About this Research Topic
In addition to water and carbon dioxide, plants require an array of inorganic mineral nutrients obtained primarily from the soil. Limited availability of these nutrients often constrains plant growth, reproduction, or survival, in both natural and agricultural systems. In agriculture, constraints on crop productivity from nutrient limitation are often minimized by providing added nutrients as fertilizer, but fertilizers can be prohibitively costly. In addition, the overuse of fertilizers often causes or contributes to environmental problems, such as eutrophication of aquatic systems, acid rain, global warming, and smog. Hence, the development of crops with lower nutrient requirements or increased nutrient-use efficiency is a continual goal. Importantly, it is clear that nutrient availability affects plant responses to other aspects of environmental change; however, and unfortunately, our knowledge in this area is inadequate.
In order to understand how crops and natural ecosystems will be impacted by these impending environmental changes, to adapt our agricultural enterprises, and to manage and protect our natural resources in response to these changes, we must increase the research in this arena. To raise awareness of, and stimulate research in, this field, this Research Topic will focus on how plant nutrition interacts with climate change to affect plant function.
We are especially interested in how nutrition interacts with the main climate-change factors (temperature, water, and CO2) to influence nutrient, carbon, or water relations. We welcome all types of articles (original research, method, opinion, and review), which may span the range from the molecular to the organismal level, and we are especially interested in articles which investigate mechanistic, or provide predictive, responses of plants to impending global environmental changes.
Keywords: Carbon Dioxide, Nutrients, Temperature, Water Availability
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.