Climate change and the ecophysiology of eucalyptus

For decades, the issue of global climate change (GCC) has been of increasing interest to the scientific community and civil society, constituting one of the most concerning topics today. The intensification of anthropogenic activity has resulted in a significant increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, which has contributed to GCC. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have increased by more than 20% since 1958, when systematic measurements began, and by about 40% since 1750. If greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow at current rates over the next few years, the planet's temperature could increase by up to 4.8°C in this century. In this context, IPCC scientists state that the last three decades have been the warmest compared to all previous ones since 1850. Changes in the water cycle have also been observed, and changes are expected to continue to occur, even if greenhouse gas concentrations stabilize, due to the thermal inertia of the system and the long period required to return to equilibrium. Therefore, all these environmental changes can cause alterations in plant growth and development, morphology, and physiological and biochemical processes, affecting their survival and plant production. Thus, it is essential that studies be conducted to quantify the impacts of GCC on plant development with the purpose of proposing prevention and remediation measures. This importance should also be considered for economically important species, such as eucalyptus. Thus, the main objective of this proposal is to investigate the effect of increased atmospheric CO2 concentration and microclimatic conditions, especially the occurrence of heatwaves, combined or not with soil water availability levels, on the growth and physiology of eucalyptus plants. The plants are conducted inside open-top chambers (OTCs), installed inside climate-controlled greenhouses that reproduce the IPCC's RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios. Water consumption is monitored in real-time through a lysimetric system. The study aims to verify if the climate change projections released by the IPCC will affect growth, water consumption, gas exchange, reactive oxygen species production, enzyme activity, efficiency of photosystem II, among others, in the initial growth stage of the species.

Funding: EDITAL FAPES/CNPq/PDCTR Nº 11/2019

Execution period: 2020-2024