A Smart Irrigation Tool to Determine the Effects of ENSO on Water Requirements for Tomato Production in Mozambique

Irrigation scheduling is used by growers to determine the right amount and timing of water application. In most parts of Mozambique, 90% of the total yearly precipitation occurs from November to March. The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon influences the climate in Mozambique and affects the water demand for crop production. The objectives of this work were to quantify the effects of ENSO phenomenon on tomato crop water requirements, and to create the AgroClimate irrigation tool (http://mz.agroclimate.org/) to assist farmers in improving irrigation management. This study was based on daily grid-based climate information from 1983 to 2016 from the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis. Daily crop evapotranspiration was calculated by Hargreaves equation and crop coefficients. This tool is available online and considers different planting dates, ENSO phases, and crop growing season lengths. Irrigation needs varied from less than 250 mm per growing cycle during winter to 550 mm during spring. Both El Niño and La Niña influenced the irrigation scheduling, especially from November to March. El Niño periods were related to increased water demand due to drier and warmer conditions, while the opposite was observed for La Niña. The ENSO information might be used to understand climate variability and improve tomato irrigation scheduling in Mozambique

Artificial neural networks: Modeling tree survival and mortality in the Atlantic Forest biome in Brazil

Models to predict tree survival and mortality can help to understand vegetation dynamics and to predict effects of climate change on native forests. The objective of the present study was to use Artificial Neural Networks, based on the competition index and climatic and categorical variables, to predict tree survival and mortality in Semideciduous Seasonal Forests in the Atlantic Forest biome. Numerical and categorical trees variables, in permanent plots, were used. The Agricultural Reference Index for Drought (ARID) and the distance-dependent competition index were the variables used. The overall efficiency of classification by ANNs was higher than 92% and 93% in the training and test, respectively. The accuracy for classification and number of surviving trees was above 99% in the test and in training for all ANNs. The classification accuracy of the number of dead trees was low. The mortality accuracy rate (10.96% for training and 13.76% for the test) was higher with the ANN 4, which considers the climatic variable and the competition index. The individual tree-level model integrates dendrometric and meteorological variables, representing a new step for modeling tree survival in the Atlantic Forest biome