Vera Potopová

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague | CULS · Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources

Integrated modelling of climate change impacts in the soil–plant–atmosphere system can improve agroecosystem resilience and resource use efficiency. For the research on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), bell sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum L.), and winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.), the CSM-CROPGRO-Tomato, CSM-CROPGRO-Papper and CSM-CROPGRO-Ca...

This study analyzes the relationship between drought processes and crop yields in Moldova, together with the effects of possible future climate change on crops. The severity of drought is analyzed over time in Moldova using the Standard Precipitation Index, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, and their relationship with crop yi...

Continued pressure on agricultural land, food insecurity, and required adaptation to climate change have made integrated assessment and modelling of future agro-ecosystems development increasingly important. Compound climate extreme events (CEs) can pose significant threats to societies, economies, and ecosystems around the world. When modelling pa...

A recent rise in the global brewery sector has increased the demand for high-quality, late summer hops. The effects of ongoing and predicted climate change on the yield and aroma of hops, however, remain largely unknown. Here, we combine meteorological measurements and model projections to assess the climate sensitivity of the yield, alpha content...

The agricultural land represents the most important form of land use, accounting for almost 48% of the European land area. Europe- Despite its relatively small share of global agriculture land total area (9.8%), has been one of the world’s largest and most productive suppliers of food and fibre. Europe accounted for 17.6% of the global cereal produ...

The methodology is based on linking growth models, regional climate models with experimental fields as tools for predicting the development of the production process of thermophilic vegetables and yield parameters of new oilseed rape varieties tested in the context of climate change. For the research on thermophilic vegetables and oilseed rape, soi...

The livestock system in Europe relies on a complex holistic equilibrium that is the outcome of an interplay of demand, market, crop production, livestock production, land use, water availability, and other factors. When modeling future scenarios of water consumption by livestock systems, the most suitable tools result from the interconnectivity of...

Danube countries have witnessed numerous waves of drought events, causing significant agro-economic loss, but three consecutive dry years amplified the debate on how to deal with future drought risk. The European drought of 2022 has shown how important it is to look at food security from an environmental droughts risk assessment approach. The coupl...

Methodology for simulating crop production, water and nutrient management, climate risks, and environmental sustainability in DSSAT Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are critical risks for every region due to global warming. Adapting to these changes for sustainable crop production is an urgent challenge for those who manage the environme...

Methodology for simulating crop production, water and nutrient management, climate risks, and environmental sustainability in DSSAT Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are critical risks for every region due to global warming. Adapting to these changes for sustainable crop production is an urgent challenge for those who manage the environme...

To date, assessing the adaptive measures to climate change effects on cropping systems have generally been based on data from field trials and crop models. This strategy can only explore a restricted number of options with a limited spatial extent. Therefore, we designed a questionnaire that incorporated both qualitative and quantitative aspects of...

There are few studies about the ability of CROPGRO-Tomato model to simulate tomato growth under field conditions as a function of both local weather and soil conditions. The aim of this work was to calibrate the CROPGRO-Tomato model, included in the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) software, for the Thomas F1 indeterminat...

For the first time, this study analyzed the changes in observed soil temperature anomalies in detail at five stratified depths over various time scales in the Czech Republic. From 2000 to 2020, data from 49 weather stations were used, which also incorporated a unique 69-year series of soil temperature measurements from the Doksany station, where me...

This study quantified the crop water consumption, crop-specific irrigation requirements, and availability of water resources to catchments under climate change in the Czech Republic (CZ). Within the SoilClim model and BILAN-WATERES hydrological water balance modeling process, we tried to answer the question of whether there are at least theoretical...

This study analyses long‐term changes in drought indices (Standardised Precipitation Index—SPI, Standardised Precipitation–Evapotranspiration Index—SPEI) at 1 and 3 months scales at 182 stations in 11 central and eastern European countries during 1949–2018. For comparative purposes, the necessary atmospheric evaporative demand (AED) to obtain SPEI...

Compound climate events in which only one variable is extreme (e.g., either hot but no drought or extreme drought but not hot) and events in which both variables are extreme (e.g., drought and heat waves) may have different impacts on hop yields and alpha‐bitter acid contents. Increasing occurrences of compound drought and heat events have led to i...

