Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Under Climate Change and Stressed Environments

Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) occupy a distinctive position in agricultural systems: their commercial and therapeutic value rests not on biomass yield alone but on the content, composition, and consistency of secondary metabolites: essential oils, phenolics, alkaloids, and other bioactive compounds whose biosynthesis is tightly coupled to environmental conditions. This dependence makes MAPs particularly sensitive to the destabilizing effects of climate change. Rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, increasing drought frequency, soil salinization, and the emergence of novel biotic pressures are already reshaping where and how these crops can be cultivated, with direct consequences for phytochemical yield and quality and, by extension, for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries that depend on them.Despite growing interest in MAP cultivation under marginal and stressed conditions, understanding of how combined or sequential abiotic and biotic stresses affect metabolite biosynthesis pathways remains fragmented, and agronomic strategies to buffer these effects, from irrigation management and biostimulant application to genotype selection and controlled-environment approaches, have not been systematically consolidated within a climate-smart framework.This Research Topic invites contributions that examine the physiological, biochemical, and agronomic dimensions of MAP production under climate change and environmental stress. We welcome studies addressing, among others:● Physiological and biochemical responses of MAPs to drought, heat, salinity, and combined abiotic stresses● Modulation of secondary metabolite profiles and essential oil quality in response to climate stressors and agronomic mitigation practices● Agronomic and management practices for climate resilience, including irrigation strategies, biostimulants, mycorrhizal and microbial inoculants, and soil amendments● Genotypic variation, breeding, and selection for stress tolerance in MAP species● Molecular and omics-driven insights into stress-adaptation mechanisms that inform breeding, biostimulant use, or resilient crop management.● Biotic stress interactions (pests, pathogens) under changing climatic conditions● Sustainable cultivation systems, including intercropping, organic production, and controlled-environment or protected cultivation● Modeling approaches for predicting MAP distribution, productivity, or quality under future climate scenarios● Organic farming, sustainable production and Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) on MAPs. Topic editors: Eve Runno-Paurson, Mohammad Bagher Hassanpouraghdam, Mohammad Reza Morshedloo Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86364/medicinal-and-aromatic-plants-under-climate-change-and-stressed-environments