How global warming or other stresses in the environment might affect plants is still poorly understood. The current online issue of Annals of Botany is devoted to how stresses affect photosynthesis, and thus the entire plant.
From the Preface:
Photosynthesis is central to all aspects of plant biology as the provider of energy and assimilates for growth and reproduction, yet how it is regulated by abiotic stresses, such as salinity and water deficits, and by biotic stresses, such as insect herbivory, is still unclear.
Every article can be read in its entirety for free. (It is the custom for academic journals to require a subscription or at least an online purchase before you can read the entire article. Abstracts are usually shown for free.) Here’s a wonderful opportunity to see the latest thinking about what happens to plants under, say, the stress of drought and salt. Something to get your teeth into.
Thanks for that link. Those interested in photosynthesis might be interested in a book I just started: “Eating the Sun” by Oliver Morton. Written for the lay person rather than the scientist, this excellent book discusses not only the phenomenon of photosynthesis at a cellular and molecular level, but also the history of scientists’ quest to grasp the process, in addition to the current crisis brought on by plants’ inability to utilize the excess of carbon dioxide now in the atmosphere. Great stuff, well written.
~Shelley
Shelley,
What a great title for a book on photosynthesis. There goes another item for my wish list.
Mary