Abstract

emperature extremes can severely affect agricultural production, causing major reductions in crop yield. U.S. government statistics report over 150 billion dollars in damage/lost production due to freezing and heat/drought "disasters" in the U.S. since 1980 (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/reports/billion/billion2005.pdf). Decreased agricultural production due to temperature extremes is not limited to the U.S., but also occurs worldwide. . The field of temperature stress in plants is rich with opportunities for agriculture and forestry. Some of these opportunities come through conventional plant breeding and genetics, while others arise through application of biotechnology. Most critical at this time is bringing together scientists at the molecular, cell, whole organism, and field levels to advance our basic understanding of the types of damage plants experience during temperature stress, to identify stress-protective mechanisms and their regulatory pathways, and to discuss breeding and transgenic approaches towards enhancing plant temperature stress tolerance. The 2007 Gordon Research Conference on "Temperature Stress in Plants" will achieve this goal by convening a diverse gathering of academic, government and industry scientists from both the U.S. and abroad with expertise in all areas of plant responses to temperature. Ultimately advances in this field will contribute to the important goal of providing a sustainable food supply. UTPUTS: 2007 GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE on Temperature Stress in Plants FINAL PROGRESS REPORT USDA GRANT NO. 2007-35100-18033 The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Temperature Stress in Plants was held at Four Points Sherton, CA 1/21/2007 thru 1/26/2007. The Conference was well-attended with 89 participants (attendees list attached). The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, both U.S. and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. In designing the formal speakers program, emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate lively discussion about the key issues in the field today. Time for formal presentations was limited in the interest of group discussions. In order that more scientists could communicate their most recent results, poster presentation time was scheduled. Attached is a copy of the formal schedule and speaker program and the poster program. In addition to these formal interactions, "free time" was scheduled to allow informal discussions. Such discussions are fostering new collaborations and joint efforts in the field. I want to personally thank you for your support of this Conference. As you know, in the interest of promoting the presentation of unpublished and frontier-breaking research, Gordon Research Conferences does not permit publication of meeting proceedings.