"When you consider the importance of the Midwest in terms of global food security, it is important to do this research here," said Stephen P. Long, a photosynthesis expert and the Robert Emerson Professor of Plant Biology at the UI. "Up to now, experiments related to global warming on many crops have been done in locations on the periphery of major food production areas."

Researchers want to know how soybeans may be affected, and what scientists might do to assure the integrity of yields and quality as the climate changes. By 2050, carbon dioxide levels are expected to be about 1.5 times greater than the current 370 parts per million, while daytime ozone levels during the growing season could peak on average at 80 parts per billion (now 60 parts per billion).

SoyFACE (Free Air gas Concentration Enrichment) is the first test of crop growth in the presence of both increased carbon dioxide and ozone. Five UI departments, the USDA-ARS and Illinois State Water Survey, as well as researchers from four other nations and two other U.S. universities are participating this summer.

Four control and four experimental 70-foot-diameter rings currently surround 24 varieties of soybeans. The experimental rings have ABS plastic pipes that deliver at crop level a precisely regulated flow of carbon dioxide, based on wind speed and direction, pumped from a 50-ton solar-powered tank.

Next summer, soybeans will grow on an adjacent 40 acres dotted with 24 of the octagon-shaped rings. Four rings will pump carbon dioxide, four will provide just ozone and four will provide ozone and carbon dioxide. Natural conditions will exist in an equal number of control rings for each test
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Contact: Jim Barlow
b-james3@uiuc.edu
217-333-5802
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2-Jul-2001