Combined Stresses in Plants: Physiological, Molecular, and Biochemical Aspects

1 Consideration of Combined Stress 5

Here is an example to illustrate the importance of considering more than a single
stress. A recent study indicated that rising CO 2 levels increased the estimated yield
levels of soybeans during 2002–2006 by 4.34, 7.57, and 5.10 %, in the USA, Brazil,
and China, respectively (Sakurai et al. 2014 ). However, there are other studies using
the free-air concentration enrichment (FACE) technology that consider the increas-
ing levels of ozone, the most abundant air pollutant that will negate the fertilizing
effects of CO 2 and predict a less-than-expected yield due to the increasing levels of
CO 2 (Long et al. 2005 , 2006 ).

Stress combination Plant species (references)

High CO 2 + high light Chlorella (Kozlowska-Szerenos et al. 2004 )

Nutrient + pathogens Arabidopsis (Amtmann et al. 2008 )

Drought + heat + high

light

Hibiscus (Munoz and Quiles 2013 ); Rosa meillandina (Paredes

and Quiles 2013 ); wheat (Sharma and Singhal 1993 )

Drought + high light + UV Arabidopsis (Poulson et al. 2006 )

Drought + heat + virus Arabidopsis (Prasch and Sonnewald 2013 )

CO 2 + temperature + UV Cowpea (Singh et al. 2010 ); soybeans (Koti et al. 2005 ); birch

(Lavola et al. 2013 )

Ozone + light Trifolium subterraneum (Vollsnes et al. 2009 )

CO 2 + temperature +

drought

Eucalyptus (Roden and Ball 1996 )

UV + nutrients Vigna radiata (Agrawal et al. 2006 ); wheat (Shukla et al. 2002 )

CO 2 + ozone + insects Soybeans (Casteel et al. 2008 )

CO 2 + temperature +

insects

Soybeans (Niziolek et al. 2013 )

Table 1.1 (continued)

200

250

rs

100

150

Billion US dollar

0

50

Drought/heat Drought Flooding Freeze/Cold

B

Fig. 1.2 A meta-analysis of naturally occurring disasters in the USA. Losses due to weather-
related disasters (excluding tornadoes, hurricanes, and wildfires) occurring between 1980 and
2011 that exceeded more than a billion dollars were included in this analysis. Damage costs were
normalized to the 2013 US dollar value. Raw data for this analysis were from reference (Smith
and Katz 2013 )