Yield variation of double-rice in response to climate change in Southern China

Abstract Food security is a major concern in China due to increasing nutritional demands, limited resources, and a changing and uncertain climate. Rice ( Oryza sativa L.) plays an important role in food security, whilst its yield is greatly influenced by climate change. Thus, it is critical to quantify changes in rice yield, determine the potential climatic conditions affecting yield variation, and identify strategies to counter the effects of climate change. Historical double-rice yields and climatic variables were analyzed in the major double-rice region of Southern China. Yield varied nonlinearly in most provinces, fluctuated more for late-rice, and exhibited stagnation in 1980–2012. During the growth stages, the mean temperature (T mean ) increased significantly at 75.1% of the stations examined ( P