Quantifying crop responses to warmer temperatures: drivers and underlying processes

• Applicant: Professorin Heidi Webber, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Plant Cultivation, Plant Nutrition, Agricultural Technology ; Plant Physiology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 470400637

Quantification of the impact of warmer temperatures on crop yields is increasingly critical in the context of global climate change and food security. Currently, understanding of crops' growth response to temperature is derived from experiments in chambers and controlled environments where air and leaf temperature are largely equivalent. However, under production conditions, air and crop temperature can easily differ by more than +/- 5C depending on crop water status and atmospheric conditions. There is little evidence of which temperautres drive critical growth and development processes leading to large uncertainties in the probable response of crops to future climate conditions. The proposed study will use a combination of field experimentation, model improvement and model supported hypothesis testing to improve understanding of which temperature (crop, air, soil) drive crop development rates and crop yield formation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants