thermal indices and their applications for livestock environments. In: J. A. DeShazer, ed. Livestock energetics and thermal environmental management, 113–130. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASABE. Copyright 2009 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. ASABE # 801M0309. ISBN 1-892769-74-3

  • Hansen J, Sato M, Reudy R (2012) Perception of climate change. Proc Natl Sci Acad USA. doi:10.1073/pnas.1205276109

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann I (2010) Climate change and the characterization, breeding and conservation of animal genetic resources. Anim Genet 41:32–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2013) Summary for policy makers, climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Joyce LA, Mills JR, Heath LS, McGuire AD, Haynes RW, Birdsey RA (1995) Forest sector impacts from changes in forest productivity under climate change. J Biogeogr 22:703–713

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keeling CD, Piper SC, Bacastow RB, Wahlen M, Whorf TP, Heimann M, Meijer HA (2005) Atmospheric CO2 and 13CO2 exchange with the terrestrial biosphere and oceans from 1978 to 2000: observations and carbon cycle implications. In: Ehleringer JR, Cerling TE, Dearing MD (eds) A history of atmospheric CO2 and its effects on plants, animals, and ecosystems. SpringerVerlag, New York, pp 83–113

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Matthews E (1983) Global vegetation and land use: new high-resolution data bases for climate studies. J Clim Appl Meteorol 22(3):474–487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendelsohn R, Nordhaus W, Shaw D (1994) The impact of global warming on agriculture: a Ricardian analysis. Am Econ Rev 84:753–771

    Google Scholar 

  • New M, Lister D, Hulme M, Makin I (2002) A high-resolution data set of surface climate over global land areas. Clim Res 21:1–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nordhaus W (2013) The climate casino: risk, uncertainty, and economics for a warming world. Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Parry ML, Rosenzweig CP, Iglesias A, Livermore M, Fischer G (2004) Effects of climate change on global food production under SRES emissions and socioeconomic scenarios. Glob Environ Chang 14:53–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlenker W, Roberts M (2009) Nonlinear temperature effects indicate severe damages to crop yields under climate change. Proc Natl Sci Acad U S 106(37):15594–15598

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt GA, Ruedy R, Hansen JE et al (2005) Present day atmospheric simulations using GISS ModelE: comparison to in-situ, satellite and reanalysis data. J Clim 19:153–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN (2010a) Is an integrated farm more resilient against climate change? A micro-econometric analysis of portfolio diversification in African agriculture. Food Policy 35:32–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN (2010b) A microeconometric analysis of adapting portfolios to climate change: adoption of agricultural systems in Latin America. Appl Econ Perspect Policy 32:489–514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN (2011) A geographically scaled analysis of adaptation with spatial models using agricultural systems in Africa. J Agric Sci 149:437–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN (2012a) Adapting natural resource enterprises under global warming in South America: a mixed logit analysis. Econ: J Lat Am Caribb Econ Assoc 12:111–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN (2012b) Decision making under climate risks: an analysis of sub-Saharan farmers’ adaptation behaviors. Weather Clim Soc 4:285–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN (2013a) Refining spatial resolution and spillovers of a microeconometric model of adapting portfolios to climate change. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Chang 18:1019–1034

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN (2013b) An essay on the impact of climate change on US agriculture: weather fluctuations, climatic shifts, and adaptation strategies. Clim Chang 121:115–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN (2014) Evaluation of Agro-Ecological Zone methods for the study of climate change with micro farming decisions in sub-Saharan Africa. Eur J Agron 52:157–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN, McCarl B (2011) Managing livestock species under climate change in Australia. Animals 1:343–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN, Mendelsohn R (2008) Measuring impacts and adaptations to climate change: a structural Ricardian model of African livestock management. Agric Econ 38:151–165

    Google Scholar 

  • Seo SN, Mendelsohn R, Dinar A, Hassan R, Kurukulasuriya P (2009) A Ricardian analysis of the distribution of climate change impacts on agriculture across Agro-Ecological Zones in Africa. Environ Resour Econ 43:313–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw MR, Zavaleta ES, Chiariello NR, Cleland EE, Mooney HA, Field CB (2002) Grassland responses to global environmental changes suppressed by elevated CO2. Science 298:1987–1990

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tubiello FN, Amthor JA, Boote KJ, Donatelli M, Easterling W, Fischer G, Gifford RM, Howden M, Reilly J, Rosenzweig C (2007) Crop response to elevated CO2 and world food supply. Eur J Agron 26:215–223

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (2007) Census of Agriculture 2007, Available at http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2007/index.php

  • van Dijk J, Sargison ND, Kenyon F, Skuce PJ (2010) Climate change and infectious disease: helminthological challenges to farmed ruminants in temperate regions. Animal 4:377–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang W, Hagerman AD, McCarl BA (2013) How climate factors influence the spatial distribution of Texas cattle breeds. Clim Chang 118:183–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    S. Niggol Seo

Authors
  1. S. Niggol Seo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Niggol Seo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Seo, S.N. Adapting to extreme climates: raising animals in hot and arid ecosystems in Australia. Int J Biometeorol 59, 541–550 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-014-0867-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-014-0867-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation