From Canopy to Climate: Implications of Agroforestry on Microclimate Dynamics

In the context of increasing climatic variability, it is important to find ecologically and financially viable coping strategies for farmers who have less access to technological improvements. Agroforestry assumes considerable significance in this pursuit on account of their unique potential for the modulation of microclimate by trees which is important for improving opportunities and scope for coping with climate change scenarios. In comparison to an open environment (treeless condition), the modified microclimate beneath trees moderates the biophysical factors such as solar radiation, extremes of temperature, humidity, soil evaporation and soil moisture, all of which have an impact on the development of crops and other organisms. In forage-livestock systems, trees in pastures improve the microclimate consequently, the thermal comfort indices. This chapter summarizes the influence of trees on sub-canopy microclimate, focusing on variables such as air and soil temperature, relative humidity, evapotranspiration, wind currents and incident photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) for understanding microclimate dynamics with reference to the understory crop productivity.