Plants and Climate Change
Climate change is one of the most challenging issues of our times. We were awakened to that fact by this year's Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Iowa State is fortunate to have three representatives on the IPCC, Gene Takle, Bill Gutowski and Ray Arrit, who shared in the Noble Peace Prize. We've given the spotlight to Gene Takle in a feature story in this issue.
Faced with such an enormous matter as global climate change, most of us would ask "What can I do?" For our part, the Plant Sciences Institute has put in motion several activities to address the theme of "Plants and Climate Change."
The theme inspires two major areas of research . one, the effects of climate change on plants (adaptation) and, on the flip side, the effects of plants on climate change (mitigation). Climate change in our area of the world is expected to produce more variable weather. Weather extremes generate stress responses in plants, and for that reason the Institute will focus on plant stress research -- reducing the impact of stress on crop plants.
What is particularly exciting about this research is that plant stress responses are beginning to be understood at the molecular level . therefore, we can put biotechnological tools to good use in improving plant responses to environmental stresses. Furthermore, any discoveries that we make in this area will have important applications both now and in the future.
In adopting the theme of "Plant and Climate Change," it is important that we scale our efforts to manageable activities and tackle projects that are productive with real outcomes that benefit society.
