Bacheva Vesna, Madison Imani, Baldwin Mathew, Baker Justin, Beilstein Mark, Call Douglas F, Deaver Jessica A, Efimenko Kirill, Genzer Jan, Grieger Khara, Gu April Z, Ilman Mehmet Mert, Liu Jen, Li Sijin, Mayer Brooke K, Mishra Anand Kumar, Nino Juan Claudio, Rubambiza Gloire, Sengers Phoebe, Shepherd Robert, Woodson Jesse, Weatherspoon Hakim, Frank Margaret, Jones Jacob L, Sozzani Rosangela, Stroock Abraham D
Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Glob Chang Biol. 2025 Apr;31(4):e70142. doi: 10.1111/gcb.70142.
Feeding the growing human population sustainably amidst climate change is one of the most important challenges in the 21st century. Current practices often lead to the overuse of agronomic inputs, such as synthetic fertilizers and water, resulting in environmental contamination and diminishing returns on crop productivity. The complexity of agricultural systems, involving plant-environment interactions and human management, presents significant scientific and technical challenges for developing sustainable practices. Addressing these challenges necessitates transdisciplinary research, involving intense collaboration among fields such as plant science, engineering, computer science, and social sciences. Five case studies are presented here demonstrating successful transdisciplinary approaches toward more sustainable water and fertilizer use. These case studies span multiple scales. By leveraging whole-plant signaling, reporter plants can transform our understanding of plant communication and enable efficient application of water and fertilizers. The use of new fertilizer technologies could increase the availability of phosphorus in the soil. To accelerate advancements in breeding new cultivars, robotic technologies for high-throughput plant screening in different environments at a population scale are discussed. At the ecosystem scale, phosphorus recovery from aquatic systems and methods to minimize phosphorus leaching are described. Finally, as agricultural outputs affect all people, integration of stakeholder perspectives and needs into research is outlined. These case studies highlight how transdisciplinary research and cross-training among biologists, engineers, and social scientists bring diverse expertise to tackling grand challenges in sustainable agriculture, driving discovery and innovation.
在气候变化背景下，以可持续方式养活不断增长的人口是21世纪最重要的挑战之一。当前的做法往往导致对农艺投入品（如合成肥料和水）的过度使用，从而造成环境污染并使作物生产力的回报递减。农业系统的复杂性，包括植物与环境的相互作用以及人类管理，给可持续实践的发展带来了重大的科学和技术挑战。应对这些挑战需要跨学科研究，涉及植物科学、工程学、计算机科学和社会科学等领域的紧密合作。本文介绍了五个案例研究，展示了在更可持续地使用水和肥料方面成功的跨学科方法。这些案例研究涵盖了多个尺度。通过利用整株植物信号传导，报告植物可以改变我们对植物交流的理解，并实现水和肥料的高效应用。新型肥料技术的使用可以提高土壤中磷的有效性。为了加速新品种培育的进展，讨论了在群体规模上在不同环境中进行高通量植物筛选的机器人技术。在生态系统尺度上，描述了从水生系统中回收磷以及尽量减少磷淋失的方法。最后，由于农业产出影响到所有人，概述了将利益相关者的观点和需求纳入研究的情况。这些案例研究强调了生物学家、工程师和社会科学家之间的跨学科研究和交叉培训如何带来多样的专业知识，以应对可持续农业中的重大挑战，推动发现和创新。
