Plant Physiological Responses to Climate Change

Dear Colleagues,

According to the last Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have increased since the pre-industrial era, CO₂ being one of the main contributors. As a consequence, the warming of the climate system is unequivocal. Surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century under all assessed emission scenarios, and an increase in the frequency of extreme temperature events, such as heatwaves, is also very likely. Projected changes in rainfall patterns may involve a decrease in soil water availability in mid-latitude and subtropical dry regions, as well as increases in soil salinity. Abiotic stress factors associated with climate change exert adverse effects on crop physiology, such as limitation of growth and development, and alterations in plant phenology and crop quality. Within this context, the knowledge of the physiological responses of plants to multiple changing stress factors associated with climate change will help to the development of successful adaptation strategies to mitigate the impact of future environmental conditions on crops.

This Special Issue of Plants will analyze, from a multidisciplinary approach (ecophysiology, metabolomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, etc.) the impact of abiotic stresses associated with climate change on plant performance and crop quality. Contributions about adaptation strategies to climate change in agricultural crops and forest (from leaf to plant and canopy organizations levels) are also welcome.

Dr. Inmaculada Pascual Elizalde
Prof. Dr. Fermín Morales Iribas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.