Biometeorology is theinterdisciplinary field of science that studies the interactions between living things (plants, microbes, vertebrates, invertebrates) and atmospheric phenomena (wind, temperature, humidity, sunlight, greenhouse gas concentrations) on time scales of the order of seasons or shorter (in contrast withbioclimatology).
The field of Biometeorology can be very broad, including roles of weather on: 1) human health; 2) outbreaks of insects and pathogens, 3) the health and production of dairy, cattle, pigs and chickens, 4) frost prevention, 5) irrigation management, 6) modeling of crop growth, yield and crop management, 7) study of phenological growth stages, 8) integrated assessments with remote sensing and 9) future change in these systems with global warming and land use change
Weather events influence biological processes on short time scales. For instance, as theSun rises above the horizon in the morning, light levels become sufficient for the process ofphotosynthesis to take place in plantleaves. Later on, during the day, airtemperature andhumidity may induce the partial or total closure of thestomata, a typical response of many plants to limit the loss of water throughtranspiration. More generally, the daily evolution of meteorological variables controls thecircadian rhythm of plants and animals alike.
Living organisms, for their part, can collectively affect weather patterns. The rate ofevapotranspiration of forests, or of any large vegetated area for that matter, contributes to the release ofwater vapor in the atmosphere. This local, relatively fast and continuous process may contribute significantly to the persistence ofprecipitations in a given area. As another example, thewilting of plants results in definite changes inleaf angle distribution and therefore modifies the rates ofreflection,transmission andabsorption of solar light in these plants. That, in turn, changes thealbedo of the ecosystem as well as the relative importance of thesensible andlatent heat fluxes from the surface to the atmosphere. The height and roughness of vegetation affects wind drag and turbulence. This can alter thelog wind profile above it.
Phenology is another topic studied by biometeorologists. Phenology is a subject that examines features of life history of plants, like when leaf out and flowering occur. These events are often triggered by temperature and heat accumulation indices.
The methods and measurements traditionally used in biometeorology are not different when applied to study the interactions between human bodies and the atmosphere, but some aspects or applications may have been explored more extensively. For instance,wind chill has been investigated to determine the time period an individual can sustain exposure to given temperature and wind conditions. Another important example concerns the study of airborneallergens (such aspollens andaerosols) and their impact on individuals:weather conditions can favor or hinder the release as well as the transport and deposition of these allergens, sometimes severely affecting the well-being of sensitive populations.
Weather'shealth effects:
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