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@BIOTIC STRESS 2000
Electronic network dedicated to all the aspects of abiotic stress
and its effects on crops and environment
Introduction
Purposes of Abiotic Stress 2000
Services
Subscription to Abiotic Stress 2000
Introduction
Physical factors and their interactions are important in determining performance and distribution of plants. Of foremost relevance are temperature and water availability; additional interferences derive from abiotic factors such as light intensity, nutrients, organic and inorganic pollutants. Moreover, the importance of biotic factors (predation, competition) is often affected by the same features.
In agricultural systems, even if conditions tend to be optimized, the effect of abiotic stresses deriving from changes in the physico-chemical environment is evident at the quantitative and qualitative level.
Temperature, water, radiation and nutrient stress are responsible for as much as a 50% reduction of the potential yield of the 10 top crops. In addition pollution stress is assuming an increasing relevance because of the levels of organics and heavy metals contamination in some soils. In the same way the monitoring of above ground levels of ozone higher than those allowed by actual legislation are also becoming increasingly frequent. Average yields can be from 3 to 7 times lower than occasional record yields, indicating that the potential in plant performance is severely limited. Only 12.1% of land surface is not adversely affected by physical factors.
As far as quality is concerned, reproductive development is usually severely affected with consequences on the crops which are important for fruits or seeds. Synthesis, accumulation and storage of proteins is mostly affected by temperature; growth is slowed by almost all stresses; polysaccharide synthesis, both structural and storage, is reduced or modified: these effects bring to a decrease in biomass and to changes in the nutritional value of the product. The interferences with mineral nutrition deriving from the presence of inorganic contaminants (e.g. heavy metals) can also lead to a decrease in nutritional value, or worse to the presence of toxic compounds and metabolites.
On a more general level, measures applied to improve plant production and mitigate the consequences of abiotic stresses on production imply chemical and energetical inputs which can have a detrimental effect on the environment (amendants, fertilizers, pesiticides, irrigation).

We still do not know if there will be a period of continuous worsening in the climatic conditions of our planet (global change) or if what we are assisting to is only a cyclic modification of the earth meteorology. The research in the field of global weather forecast can help agriculture and farmers to finalize their intervention (sowing, treatment, watering). In fact, for certain marginal productive areas which are already near the limits imposed by physical factors, a worsening in conditions could lead to abandonment. However, only the improvement of the plant material for stress tolerance and adaptation can guarantee the agricultural activities from an uncertain future. Plants could be improved for tolerance to particular abiotic stressing factors, for their utilization in specific areas, especially by focusing on physiological tolerance, rather than on morphological or anatomical modifications (stress protein synthesis, enzyme optima, accumulation of solutes or compounds). Plants could also be improved for higher adaptation capacity, and this would make them suitable for different stressing environments.

ABIOTIC STRESS 2000 is a thematic network which is born with the purpose of creating a forum in the field of agrobiotechnology by bringing together experts from different disciplines like: plant biologists and geneticists, meteorologists, experts in global changes, plant breeders, bioinformatics experts, agronomists, economists, physiologists, biotechnologists, experts of planning and management, social scientists and educators. The thematic network wishes to moderate the discussion of the various experts on the various subjects from the global change and advanced meteorology to crop production around the world and genetic engineering with a particular emphasis to the developing countries and to extreme environments and climates.

The Network will deal with all aspects of Abiotic Stress, including Heat stress, Cold stress, Drought stress, Pollutant stress, Radiation stress.

ABIOTIC STRESS 2000 is coordinated by the Division of Genetics and Environmental Biotechnologies, Department of Environmental Sciences of the University of Parma, Italy, in collaboration with Texas Tech University at Lubbock, Texas.
The two Universities have agreed on a joint effort to provide a series of services to people interested in the effects of Abiotic Stress on plants.

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Purposes of ABIOTIC STRESS 2000
 
  1. To provide a mechanism for on-line discussions on specific topics of plant stress, thereby favouring exchange of scientific knowledge and innovative ideas
  2. To issue an electronic newsletter informing on the latest news concerning research on stress
  3. To provide a place for advertising, collecting and making available informations on positions, fellowships and training opportunities for researchers and students in the field
  4. To facilitate organisation and disseminate information about workshops, conferences and symposia on stress
  5. To provide a focal point for ongoing activities on stress, serving the purpose of providing information useful for assembling research partnerships for national and international granting applications and for raising funds
The thematic network will also seek for all the financial support necessary to organize workshops and meetings as well as teleconferences and computer assisted demonstration programs.
For this reason a detailed program of objectives, activities and needs will be prepared and submitted to some of the major granting agencies for consideration.
If financial resources willl be available, another goal of the network is the organization and operation of a database in which subscribers can post or retrieve relevant publicly available information, such as gene sequences, references, project abstracts.
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Planned list of Services

These services will be made available in the future. Please contact us if you have suggestions.

 
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For any comment about this page, please contact Mariolina Gulli