Integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation to secure ecosystem and human health and foster climate justice in diverse environments

• Climate-change mitigation through plant and ecosystem management

  • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture through understanding and management of soil health, nutrient cycles, and soil microbiology
  • Remove atmospheric carbon dioxide using cropping systems, plant breeding, plant/microbe bioengineering, and carbon sequestration
  • Recycle agricultural, food, and human wastes as soil amendments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (circular economy)
  • Discover new opportunities for climate change mitigation via advances in remote sensing and geospatial applications

• Adaptation to climate change through innovative plant and ecosystem science

  • Describe and model climate impacts on plant and microbe biodiversity
  • Identify and manage climate-exacerbated weeds and pathogens
  • Detect and mitigate plant responses to climate stress with plant breeding and bioengineering of sensor plants and microbes (synthetic biology)
  • Build resilient landscapes for climate-vulnerable populations through diversified cropping systems and integrated plant, soil and ecosystem science