| Project |
Climate change effects on plant health |
| Supervisors |
Michael Lyngkjær LIFE/KU
David B. Collinge LIFE/KU
Poul Erik Jensen LIFE/KU
Rikke Bagger Jørgensen Risø/DTU
Bjarne Jørnsgård LIFE/KU |
| University |
Copenhagen University, Faculty of Life Sciences |
| Work place |
Copenhagen University, Faculty of Life Sciences Department of Plant Biology Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871 Frederiksberg C |
| E-mail / phone |
(+45) 353 33312 |
| Aim |
The aim of this PhD project is to understand and describe how predicted changes in our future climate may affect growth of crop plants and their interaction with pathogenic microorganisms. The emphasis will be on the responsiveness of leaves to climate stress in relation to their light environment and how this might influence resistance responses to fungal pathogens.
The project will examine phenotypic, physiologic, cellular and molecular effects of the climatic factors during specific plant-microbe interactions, including both biotrophic and necrotrophic fungi that may act differently to the tested climatic factors, i.e. powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei) and spot blotch (Bipolaris sorokiniana) |
| Background |
There are no data available on the host plant-pathogen interactions of European cereals in a new climate, where more environmental factors are changed simultaneously. The project will yield entirely new insights into the effects of climate change on plant growth and disease resistance, especially in barley, and we will learn about specific effects on host-plant physiology and disease resistance mechanisms in different host genotypes from old land races to modern cultivars. This information is highly important, so it is possible to meet predicted harmful effects to crop production in time through plant breeding |
| Status |
|
| Time table |
Start: 01.06.09
End: 31.05.12 |