Plant Phenome

ended

Plant Phenomics has been growing and advancing rapidly in the last decades. Two important facts drive this growth: 1) the need for growing more food with better nutrition quality for the world population which has been rising enormously along with increasing social inequalities; 2) the need for better understanding of plant-environment interaction so improving the ability to produce crops better adapted to coping with uncertainties in future climate. This project aims to provide a detailed philosophical analysis of the main concepts and methodologies in phenome research, specifically in plant science. To achieve this, a very careful and detailed ontological and epistemological analysis of main concepts (phenome, phenotypic trait, response, stress, stress tolerance, stress resistance, phenotypic plasticity) and all the phases in plant phenomics research (including experiment design, instrument choice, data production, interpretation, flow and integration etc.) will be conducted. Main methodology will be traditional philosophical analysis both in philosophy and scientific literature. Genotype, phenotype and environment are concepts traditionally at the core of theoretical biology and philosophy of biology. Philosophy of biology has paid far more attention to genotypes than phenotypes, and this project will make an important contribution to redressing this balance. Plant phenomics is an area that includes researchers with backgrounds in biology, agricultural sciences and engineering. A proper philosophical analysis of the key concepts and ideas in the field should make a major contribution to improved communication both between practitioners with these diverse approaches to the field, and also with other areas such as geography, environmental sciences and political sciences which have close relations with plant science.