What will be the effects of an increased UV-B radiation on crop and forest yields? Can plants protect themselves against increased UV-B?
What will be the effects of an increased UV-B radiation on crop and forest yields? There are some UV-B-sensitive varieties of crops that experience reductions in yield. However, there are also UV-B-tolerant varieties, providing the opportunity to breed and genetically engineer UV-B tolerant varieties. For commercial forests, tree breeding and genetic engineering may be used to improve UV-B tolerance. For unmanaged or natural forests, these methods are not an option. While many forest tree species appear to be UV-B tolerant, there is some evidence that UV-B effects, sometimes detrimental, can slowly accumulate from year to year. If this finding is a general phenomenon, this would be cause for concern since it would greatly complicate breeding efforts in commercial forests and negatively affect natural forests. Can plants protect themselves against increased UV-B? Yes, partly. Plants already have reasonable UV shielding; for most plants only a small proportion of the UV-B radiation strik
