A role for ecophysiology in the 'omics' era

Plant Ecophysiology is the study on how Plant Physiology is modulated by the environment. This discipline could have benefited greatly from the development of the different omic' technologies (from genomics to metabolomics). Instead, the overall impression is that ecophysiology and 'omics' have developed mostly independent each other. Here we provide a literature analysis over the past 20 years which fully confirms this view. Then, we review a few examples of studies in which ecophysiology and 'omics' studies have combined to different extents to illustrate the potential benefits from their mutualistic interaction. In addition, we debate on the possibilities of working with plants other than Arabidopsis, which is illustrated with some examples of fascinating plants from extreme environments of the world, what we call the sherplants'. Finally, we raise a call to both communities (ecophysiology and 'omics') to integrate these disciplines to enter an ecophysiolomics era' to maximize our understanding about plant mechanisms from a multidisciplinary approach. Significance Statement In this work we analyzed the relationship between the omic' technologies and plant ecophysiology. Literature data show that they developed mostly independent each other over the last 20 years. This fact promotes separated communities in each field losing the potential benefits from their mutualistic interaction. Here, we raise a call to both communities to integrate these disciplines to maximize our understanding about plant mechanisms from a multidisciplinary approach.