Book Description

Anthropogenic activities have aggravated the effects of global climate change on ecosystems. Plants, because of their inability to escape from an adverse environment, suffer to a great extent from stresses, which can negatively impact their growth and development. Global warming is increasingly causing extreme climatic situations such as very high or low temperatures, drought and flooding events, hailstorms, wildfires, extreme precipitation events, and the reduction of fertile soil through desertification and salinization. In addition, warmer temperatures and higher humidity related with the climate change can also increase pest and disease pressure on plants by altering the geographic range, population size, and timing of pest and disease outbreaks. Taken together abiotic stress related with climate change as drought or extreme temperature can exacerbate the spread and severity of various diseases associated with biotic stress increasing the vulnerability of plants to pathogens (some examples include insects, fungi, bacteria or viruses).