CABI Blog

By identifying the top 100 questions facing plant science
and addressing them.

Inspired by a study which identified 100 ecological
questions of high policy relevance in the UK
, experts at the University of Bristol
launched a website to identify the most important and urgent questions in global plant
science. Plant science is helping to address many of the big issues facing
society today, such as food security, biofuels and the effects of climate
change, but what are the key questions that the next generation of plant
scientists should be addressing?

The questions submitted so far range from broad to
specific, from purely scientific to applied.

How can we combine traditional plant breeding techniques,
biotechnology and GMOs to prepare the worlds' crop plants for oncoming climate
change? How can we use our knowledge of carbon fixation to
address the rising levels of carbon dioxide? How can we move nitrogen fixing systems into non-legume
crops? And one that will go down well with my gardening
colleagues…Can we improve the resistance of brassica crops to slugs
by learning from their wild relatives

You can have your say by submitting your questions via the 100
Plant Science Questions website
until the end of March.

In April the panel will select the top 10 and top 100
questions they believe will inform scientific, political and scientific agendas
in the coming years.

Leave a Reply