Yield is strongly related to leaf area expansion in strawberries – implications for cropping under climate change

This is an article about the yield being strongly related to leaf area expansion in strawberries and the implications for cropping under climate change. This article examines the relationship between productivity and leaf area expansion in strawberry plants growing on the Sunshine Coast. In some crops, increasing leaf area under climate change (higher concentrations of CO2 and temperatures) are associated with lower yields. Higher yields are found with decreasing, rather than increasing leaf areas. Plant breeding can produce new heat-tolerant cultivars with lower leaf areas and higher yields to mitigate some of the negative impacts of climate change.