Interactions of CO2, Temperature, and Soil Water Availability On Growth, Development, and Water Use of Maize: Lessons From Controlled Experiments and Modeling.

A series of experiments have been conducted to study the interactivce effects of atmospheric [CO2], temperature, and soil water availability on corn growth and physiology using sunlit growth chambers known as SPAR chambers. Here, we provide a synthesis of our findings to date from these experimental investigations and illustrate how these data have been used to develop and test a process-based crop simulation model: MAIZSIM.  We then further our analysis by comparing the controlled experimental results and model predictions with published data from field studies, and discuss strengths and limitations in our approach.