Avik Mukherjee

Interests

Teaching

My teaching interests revolve around practical and impactful agricultural practices, focusing on educating farmers, stakeholders, and community members in areas critical to sustainable and profitable farming in Arizona. Key teaching areas may include:1) Climate Adaptation and Resilience2) Pest and Wedd Management3) Efficient Water Management4) Crop and Soil ManagementI tailor these topics to local needs and use applied research to deliver hands-on, relevant guidance through workshops, field days, and tent talks. My teaching aims to enhance agricultural efficiency, sustainability, and profitability while building strong community connections.

Research

1) Heat and Drought Resilience2) Crop Protection3) Water Use Efficiency and Irrigation Management4) Climate Adaptation and Sustainable Practices

Courses

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Scholarly Contributions

Journals/Publications

• LaPlante, M., Dahal, P., Wang, S., Hakala, K., & Mukherjee, A. (2024). A ‘Nuclear Bomb’ or Just ‘a Joke’? Groundwater Models May Help Communicate Nuanced Risks to the Great Salt Lake. Water, 16(16). doi:10.3390/w16162221
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  The Great Salt Lake entered the zeitgeist of environmental concern in 2022 when a coalition of scientists and activists warned in a highly publicized report that the lake might be just five years away from complete desiccation, a possibility one state official warned was tantamount to an “environmental nuclear bomb”. Shortly thereafter, an unpredicted and unprecedented pluvial winter resulted in an increase in inflow, temporarily halting the lake’s decline and prompting Utah’s governor to mock the dire prediction as “a joke”, an outcome that speaks to the tension between agenda-setting and trust-building that researchers face when sharing worst-case warnings, particularly those based on short-term variability. Here, we describe a robust relationship between the lake and groundwater in the surrounding region and demonstrate how coupled models can thus be used to improve lake elevation predictions, suggesting that while the situation may not be as dire as some have warned, the lake remains at long-term risk as a result of climate warming. We further suggest that efforts to communicate the risk of future desiccation should be informed by stochastic variability and guided by long-term fluctuations in the total water storage of the endorheic lake’s watershed.
• Mukherjee, A., Roy, P., Sanyal, D., Roy, T., & Wang, S. (2023). Does Socio-economic Dynamics Influence Crop Yield Variability?. Current Science, 125(8), 846-852.
• Sanyal, D., Mukherjee, A., Rahhal, A., Wolthuizen, J., Karki, D., Clark, J., & Bly, A. (2023). Cover crops did not improve soil health but hydroclimatology may guide decisions preventing cash crop yield loss. Frontiers in Soil Science, 3. doi:10.3389/fsoil.2023.1111821
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  Introduction: Cover crop (CC) is an essential tool to improve or maintain soil health, potentially improving cash crop productivity. Several recent reports of cash crop yield reduction following cover cropping necessitated this research to guide efficient CC decisions in the season before corn (Zea mays) or soybean (Glycine max) is to be grown. Methods: Therefore, we designed this multi-year, multi-location study to include the farmers who plant CC following the harvest of a small grain crop, majorly wheat (Triticum aestivum) or oats (Avena sativa), and then grow corn or soybean cash crop in the subsequent season. We also selected the farmers who used a fall CC mix that was winter-terminated, to avoid further complexities. The major objective of this study was to document soil health changes and cash crop yields following CC in eight selected locations around SD for three consecutive CC seasons between 2017-2020. Experimental plots were laid out at the farmer-cooperators’ CC fields, where no cover (NC) ‘control’ was tested against CC in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Soil samples were analyzed for selected soil health indicators (SHIs): potentially mineralizable nitrogen (PMN), permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), soil respiration (SR), soil microbial biomass (SMB), soil nitrate-nitrogen, soil organic matter (SOM), and other basic soil properties (pH, electrical conductivity, etc.); crop and residue biomass were calculated, and cash crop economic yields were measured. Results and discussion: No statistically significant (p30 g kg-1). These findings directed us to investigate hydroclimatological parameters and climatological indices such as accumulated precipitation, standardized precipitation index (SPI), and standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI) for their impact on CC’s influence on cash crop yields. Conclusion: Our analyses indicated that hydroclimatology, especially SPEI for the month before CC planting can be used as a tool to guide successful CC decisions, reducing the risk of cash crop yield loss. Further investigations with SPI and SPEI, along with other climatological parameters are needed to explore and design better CC management tools.
• Zhao, L., Simon Wang, S., Becker, E., Yoon, J., & Mukherjee, A. (2020). Cyclone Fani: The tug-of-war between regional warming and anthropogenic aerosol effects. Environmental Research Letters, 15(9). doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab91e7
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  Before Cyclone Amphan took place in 2020, Cyclone Fani (May 2019) is the strongest pre-monsoon cyclone in the Bay of Bengal (BOB) since 1991, killing 90 people in eastern India and Bangladesh while causing US$1.81 billion of damages. Fani developed during a period of high concentration of anthropogenic aerosols in the BOB with abnormally high sea surface temperature (SST), thereby presenting an opportunity to understand the compound effects of atmospheric aerosols and regional climate warming on a tropical cyclone. A quantitative attribution analysis was conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting model with chemistry (WRF-Chem) run at the convection-permitting (4 km) grid spacing, accompanied by an ensemble of coarser-resolution simulations to quantify the uncertainty. The removal of post-1990 trends in the tropospheric variables and SST from WRF-Chem's initial conditions (IC) and boundary conditions (BC, including the lateral and lower boundary conditions) resulted in a reduction of cyclone precipitation by about 51% during the 5 d of April 28-May 2. The removal of tropospheric warming shows approximately twice as strong an effect on Fani (39% reduction in precipitation) as that of SST warming (22% reduction). When aerosol's direct and indirect effects were removed from the simulations, i.e., no aerosol influence on radiation and cloud microphysics, Fani initially strengthened but later weakened, as measured by geopotential height and precipitation amounts. These results suggest that aerosol and its interaction with the atmosphere acted to mitigate the strengthening effect of anthropogenic warming on Fani, but was not strong enough to entirely counteract it. Although the ensemble of coarser simulations appears to overestimate Cyclone Fani in terms of precipitation, the direction of the effects is in agreement with that obtained from the 4 km simulations. Given the increasing anthropogenic aerosols in the BOB, future attribution studies using more sophisticated dynamical aerosol models on BOB tropical cyclones are urged.
• Mukherjee, A., Wang, S., & Promchote, P. (2019). Examination of the climate factors that reduced wheat yield in northwest India during the 2000s. Water, 11(2). doi:10.3390/w11020343
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  In India, a significant reduction of wheat yield would cause a widespread impact on food security for 1.35 billion people. The two highest wheat producing states, Punjab and Haryana in northern India, experienced a prolonged period of anomalously low wheat yield during 2002-2010. The extent of climate variability and change in influencing this prolonged reduction in wheat yield was examined. Daily air temperature (T max and T ave ) was used to calculate the number of days above optimum temperature and growing degree days (GDD) anomaly. Two drought indices, the standard precipitation and evapotranspiration index and the radiation-based precipitation index, were used to describe the drought conditions. Groundwater variability was assessed via satellite-based approximation. The analysis results indicate that the wheat yield loss corresponds to the increase in the number of days with a temperature above 35 °C during the maturity stage (March). Reduction in monsoon rainfall led to a depletion of groundwater and reduced surface water for irrigation in the wheat growing season (November-March). Higher temperatures, coupled with water shortage and irregular irrigation, also appear to impact the yield reduction. In hindsight, improving the agronomic practices to minimize crop water usage could be an adaptation strategy to maintain the desired wheat yield in the face of climate-induced drought and precipitation anomaly.

