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Wetlands

Crop freezes and land-use change in Florida

Draining the state's southern wetlands may have raised the incidence of harmful frosts.

Abstract

South Florida experienced a significant change in land usage during the twentieth century, including the conversion of natural wetlands into agricultural land for the cultivation of winter vegetable, sugar cane and citrus crops. This movement of agriculture from more northerly areas was intended partly to escape the risk of damaging winter freezes. Here we present evidence from a case study using a coupled atmosphere and land-surface computer-modelling system that suggests that the draining of wetlands may have inadvertently increased the frequency and severity of agriculturally damaging freezes in the south of Florida.

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Figure 1: Minimum temperatures, and the duration of periods of of sub-zero temperatures, in areas cultivated from drained wetlands in south Florida.

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Correspondence to Curtis H. Marshall.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Marshall, C., Pielke, R. & Steyaert, L. Crop freezes and land-use change in Florida. Nature 426, 29–30 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/426029a

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