This project investigates how plants use calcium signaling mechanisms to respond to changes in temperature, salt stress, and wounding. The long-term goal is to understand how plant cells sense and respond to stressful environments, and to use that knowledge to develop crop plants that are more productive. Projections indicate that worldwide food production must increase by more than 70% by the year 2050 to feed the expected increase in the human population. To accomplish this, there is a need to develop crops that are more tolerant to suboptimal agricultural lands and chaotic weather events. This research project seeks to better understand how plants use calcium as an intracellular signaling molecule, and may lead to new ways to improve high-temperature tolerance in plants. Calcium signals are initiated when cell membrane ion channels open and allow calcium to enter the cytoplasm of a cell. The transient signal ends after calcium efflux transporter molecules remove the calcium and restore normal resting calcium levels. The focus of the research is to understand how cells regulate normal resting levels of calcium, and whether long-term changes in those resting levels provide a mechanism to reprogram cells to adapt to different stresses or developmental situations. The project incorporates genetic tools to manipulate the resting levels of calcium and test for their importance during plant development and responses to the environment. Additionally, the project will provide an op