Evaporation from open water surfaces is often estimated based on the pan evaporation (Epan), which is an essential measure for estimating atmospheric evaporative demand. Within the Central European region, Epan appears to be slightly underestimated in the case of the hydrological balance of water bodies. In the context of the recent multi-year peri...

The transboundary Prut River basin (PRB) is one of the most drought vulnerable areas in the Republic of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine. The main objective of this study was to identify the response of hydrological drought to climatic conditions and cropping practice in a region with insufficient water resources. The presented work takes advantage of...

This chapter is based on outcomes of the working group 3 Questionnaire of the COST Action ES1404 (www.harmosnow.eu) and provides a discussion of snow data assimilation in research and operational applications, which will be presented in detail in a manuscript (Helmert et al., 2018).

The Europe is the main world player in the hops market with a total production representing over 50% of world s hop production. Hops are produced by fourteen EU Member States although Germany and the Czech Republic together account for over 80% of total EU production by volume. The total trade between Member States is about 40% of annual production...

The European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action ES1404 "HarmoSnow", entitled, "A European network for a harmonized monitoring of snow for the benefit of climate change scenarios, hydrology and numerical weather prediction" (2014-2018) aims to coordinate efforts in Europe to harmonize approaches to validation, and methodologies of s...

This study proposes a simple methodology for assessing future-projected evolution of water cycle components (precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and potential runoff) based on the two-level Palmer model of the soil and their impact on drought conditions at basin level. The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) is used as drought metric. Th...

The main objective of this study was to project changes in the evolution of drought characteristics (frequency, duration and magnitude) during the 21st century in lowlands, highlands and mountainous regions in the Czech Republic (CR). We focused on the multi-scalar nature of droughts as a function of the variables that govern the balance of moistur...

The timing of maturity of grapes depends on the weather conditions during the growing season. This study relies on the dependence of harvest dates on the air temperature and dry/wet conditions. Recorded observations show that increases in air temperature and dryness are associated with earlier grape harvests. Documentary data of grape harvests from...

The response of field-grown vegetables to adverse weather conditions is strongly coupled to the timing of adverse events, the sensitivity of the growth stage of the impacted crop and the management actions that are taken. To estimate the long-term yield response to changes in temperature and precipitation as well as the short-term response to key a...

El estudio se centra en los perjuicios causados por las sequías sobre los cultivos en las regiones bajas de la República Checa. Grandes pérdidas en los cultivos se han atribuido a las sequías, a menudo en combinación con el calor y otros tipos de estress. El objetivo de este trabajo fue investigar el efecto de las sequías cuantificado mediante el Í...

The life history of polysphinctine parasitoids is poorly understood. As a result, their effect on their host has not been evaluated. Here, we present the phenology of Zatypota percontatoria, an ectoparasitoid wasp of theridiid spiders, using rich field, semi-field and laboratory investigations of selected life-history parameters. The wasps overwint...

This study presents a detailed analysis on the role of snow cover during the cold season (October–March) on soil moisture deficit and drought development during the growing season (April–September) in the lowland and highland sites in the Czech Republic. Besides daily, weekly and seasonal series of basic snow-cover characteristics [the first day an...

This research aimed to identify an approach for adaptation of agriculture to increased climate variability and projected changes, taking into account regional specificity of climate change. Changes in the timing of growing season (GS) parameters for both observation and models data were computed using daily mean temperatures for three thresholds th...

Crop loss due to drought is a complex issue, because it changes according to the drought intensity and duration, and the developmental stage of the plants when drought occurs. In order to assess the drought-induced decline in crop harvest, drought variability and the yield sensitivity of winter wheat, maize, sugar beet, and sunflower to drought dur...

In this study we investigated the influence of drought on crop productivity and, in particular, the drought time-scales that affect the growth of eleven agricultural crops with growth cycles of different lengths in the Czech Republic. In addition, the performance of the standardised precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) at various lags for...

This study deals with agroclimatic assessment of variability of the growing season length for sugar beet cultivation over the period 1961-2013 in Central Bohemia. For the purpose of the analysis, the number of favourable days during sowing, germination, and final harvest periods was identified. In the decade 1961-1970 the growing season was shorter...

In this study, the SPEI is calculated monthly by considering the cumulative precipitation minus cumulative potential evapotranspiration, respectively, over the past number of months relative to historical conditions. The SPEI is based on the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith estimation of potential evapotranspiration with spatial resolution of 0.5º lat × 0.5...

