UC Davis finds connection between wildfire smoke, failing crop production
As wildfires rage across California, new research reveals an alarming impact on one of the region's most vital industries: agriculture.
Smoky skies, a byproduct of these massive fires, are blocking sunlight and disrupting the process of photosynthesis, specifically for nut production.
UC Davis research suggests impacts could be cutting nut yields by 15%-50% at some orchards. While research on wildfire smoke impact has largely focused on human interaction, UC Davis wanted to understand the impacts on trees and plants in the Central Valley.
Jessica Orozco, the study's lead author, explained that the data shows potentially long-term impacts on harvest.
"We weren't expecting the effect to be so long-lasting, and we definitely weren't expecting it to see a decrease in yields the following year," Orozco said. "We can go and escape and go into our homes, and kind of have like a little shelter, but trees have to stick it out."
Orozco said the study tracked data beginning in 2018, collected from hundreds of farms throughout the years. It wasn't until after the historic 2020 wildfire season, when over four million acres burned across the state that they started noticing significant impacts. She compared those effects to what people experience when they suffer second-hand smoke.
"Wildfire smoke has an effect on vegetation that isn't actually being burnt, but it's actually having long-term effects on them," Orozco said. "Part of the reason this is hard to study is because smoke is really complex. It's not just one thing, and it has gases, and it has particulate matter."
Orozco said researchers are still trying to decipher what components exactly in wildfire smoke caused the decrease in tree carbohydrates, but they hope this will shine a spotlight on the need for more research when it comes to smoke and its impact on the environment.