Limits to the resilience of Australian forests and woodlands to drought. Water availability is a primary determinant of plant growth and the distribution of plant species and communities throughout the world. In Australia, climate change is predicted to result in increasing temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns, leading to more intense droughts in some areas. This project will examine the resilience of Australian forests and woodlands to drought under both current and future climate s ....Limits to the resilience of Australian forests and woodlands to drought. Water availability is a primary determinant of plant growth and the distribution of plant species and communities throughout the world. In Australia, climate change is predicted to result in increasing temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns, leading to more intense droughts in some areas. This project will examine the resilience of Australian forests and woodlands to drought under both current and future climate scenarios. The results of this work will feed into the new generation of dynamic global vegetation models, allowing for robust prediction of changes in the structure and productivity of Australian vegetation communities in the face of rapid climate change.Read moreRead less
Deciphering the Thermal Acclimation of Mitochondrial Respiration. Plants acclimate to the extremes of temperature following a pre-exposure to a sub-lethal increase/decrease in temperature. Recent research has revealed that proteins of oxidative phosphorylation and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle are dynamic and change their abundance in response to temperature change. Harnessing a cutting edge protein mass spectrometry approach, this project seeks to better understand how mitochondrial respir ....Deciphering the Thermal Acclimation of Mitochondrial Respiration. Plants acclimate to the extremes of temperature following a pre-exposure to a sub-lethal increase/decrease in temperature. Recent research has revealed that proteins of oxidative phosphorylation and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle are dynamic and change their abundance in response to temperature change. Harnessing a cutting edge protein mass spectrometry approach, this project seeks to better understand how mitochondrial respiration and hence adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production is maintained during temperature change. Uniquely this project will examine this in both the model plant Arabidopsis and wheat and combine both tissue, environment-induced and genotype variation to reveal a new understanding of the thermal acclimation of this major mitochondrial process.Read moreRead less
Leaf respiration under drought: a global perspective. Predicting future net carbon exchange is necessary for better management of vegetation resources by Australia. Incorporating the responses of plant respiration to drought and temperature is crucial for predicting future rates of net carbon exchange. Using laboratory and field studies, this research will develop an understanding of how water availability and temperature impact on plant respiration of a broad range of economically important and ....Leaf respiration under drought: a global perspective. Predicting future net carbon exchange is necessary for better management of vegetation resources by Australia. Incorporating the responses of plant respiration to drought and temperature is crucial for predicting future rates of net carbon exchange. Using laboratory and field studies, this research will develop an understanding of how water availability and temperature impact on plant respiration of a broad range of economically important and ecologically relevant plant species. Equations will be formulated that will improve how modellers calculate drought-dependent variations in plant respiration (and thus plant productivity), thereby improving predictions for a future, warmer world.Read moreRead less
Out of the darkness: predicting rates of respiration of illuminated leaves along nutrient gradients. Our research will greatly assist in predictions of future net carbon exchange necessary if Australia is to better manage its vegetation resources. Crucial to predicting future rates of net carbon exchange is an understanding of how climate and nutrients impact on leaf respiration. Our research will develop an understanding of how light, temperature and phosphorus (the most widespread, limiting nu ....Out of the darkness: predicting rates of respiration of illuminated leaves along nutrient gradients. Our research will greatly assist in predictions of future net carbon exchange necessary if Australia is to better manage its vegetation resources. Crucial to predicting future rates of net carbon exchange is an understanding of how climate and nutrients impact on leaf respiration. Our research will develop an understanding of how light, temperature and phosphorus (the most widespread, limiting nutrient in Australia) impact on leaf respiration of a broad range of contrasting plants representative of several diverse Australian ecosystems. We will develop equations that will allow modellers to better predict climate/nutrient dependent variations in leaf respiration (and thus rates of plant productivity), both now and in the future.Read moreRead less
Climate dependence of plant respiration in a warmer, drier world. This research will greatly assist in predictions of future net carbon exchange that are necessary if Australia is to better manage its vegetation resources. Crucial to predicting future rates of net carbon exchange is an understanding of how drought and long-term changes in temperature impact on plant respiration. Using laboratory and field studies, this research will develop an understanding of how water availability and temperat ....Climate dependence of plant respiration in a warmer, drier world. This research will greatly assist in predictions of future net carbon exchange that are necessary if Australia is to better manage its vegetation resources. Crucial to predicting future rates of net carbon exchange is an understanding of how drought and long-term changes in temperature impact on plant respiration. Using laboratory and field studies, this research will develop an understanding of how water availability and temperature impact on plant respiration of a broad range of economically important and ecologically relevant plant species. Equations will be formulated that allow modellers to better predict drought-dependent variations in plant respiration (and thus plant productivity), both now and in a future, warmer world.Read moreRead less
Disentangling climate and evolutionary controls over the temperature dependence of leaf respiration. The project will use field and laboratory studies to establish if there are systematic differences in the temperature responses of leaf respiration in plants adapted to hot and cold environments. The results will enable climate modellers to better predict impacts of climate change on carbon exchange between vegetation and the atmosphere.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100320
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,000.00
Summary
Proteomic analysis of thermal response in plants. This project will identify macromolecules that regulate temperature response in plants. Understanding how plants perceive changes in temperature will allow crop improvement in the face of likely increasing temperatures.
Tolerance of temperature extremes under drought: linking physiological processes with morphological constraints on leaf function. Freezing temperatures affect over 70% of Australia. Each year frosts cause substantial damage to agriculture and forestry. We will examine how decrease in hydraulic conduit diameter increases freeze tolerance in native woody species and quantify impacts of this tolerance on productivity of leaves. The results have application in managing temperate woody vegetation un ....Tolerance of temperature extremes under drought: linking physiological processes with morphological constraints on leaf function. Freezing temperatures affect over 70% of Australia. Each year frosts cause substantial damage to agriculture and forestry. We will examine how decrease in hydraulic conduit diameter increases freeze tolerance in native woody species and quantify impacts of this tolerance on productivity of leaves. The results have application in managing temperate woody vegetation under current and future climate scenarios. By improving understanding of the behaviour of water in leaves during freezing, we will contribute to improved models of physical stresses and strains in biological tissues during freezing, which find application in cryo-storage of biological materials important in agriculture, medicine, and conservation.Read moreRead less
Environmental regulation of root architecture by a gene controlling auxin transport. This project will study the function of a gene that we found to control root branching in response to the availability of nutrients in the environment. This could lead to new strategies for breeding of crop plants with improved ability to withstand environmental change.
Temperature response and thermal acclimation of mesophyll conductance. Photosynthetic rate and efficiency depend on diffusion of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into leaf mesophyll cells. Carbon dioxide diffusion is affected by temperature, but we lack knowledge of how this varies between plant species. Stable isotope methodology will be used to characterise the temperature response of this carbon dioxide diffusion step. Plants from contrasting climates will be grown in different temperature ....Temperature response and thermal acclimation of mesophyll conductance. Photosynthetic rate and efficiency depend on diffusion of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into leaf mesophyll cells. Carbon dioxide diffusion is affected by temperature, but we lack knowledge of how this varies between plant species. Stable isotope methodology will be used to characterise the temperature response of this carbon dioxide diffusion step. Plants from contrasting climates will be grown in different temperature regimes to reveal the extent of variation in adaptation and acclimation to temperature. This will provide new insights towards modifying photosynthesis to increase crop yield and it will also improve forecasting of global atmospheric carbon dioxide fluxes derived from the analysis of atmospheric isotope data.Read moreRead less