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UF-linked research: Rice is approaching its heat tolerance ceiling as climate warms

A new study warns that climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions will cause temperatures to rise at a pace roughly 5,000 times faster than rice has ever had to adapt to in its roughly 9,000-year cultivation history. The crop, which supplies about 20% of calories for half the world’s population and sustains the livelihoods of more than a billion people, evolved in warm climates but researchers say it is now nearing the upper boundary of its thermal tolerance. Scientists caution that many other crop species face a similarly daunting rate of warming over the next half-century.

Sources: UF News