How Will the Changing Climate Affect Plants and Trees?
Climate change may risk even the olive tree, which has been thought to be a strong tree for thousands of years. This could mean the end of a crop that has been used for food, culture, and trade for thousands of years.
Most olive groves in the Mediterranean have been lightly handled and fed by rain in recent years. It was also used on flat, shallow land and on hills that were too steep for other crops. Because it can grow here, olive trees have long been good for the local economy.
Intensive and super-intensive cropping methods are becoming more popular because of rising global food demand, labour shortages, and other social and economic issues, such as the need to make as much money as possible.
So, crop management change is driven by crop profitability by lowering costs. To get a higher yield per area, these changes mean that huge spaces need to be irrigated and fertilised.
Growing olive trees is only allowed between 30 and 45 degrees straight around the world. Geological limits from a hundred years ago let olive trees grow up to 53 kilometres from the coast of the Mediterranean. Extreme temperatures are too hot or too cold for the olive tree to grow.
That is, the best place to grow olive trees is in a normal Mediterranean climate, which is the transition zone between North Africa's dry climate and the temperate rainy climate.
Olive groves adapted to the Mediterranean temperature and are known for being able to survive when there isn't enough water. But climate change is affecting even the olive tree, which is often seen as a symbol of strength.
The olive tree was first grown in the Eastern Mediterranean, in places like Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and others, between 4000 BC and 3000 BC.
Since the beginning, the tree has given more than just olives and oil. This drug can be used for both medical and beauty reasons.
The history of the olive tree is similar to the history of the Mediterranean and food. A common way to say this is "The Mediterranean ends where the olive tree stops growing." The Mediterranean trio is made up of olives, vines, and wheat.
Each tree in an olive garden takes in 30 kg of CO2 every year, which helps slow down climate change. Olive trees take in CO2 to help slow down climate change, but they can also be changed.
More extreme weather and higher temps are caused by more greenhouse gas emissions.
Droughts and very high or low temperatures can cause water and heat stress in olive trees. This kind of stress can hurt trees biologically, which means that olive yield and flowering could be at risk.
Before you worry about how you'll cook and make salads in the future, know that climate change will first affect farms and growers.
It takes longer for field events to get to stores because the food chain is so big and complicated.
You can't take it easy because climate change could hurt the olive tree. This means that foods that we've eaten for thousands of years and that have been around through many changes will not be easy to get and cheap in the future.