How do circadian rhythms shape the responses of plants to climate change?

Living organisms can tell the time. This is because they contain circadian clocks, which
produce a cellular measure of the time of day. In plants including crops, circadian rhythms are
of crucial importance because they impact growth rates, metabolism, developmental
programmes and stress tolerance. Therefore, circadian regulation has an incredibly pervasive
influence upon plant life that affects crop performance. We need to know how circadian
rhythms adapt plants to their naturally fluctuating environments, to take advantage of the
incredible recent progress in understanding the molecular structure of circadian clocks. We do
not know how environmental alterations that are being caused by climate change will affect the
important contribution that circadian regulation makes to plant performance in nature.
This project will contribute to these major questions by investigating how future climate
scenarios affect plant physiology and development through their effects upon circadian
regulation. The novel biological insights from this project will help to better understand how
plants respond and adapt to changes in temperature, and contribute to the future development
of crops that are more resilient to climate change.