About this Research Topic

Background

Increasing temperature compromises crop yield in some regions, and opens opportunities in others. Over-imposed to warming trends, rainfall is declining in some cropping areas, compounding the effect of water and heat stress. There are direct effects of water, temperature and their interaction on crop development, growth and yield, and indirect effects mediated by the variation in range and intensity of biotic stresses - weeds, herbivores and pathogens. These multiple stresses have implications for both crop and farm level decisions.

The overall goal of this Research Topic is to cover the different aspects of climate change-induced more frequent and severe extreme weather events, and provide a better understanding and quantification of climate extremes and their impacts on major plant production systems, or, more generally, important agricultural production systems around the globe with focus on drought and heat and their interactions – as a basis for better adaptation and mitigation planning; we also aim to address possible effective adaptations or combinations of adaptation measures to reduce emerging new climate risks - particularly those arising from more frequent and prolonged droughts and heat-waves - and provide illustrative case studies on effective adaptations for agricultural systems around the globe

In the context of drought and elevated temperature, this Research Topic seeks articles that:

(1) Advance theoretical frameworks to account for single and multiple stresses, emphasizing drought and heat, on agricultural processes from crop to region level and related adjacent scales/levels of organization if supportive to process understanding from crop canopy to regional level. Yet, studies at plant organ or lower scales are out of scope.

(2) Integrate fragmented information using data from new field or controlled-environment experiments or new statistical analysis of pre-existing data, or integration of fragmented data through eco-physiological modelling.

(3) Focus on the combined drought and heat on cropping systems from a risk perspective, accounting for production/financial, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Aridity, Drought, Heat, Risk, Profitability, Climate Change, Adaptation, Modelling

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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