Global agriculture is facing a serious threat from climate change that compromises
global food security and impact the ecosystem services and biodiversity.
High temperatures affect plant development at the level of seed germination which represents the first step of plant establishment and also reduce the plant growth by affecting the shoot net assimilation rates and thus the total dry weight of the plant (1). It is the first climatic factor capping yields on a global scale for wheat (2) and rice (3). Projections predict a 9-15% decrease in the production of major cereals by 2020 (4). Climate change will increase the negative effect on crop productivity not only due to heat waves, i.e. an increase of several degrees over the seasonal temperature for a sustained period of days (5), but also by exacerbating broad-spectrum stresses such as drought, cold, salinity, flood, submergence and pests (1,6). Moreover, recent studies have revealed that the response of plants to combinations of two or more stress conditions is unique and cannot be directly extrapolated from the response of plants to each of the different stresses applied individually. Indeed the responses to the combined stresses are complex and largely controlled by different, and sometimes opposing, signaling pathways that may interact and inhibit each other (7). Although genetic engineering (8) and agro-ecology (9) constitute the main topics of work to increase the resilience of crops to climate change, development of real time plant stress sensor is a strategic alternative for insuring a predictive and dynamic management of crop plants under field conditions. Since the first report (10), bioelectric activity during development and adaptation of plants to environmental changes became increasingly recognized and studied (11-15). Plant bioelectric activity can be recorded locally or globally in short- and long-term. However, it represents a systemic and integrative response of the plant to environmental stimuli. We have designed the project PACS that will delve into the use of plant bioelectric activity and signatures as stress sensor with regard to climate changes.
References
1. Bita CE, Gerats T (2013) Front Plant Sci 4: 273. 2.Lobell and Field(2007) Environ Res Lett 2:014002. 3. Peng S, et al. (2004) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101: 9971–9975 4. Hisas S(2011). The Food Gap.The Impacts of Climate Change in Food Production: A 2020 Perspective. Alexandria, VA: Universal Ecological Fund. 5. IPCC (2014) Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Working group II, Cambridge University Press. 6. Kole C et al.(2015) Front Plant Sci 6: 563. 7. Suzuki N et al.(2014) New Phytol 203: 32–43 8. Mittler R, Blumwald E(2010) Annual Review of Plant Biology 61: 443–462. 9. Dufumier M (2015) Agro-écologie et territoires. In, Territoires Ecologiques, Ed L’Harmattan. pp129-138. 10. Burdon-Sanderson J (1872) Proc R Soc Lond 21:495-6. 11. Davies E (2004) New Phytol 161: 607-610 12. Fromm J, Lautner S (2007) Plant Cell Environ30:249-57 13. Baluska F, Mancuso S(2009) Plant Signal Behav 4:475-6.