Plant System Biology

The cultivated plant in a field

This division covers research on plant functioning and development in the context of a cultivated field (e.g. in a canopy, in a climate-plant-soil continuum, and in a cropping system). Typical topics includes biology of grain and fruit yield and quality traits; plant nutrition and root-soil interactions; plant-disease/insects interactions which are increasingly related to plant physiology. Emphasis is put on the functioning of individual plants in a plant population in various cropping systems (monoculture, intercropping, double cropping, etc.). 

The objective is here clearly to attract the many researchers working on plant and crop physiology and who are now more linked to molecular biology and genetics than to agronomy. Most of them have left ESA but they may come back if we offer a division which places this Plant Systems Biology at the cross roads of biology and cropping systems.

Experimental work and modelling activities dealing with phenology, architecture, photosynthesis, evapotranspiration, mineral nutrition, plant competition, sink-source relationships are key areas. Strong links will be sought between research in genomics, genetics and crop physiology in collaboration with other scientific societies in this field. The main aim is to find ways to merge the huge effort in genomics with knowledge of plant function in the field. Systems based approaches will be used to integrate the various disciplines using computer simulation and modelling to uncover mechanisms and knowledge at various levels of organisation. This division places this Crop Systems Biology at the cross roads of biology/genetics and cropping systems.

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