Plant Physiological Ecology
             SecondEdition
                   HansLambers    F. Stuart Chapin III
                   Thijs L. Pons
                   Plant Physiological
                   Ecology
                   SecondEdition
                    13
        HansLambers                              F. Stuart Chapin III
        TheUniversity of Western Australia       University of Alaska
        Crawley, WA                              Fairbanks, AK
        Australia                                USA
        hans.lambers@uwa.edu.au                  terry.chapin@uaf.edu
        Thijs L. Pons
        Utrecht University
        TheNetherlands
        T.L.Pons@bio.uu.nl
        ISBN: 978-0-387-78340-6        e-ISBN: 978-0-387-78341-3
        DOI:10.1007/978-0-387-78341-3
        Library of Congress Control Number: 2008931587
        #2008SpringerScienceþBusinessMedia,LLC
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                                 ForewordtoSecondEdition
                                 Inthedecadethathaspassedsincethefirsteditionofthisbook,theglobalenviron-
                                 menthaschangedrapidly.Eventhemoststeadfast‘‘deny-ers’’havecometoaccept
                                 that atmospheric CO enrichment and global warming pose serious challenges to
                                                    2
                                 life on Earth. Regrettably, this acceptance has been forced by calamitous events
                                 rather than by the long-standing, sober warnings of the scientific community.
                                    There seems to be growing belief that ‘‘technology’’ will save us from the worst
                                 consequencesofawarmerplanetanditswaywardweather.Thishope,thatmayin
                                 the end prove to be no more than wishful thinking, relates principally to the built
                                 environmentandhumanaffairs.Alternativesourcesofenergy,utilizedwithgreater
                                 efficiency,areattheheartofsuchhopes;evenalternativewaysofproducingfoodor
                                 obtaining water may be possible. For plants, however, there is no alternative but to
                                 utilize sunlight and fix carbon and to draw water from the soil. (Under a given
                                 rangeofenvironmentalconditions,theseprocessesarealreadyremarkablyefficient
                                 by industrial standards.) Can we ‘‘technologize’’ our way out of the problems that
                                 plants may encounter in capricious, stormier, hotter, drier, or more saline environ-
                                 ments?Climatechangewillnotalterthebasicnatureofthestressesthatplantsmust
                                 endure, but it will result in their occurrence in places where formerly their impact
                                 wassmall, thus exposing species and vegetation types to more intense episodes of
                                 stressthantheyareabletohandle.Thetimescaleonwhichtheclimateischangingis
                                 too fast to wait for evolution to come up with solutions to the problems.
                                    For a variety of reasons, the prospects for managing change seem better in
                                 agriculture than in forests or in wild plant communities. It is possible to intervene
                                 dramaticallyinthenormalprocessofevolutionarychangebygeneticmanipulation.
                                 Extensive screening of random mutations in a target species such as Arabidopsis
                                 thaliana can reveal genes that allow plants to survive rather simplified stress tests.
                                 This is but the first of many steps, but eventually these will have their impact,
                                 primarilyonagriculturalandindustrialcrops.Thereisahugeresearcheffortinthis
                                 areaandmuchoptimismaboutwhatcanbeachieved.Muchofitisdonewithlittle
                                 reference to plant physiology or biochemistry and has a curiously empirical char-
                                 acter.Onecansensethatthereisimpatiencewithplantphysiologythathasbeentoo
                                 slowindefiningstresstolerance,andabeliefthatifagenecanbefoundthatconfers
                                 tolerance, and it can be transferred to a species of interest, it is not of prime
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