What challenges do rising carbon dioxide and climatic uncertainty pose for global rice production? A University of Arkansas webinar Thursday, Sept. 20 at 3 p.m. CST, will consider those and other issues, according to webinar host Dr. Bobby Coats, professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas.

 “From threats, to consequences, from challenges to promise, Dr. Lewis Ziska, former project leader for climate change at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, will discuss a range of issues related to quantifiable and qualitative rice impacts, from pollen sterility, to increased weed pressures,” Coats says. “He will also stress opportunities, with a focus on genetic and management adaptation. “

 Ziska is a Plant Physiologist with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland. After graduating from the University of California, Davis, he began his career as a Smithsonian fellow, and then took up residence as the Project Leader for global climate change at the International Rice Research Institute before joining USDA. Since joining USDA, Ziska has published over 100 peer-reviewed research articles related to climate change and rising carbon dioxide that address: (1) Agriculture and Food Security; (2) Weeds and weed management; (3) Invasive species; (4) Plant biology and public health.

 He is also a contributor to the 2014 International Panel on Climate Change report (Food Security Chapter); the 2014 National Climate Assessment (Public Health Chapter); and most recently, The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment.

His work has appeared in Scientific American, USA Today, CBS Nightly News, CBS Sunday Morning, National Geographic, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Weed Biology and Climate Change (with Jeff Dukes, Wiley Press) and the editor of Invasive Species and Global Climate Change (with Jeff Dukes, CABi Press). His most recent book is: Agriculture, Climate Change and Food Security in the 21st Century: Our Daily Bread, through Cambridge Scholars publishing.

 “I am told that within USDA-ARS Lewis has no equal when it comes to climate change and related issues,” Coats says.

Link to Register:  http://bit.ly/UAEX-Climate-Rice-Ziska