Poster Presentations

• Mukherjee, A., Mostafa, A. M., & Harrington, K. (2024, December). Efficacy of Various Insecticides against Alfalfa Weevils in Arizona's Low Desert. California Alfalfa and Forage Symposium. Reno, Nevada: California Alfalfa & Forage Association, Sacramento, CA.
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  Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a critical row crop in the U.S., with the western region producing 15.4 million tons in 2019. Alfalfa weevil (Hypera postica) is a key pest, particularly in early-season growth, causing significant defoliation, reduced yield, and diminished hay quality in the first few cuttings of the year. This is why timely control of alfalfa weevil larvae is essential to achieving optimal yield and quality. This study evaluated the efficacy of experimental and labeled insecticides for controlling alfalfa weevil (AW) larvae under low desert Arizona conditions. A field trial was conducted using twenty-three (23) insecticide treatments, applied with a randomized complete block design (RCBD). AW populations were assessed 7, 15, 21, and 28 days after treatment (DAT). Results indicated that Warrior II (1.92 oz/acre) and Cobalt Advanced (24–32 oz/acre) provided the most effective control, reducing larvae populations below the economic injury level (1–3 larvae per sweep). Additionally, treated plots yielded significantly higher forage (up to 30.6 lb./60 ft²) than untreated plots (10.9 lb./60 ft²). The findings suggest that the timely application of effective insecticides can minimize AW damage and enhance alfalfa production in desert climates. It is also essential to highlight that alfalfa weevils have developed resistance to pyrethroid insecticides at multiple locations in the low desert over the past five years. Monitoring the evolution of insecticide resistance in this region is essential for maintaining effective pest management strategies.