Division A-3 (Agroclimatology and Agronomic Modeling) of the American
Society of Agronomy is planning a symposium on “Incorporating genomic
knowledge into ecophysiological models” at the 2010 annual meeting. The
annual meeting will take place in Long Beach, CA from October 31 to
November 4. Ecophysiological models of crops are powerful tools for
addressing problems ranging from testing hypotheses related to
biological responses to the environment to evaluating crop responses to
climate change scenarios. Plant genomics is providing valuable
information about plant responses to the environment at very basic
levels of plant organization and at a time scale on the order of a few
minutes down to fractions of a second. A current weakness in
ecophysiological models of crops is how to incorporate genomic knowledge
about responses to the environment, i.e., phenotypic plasticity, into
these models. Ecophysiological models are usually run on an hourly or
daily time step. Ecophysiological modeling has an important role to play
in addressing problems associated with a world where climate change is a
serious concern, the population is increasing, and land resources for
agriculture are decreasing. However, they need to be better integrated
with information from genomics and allied fields. This symposium will
review issues relating to simulation of plant processes at scales from
gene regulation to whole plant responses to temperature, water stress,
and carbon dioxide. Oral and poster papers are welcome. For additional
information contact Albert Weiss, (402/472-6761, [log in to unmask]).