Plant Physiological Ecology

Abstract

In the decade that has passed since the first edition of this book, the global environ- ment has changed rapidly. Even the most steadfast ‘‘deny-ers’’ have come to accept that atmospheric CO 2 enrichment and global warming pose serious challenges to life on Earth. Regrettably, this acceptance has been forced by calamitous events rather than by the long-standing, sober warnings of the scientific community. There seems to be growing belief that ‘‘technology’’ will save us from the worst consequences of a warmer planet and its wayward weather. This hope, that may in the end prove to be no more than wishful thinking, relates principally to the built environment and human affairs. Alternative sources of energy, utilized with greater efficiency, are at the heart of such hopes; even alternative ways of producing food or obtaining water may be possible. For plants, however, there is no alternative but to utilize sunlight and fix carbon and to draw water from the soil. (Under a given range of environmental conditions, these processes are already remarkably efficient by industrial standards.) Can we ‘‘technologize’’ our way out of the problems that plants may encounter in capricious, stormier, hotter, drier, or more saline environ- ments? Climate change will not alter the basic nature of the stresses that plants must endure, but it will result in their occurrence in places where formerly their impact was small, thus exposing species and vegetation types to more intense episodes of stress than they are able to handle. The timescale on which the climate is changing is too fast to wait for evolution to come up with solutions to the problems.