The European Stress Physiology and Climate Experiment - project 1. wheat (ESPACE-wheat): introduction, aims and methodology

The response of crops to CO2 enrichment represents an issue of major concer n both for scientists and for policymakers. In a concerted programme funded by the Commission of the European Communities, a Europe-wide experimental and modeling study was carried out to investigate the effects of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and of environmental stresses such as ozon e or water/nutrient shortage, under different climatic conditions on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). This contribution describes the experimental networ k and the standard protocol set-up for the assessments which served to impr ove and to validate process-orientated wheat growth simulation models. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.