• Energy Research
• 13. Climate action close
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Climate change will affect agricultural production conditions, which will translate in impacts on yield and cost of production for Quebec farmers. This would likely affect the relative competitive position of Quebec in North America. Using the Delphi technique and partial budgets, climate change scenarios for the 2050 period were elaborated and their impact on relative competitiveness assessed for Quebec and its competitors in North America. Results indicate that Quebec competitive position would improve due to more favorable conditions for corn and apple production and due to worsen conditions for the competitors in maple syrup production.

Nutrient analyses were done in melted ice, frazil and sea water of the upper part of the water column, where as major constitutive elements of micro-algae were analysed. Measurements of nutrient uptake were carried out with frazil algae incubated at -1.5 degree C in a field incubator. Differential-enrichment bioassays and mean N/P ratio (5.9) demonstrated that actual growth of the cultures was nutrient-limited. Nitrogen governed the algal yield when illumination and grazing allowed the microalgae to grow. It concluded that the epontic dynamics is not only controlled from above, by the seasonal (climatic) changes in light intensity as generally assumed, but also from below, by the short-term (hydrodynamic) events of vertical mixing that replenish the ice-water interface in nutrients.