Plant responses to climate change, how global warming may impact on food security: a critical review

Abstract

Global agricultural production must double by 2050 to meet the demands of an increasing world human population but this challenge is further exacerbated by climate change. Environmental stress, heat, and drought are key drivers in food security and strongly impacts on crop productivity. Moreover, global warming is threatening the survival of many species including those which we rely on for food production, forcing migration of cultivation areas with further impoverishing of the environment and of the genetic variability of crop species with fall out effects on food security. This review considers the relationship of climatic changes and their bearing on sustainability of natural and agricultural ecosystems, as well as the role of omics-technologies, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, phenomics and ionomics. The use of resource saving technologies such as precision agriculture and new fertilization technologies are discussed with a focus on their use in breeding plants with higher tolerance and adaptability and as mitigation tools for global warming and climate changes. Nevertheless, plants are exposed to multiple stresses. This study lays the basis for the proposition of a novel research paradigm which is referred to a holistic approach and that went beyond the exclusive concept of crop yield, but that included sustainability, socio-economic impacts of production, commercialization, and agroecosystem management.

Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analyses Reveal the Response to Short-Term Drought Stress in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

“…Climate change is an indisputable reality and ensuring food security for the 21st century stands as the main challenge for humanity. Global warming directly reduces crop yields [5,6]. Abiotic stresses cause severe yield losses in crop production [7].…”

Identification and characterization of the RcTCP gene family and its expression in response to abiotic stresses in castor bean

“…Castor bean ( Ricinus communis ) is an important oil crop that has been used as a model plant for improving saline-alkali soil in recent years [ 1 ]. In recent years, with the occurrence of extreme weather globally, the first affected are the plants [ 2 ]. As a sessile organism, plants find it difficult to avoid environmental damage, therefore they have evolved complex protective mechanisms, including the regulation of stress response genes by recognizing adverse signals and regulating gene expression and transcription [ 3 , 4 ].…”