Resilient plants for the future: Lessons learned from challenging environments
Abstract
Extreme weather events almost daily dominate media headlines: torrential rains that destroy everything, heatwaves that dry out crops and increase the risk of fires, and prolonged droughts that deplete both surface and underground water resources. These events directly reduce plant productivity and health, endangering the livelihoods of many people around the world, as we depend on plants for ecosystem balance and global services.
In this context, we will explore how we currently approach plant improvement and health, and what is needed moving forward to address increasingly challenging environmental conditions. Drawing on the knowledge we have gained from working with plants in both Chile and Sweden—two countries sharing several environmental challenges—we aim to engage a variety of stakeholders in academia and industry, including perspectives from students and teachers. This initiative will also address key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities, 13. Climate Action, and 15. Life on Land.
Key word: Plants
EXPECTATIONS FOR PARTICIPANTS
We aim to gain insights through an inventory of research challenges, the need for innovation in biotechnology and/or breeding, as well as the demand for PhD and postdoctoral courses. These outcomes will help lay the groundwork for future research and education collaborations between academia and industry. Our goal is to form a group of interested stakeholders to design an ACCESS academic course that equips students with new tools and mindsets in plant sciences. This course will take a broader approach to creating more resilient plants and ecosystems, capable of withstanding changing and stressful conditions, such as those experienced in Chile and Sweden.
Luisa Bascuñán, Universidad de Concepción
Dr. Luisa Bascuñan is a researcher in Biological Sciences, specializing in botany and plant physiology. Her work focuses on two main areas: understanding plant responses to abiotic stressors and investigating the physiology of nitrogen metabolism in plants. She explores how plants adapt to adverse environmental conditions, from the molecular to the physiological level, including strategies to enhance crop resilience and promote biodiversity conservation.
Maria Eriksson, Umeå University
Dr. Maria Eriksson is an associate professor in plant cell and molecular biology, specializing in how plants’ circadian clock mechanisms help them adapt to adverse environmental conditions. Her research has contributed to clarifying the mechanisms of the plant circadian clock and has shown that it enables trees to determine the time of day and season. This internal timing helps trees regulate growth, adjusting to low or even freezing temperatures, as well as responding to drought stress.
CONTACT US:
Luisa: lubascun@udec.cl
Maria: maria.eriksson@umu.se