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How can we stop the local impacts of climate change on Maple Syrup.
Problems
-Winters are getting shorter and milder, with snowpack melting some two weeks earlier. But soil thaw is no longer tightly coupled with spring plant growth, creating a transitional period that results in the loss of important soil nutrients.
-In the absence of insulating snowpack, exposed soils are more susceptible to freezing, which damages tree roots.
-warmer winters reduce sap yield.
-As snow depth decreases, deer are better able to forage in the forest. Their browsing damages young trees and spreads a parasite that is lethal to moose.
-Some are very concerned about what effect this warmer, less snowy winter will have on the maple industry.
-They increase the rate of evapotranspiration, which is the total evaporation of water from soil, plants and water bodies. This can have a direct effect on the frequency and intensity of droughts.
-A warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour. The atmosphere now holds 4% more water vapour than it did 40 years ago as a result of increasing temperatures. This increases the risk of extreme rainfall events.
-Changes in sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) also have an effect by bringing about associated changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation. This has been implicated in some droughts, particularly in the tropics.
These changes don't automatically generate extreme weather events but they change the odds that such events will take place. It is equivalent to the loading of dice, leading to one side being heavier, so that a certain outcome becomes more likely. In the context of global warming, this means that rising temperatures increase the odds of extreme events occurring
What can we do to help the situation
As a good start we have ended coal-fired electricity generation in the province, that would help to contribute to maintaining the weather conditions that would give us at least the 30 days of appropriate weather that we need for making Maple syrup.
In Ontario, we’re taking action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and go low-carbon by
Toronto’s Sugar Beach, said he’s concerned it’s going to be a very bad year.
A season normally produces 1,000 gallons of syrup.. Producers are worried the weather will cut production in half.
Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at the University of Guelph’s Food Institute, predicted months ago that El Niño would make 2016 a bad year for maple syrup — and the recent warm weather in Quebec, which produces more than 70% of the world’s maple syrup, and in Ontario, which makes 10%, may be proving him right.
Maple trees produce sap when spring temperatures dip significantly below zero at night and warm during the day. Recently, it’s been too warm for that to happen.
When supply is lower, the price tends to go up. But, the reasons are aren’t simple as just supply and demand
Whether or not the weather will cool enough for the sap to flow again is up for debate in the syrup community
http://www.fultons.ca/how-to-make-your-own-syrup
http://www.wmtw.com/weather/cold-weather-slows-maple-syrup-production/31929908
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121120122045.htm
http://extension.psu.edu/business/ag-alternatives/forestry/maple-syrup-production
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1 Comment(s)
Isabella
Other students in other schools are also looking at Maple Syrup. You might want to check out their blogs.
Stephen MacKinnon
Apr 5, 2016