Project Number: 5347-11000-008-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Feb 02, 2005
End Date: Feb 01, 2010

Objective:
Strengthen assessments of impacts of global change on crop production systems using models that better represent interactions of elevated CO2 and temperature believed largely to be mediated through the canopy energy balance and develop and evaluate approaches to include temperature effects in open-field plot research on global change.

Approach:
Assess and strengthen existing process-based plant growth models for their ability to simulate interacting effects of CO2 and temperature on crop growth, water use, soil carbon storage, and trace gas emissions and then utilize the models to predict likely effects of global change on agriculture. Also evaluate effectiveness and costs of technological methods of manipulating temperature in open-field, free-air plots at a specific location for validating the models and studying underlying processes, and appraise whether natural temperature variations due to season, elevation, and latitude can be utilized for similar lines of research.