In this study, the SPEI is calculated monthly by considering the cumulative precipitation minus cumulative potential evapotranspiration, respectively, over the past number of months relative to historical conditions. The SPEI is based on the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith estimation of potential evapotranspiration with spatial resolution of 0.5 degrees lat...

This study has, for the first time, analyzed the potential impacts of climate change on damaging frost during growing season of vegetable crops at a high horizontal resolution of 10 x 10 km in the Bohemian Plateau. The main objective of this study was to assess the potential changes in the timing of the last spring frost, the first autumn frost for...

This study has, for the first time, analysed in detail the risk occurrences of the last spring frost, first fall frost and the length of the frost-free period during the growing season of vegetable crops at a high horizontal resolution of 10 km in the Elbe River lowland in the Czech Republic. The daily minimum air temperature from 116 grid points t...

This study has, for the first time, analyzed in detail the risk occurrences of the last spring frost, first fall frost, and the length of the frost-free period during the growing season of vegetable crops at a high horizontal resolution of 10 km (CZGRIDS, ALADINClimate/ CZ) in the Elbe River lowland. The daily minimum air temperature from 116 grid...

The main idea of this publication is to show the importance and utility of phenological observations and research in relation to climate change and ecosystem processes, particularly for understanding the flows of CO2 between the biosphere and troposphere. Plants are very sensitive to temperature changes. It can be observed on the trend of faster on...

We assess the changes in drought conditions during summer in the Republic of Moldova based on the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) calculated from monthly precipitation data simulated by the regional climatic model RegCM3. The RegCM simulations were conducted at a horizontal resolution of 10 km in the framework of EU-FP6 project -CECILIA. The...

This study presents a detailed assessment of probability of later spring frosts and earlier autumn frosts when growing sugar beet in Central Bohemia in the period 1961-2011. The probability of severe frost at a later date in the spring and an earlier date in the autumn and the length of the frost-free period were estimated. The results of probabili...

This paper analyses the observed spatiotemporal characteristics of drought in the Czech Republic during the growing season (April to September) as quantified using the Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) on various time scales. The SPEI was calculated for various lags (1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months) from monthly records of mean...

We assess the drought characteristics in the Republic of Moldova based on the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) calculated from monthly precipitation data simulated by the Regional Climate Model RegCM3. The RegCM simulations were conducted at a horizontal resolution of 10 km in the framework of EU-FP6 project Central and Eastern Europe Climate...

This study presents a detailed assessment of water deficit and/or surplus during sugar beet (Beta vulgaris var. altissima) growing season in Central Bohemia in the course of the 20th century. Due to the availability of relatively long continuous series of data, we chose the Čáslav climatological station for calculating the Standardized Precipitatio...

This paper analyzes the characteristics of spatial evolution of the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) at various time scales during the growing period (April-September) over the Czech Republic. The SPEI was calculated from monthly records of mean temperature and precipitation totals measured at a dense network of 184 climat...

This study presents a detailed assessment on drought variability and its driving factors in the Republic of Moldova during the second half of 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century. Due to the availability of relatively long continuous series, we chose the Chisinau climatological station as a representative station for testing the St...

In previous studies the spatial and temporal evolution of drought events in the Czech Republic were extensively analyzed by comparing results from the most advanced drought indices (e.g. the SPI and SPEI), which take into account the role of antecedent conditions in quantifying drought severity. In the present study, the Standardized Precipitation...

Phenological phases reflect weather conditions immediately prior to their onset and are therefore very important documentary record of the impact of climate on plants in a particular region. We analyze the results of phenological observations in the Czech Republic in the years 1931-2010. Air temperature increases were associated with an earlier ons...

This paper analyzes the observed spatio-temporal characteristics of drought over the Czech Republic during the growing season (April to September), as quantified by the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) on various time scales. The SPEI was calculated for various lags (1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months) from monthly records of mean...

Two multi-scalar drought indices, the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation–Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), were used to study secular drought evolution from 1901 to 2010 in the lowland regions of the Czech Republic. To assess the temporal patterns of droughts as multi-scalar events, the SPEI and SPI were calcul...

