PS Seminar Series: Integrating physiology, modelling, phenotyping and genetics to accelerate crop adaptation

ABSTRACT

Accelerating crop adaptation is critical to meeting growing food demands under a changing climate. However, complex interactions among genetics (G), agronomic management (M), and the crop production environment (E) make it difficult to identify effective interventions and predict their benefits across diverse growing conditions, constraining progress in crop improvement. A predictive framework that simulates how emerging crop improvement technologies affect crop production through G × M × E interactions offers a way to address this bottleneck. This seminar will outline a predictive modelling research theme and highlight recent examples integrating physiology, phenotyping and genetics to evaluate potential interventions and guide crop adaptation.

BIOGRAPHY

Alex is a Senior Research Fellow in crop physiology and modelling at the University of Queensland. His research combines investigations into the genetics and physiology of complex crop adaptation traits with the development and application of crop growth models. Through this work, he has recently connected emerging crop photosynthesis improvement research with crop yield outcomes. He currently serves on the APSIM Reference Panel, which oversees the development of the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) platform.