Since 2000, the network of stations that make up the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI) has measured the soil moisture content at the 0- to 0.9-m layer using sensors placed within the natural soil profile under closely cropped grass cover. Using information from 8years of continuous observation at seven stations throughout the Czech Republi...

In this study, we analyzed data of sugar beet crops cultivated in individual regions of the Czech Republic and their dependency on dry and wet spells observed. This paper connected daily metadata recorded in Czech Hydrometeorogical Institute (Český hydrometeorologický́́́ ústav) Climate Station Network, and annual sugar beet yields as reported by th...

Droughts in Moldova were evaluated using meteorological data since 1955 and a long time series (1891–2009). In addition, yields for corn (Zea mays L.), a crop widely grown in Moldova, were used to demonstrate drought impact. The main aim is to propose use of the S i (S i-a and S i-m) drought index while discussing its potential use in studying the...

In this study the comparative assessment of extreme hot summer of 2006 in the Czech Republic and 2007 in the Republic of Moldova was carried out based on 1961-2009 daily temperature records (maximum, minimum and mean daily temperature). Additionally, heat episodes (heat waves and tropical days) in these countries were analyzed. Exceptional weather...

This paper presents the methodology for assessment of drought episodes and their potential effects on winter and spring cereal crops in the Czech Republic (in the text referred to as Czechia). Historical climate and crop yields data for the period of 47 years (1961–2007) have been integrated into an agrometeorological database. The drought episodes...

This paper presents the results of a study on the estimation of drought impact on fluctuation yield cereal crops in Central Bohemia. Historical climate and crop yields data for the period of 47 years (1961-2007) have been integrated into an agrometeorological database. The objective of this paper was to determine the drought impact on yield of wint...

This paper presents the results of a study on the estimation of climatic conditions of dryness and drought in the Republic of Moldova. The evaluation of drought was based on data from 18 weather stations, which were selected according to the length of the period of measurement (1945–2006) and from the Chisinau observatory, which has the longest sta...

Increasing frequencies and magnitudes of drought events are the focus of current research on both the local and global scales. This tendency has been recorded in the 20th century, particularly in the last decade of 1990-2000, which was the warmest decade of the last century. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in drought studie...

This study describes the drought episodes in the Republic of Moldova from 18 weather stations and from Chisinau Observatory, with monthly rainfalls measurements obtained during periods of 62 and 116 years, respectively. The catalogue of the droughts for spring, summer and autumn have been identified and elaborated. As a result of the analysis of dr...

This paper focuses particularly on the graphical method representation of the drought spells, which serves modeling of the time and spatial aspects of these events. In particular, we have applied Walter-Lieth's climograms and thermopluviograms in order to monitor and analyse droughts in an agrometeorological year (i.e. including the winter season)....

This paper presents the results of a study on the analysis temporal and spatial structure of heat waves and tropical days in the Czech Republic. Data from 55 stations for the 1977-2008 period was used. The frequency and distribution of heat waves was made by applying the Puasson's generalized model. Heat-waves are rare events that vary in character...

The problems concern to reducing yield determined of unfavourable and risk meteorological events belong always to actual subject of scientific studies. The submitted report deals with analyses of distribution precipitation during the growing season and related occurrence of drought and dry spells. This report is adverts to the difficult comparison...

This paper presents the results of study on the estimation of agrometeorological conditions of dryness and drought in the 2005/2006 year in the Czech Republic. The evaluation of drought was based on 70 climatic-stations situated in various physical-geographical regions and different elevations, from mountain sites to medium-elevations and lowland s...

The soil temperature regime plays a very important role in many processes, which take place in the soil. The soil temperature varies in response to exchange processes that take place primarily through the soil surface. The effects are extended by transport processes into the soil profile and are influenced by the specific heat capacity, thermic and...

In the present paper, the main aim is to use of the new multi-scalar drought index, standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) while discussing its potential use in studying the evolution of drought severity in the Czech Republic. In quantifying the SPEI is based on the following steps: i) to calculate potential evapotranspiration (...

The paper deals assessment of water balance during growing period of vegetable crops in Polabí. The effect of surplus and/ or deficit of water depends on the kind of vegetable and its stage of development. Therefore, assessment of water stress for root vegetables (carrot and celeriac) and fruit vegetable (cucumber) is based on the crop coefficient,...