Plant environmental biology and functional ecology

How plants respond to the environment is of fundamental importance to understanding plant evolution, biodiversity and responses to future climate change. At the Research School of Biology, we apply fundamental knowledge of plant function to understand how plants adapt and acclimate to different environments, and how this determines the function of plant-based ecosystems.

Project Groups
Abiotic stress signalling, developmental programming and plant adaptation Masle Group - Environmental sensing, systemic signalling and development: plant resilience to drought and changing climate
Agrochemical control of stress signalling pathways for enhanced stress tolerance Chan Group - Plant Organelle and Cellular Signalling
Amazalert: raising the alert about critical feedbacks between climate and land use change in Amazonia Meir Group - Tropical forest ecosystems
Australian Mountain Research Facility (AMRF, ARC LIEF project)
  • Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
  • Nicotra Group - Plant physiological ecology, plant evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology
  • Australian native truffle diversity Linde Group - Population genetics, evolution, phylogeography and molecular phylogenetics of fungi
    Biological controls on soil respiration and its climatic response across a large tropical elevation gradient Meir Group - Tropical forest ecosystems
    Can seedling screens of energy use efficiency in wheat transfer to yield in the field?
  • Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
  • Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
  • Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
  • Carbon and water cycling in tropical rainforest Meir Group - Tropical forest ecosystems
    Carotenoid derivatives as chloroplast signals Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
    Chemical mechanism of Rubisco catalysis
    Climate change and carbon gain in Antarctic mosses Ball (Marilyn) Group - Ecophysiology of salinity and freezing tolerance
    CO2 acquisition by cyanobacteria and plants, & Synthetic Biology strategies for transplanting cyanobacterial CO2 Concentrating mechanism parts in crop plants
  • Price Group - The cyanobacterial CO2 concentrating mechanism and the use of synthetic biology to transfer it to C3 crop plants
  • von Caemmerer Group - CO2 fixation and water loss of leaves
  • CO2 diffusion inside leaves von Caemmerer Group - CO2 fixation and water loss of leaves
    Coping with temperature extremes: morphological constraints on leaf function in a warmer, drier climate Ball (Marilyn) Group - Ecophysiology of salinity and freezing tolerance
    Disentangling climate and evolutionary controls over the temperature-dependence of leaf respiration Meir Group - Tropical forest ecosystems
    Ecology, genetics and physiology of animal-plant interactions Foley Group - Animal-Plant interactions
    Ecophysiology of salinity and temperature tolerance in a changing world Ball (Marilyn) Group - Ecophysiology of salinity and freezing tolerance
    Energy use and the plant canopy - measuring local respiration trends.
  • Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
  • Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
  • Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
  • Enhancing carotenoid levels in cereals by esterification Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
    Entropy, information theory and biodiversity
    Evolution at extremes: Macroevolutionary responses to harsh environments
  • Bromham Group - Macroevolution, molecular evolution & Language evolution
  • Cardillo Group - Macroevolution, Macroecology and Biogeography
  • Evolution of salt tolerance in plants Bromham Group - Macroevolution, molecular evolution & Language evolution
    Genetics and evolution of variation in chemical defence against herbivores Foley Group - Animal-Plant interactions
    Genome wide association mapping Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
    Genotypic variation in Rubisco between diverse wheats Evans Group - Physiology of photosynthesis; interactions with nitrogen
    Habitat quality as a driver of fisheries productivity on macroalgal reefs
    HONOURS/MSC PROJECTS: Thermal tolerance and response to climate change in plants from extreme environments Nicotra Group - Plant physiological ecology, plant evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology
    Improving drought tolerance in wheat by selectively inhibiting negative regulators of drought stress signalling Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
    Improving nitrogen use efficiency in cereals Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
    Investigating adaptive genomic variation underlying drought tolerance in Eucalyptus Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
    Investigating the genetic architecture of thermal acclimation of leaf energy metabolism using GWAS
  • Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
  • Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
  • Isotope effects and natural isotope abundance
    Landscape genomics Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
    Leaf respiration under drought Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
    Linking intracellular communication to whole-plant stress responses Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids
    Living on the edge: how do Australian plants cope with extreme temperature? (ARC Linkage 2019-22) Nicotra Group - Plant physiological ecology, plant evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology
    Multi-trait plasticity: understanding temperature response of alpine plants in a warming world (ARC Discovery 2017-20) Nicotra Group - Plant physiological ecology, plant evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology
    Out of the darkness: predicting rates of respiration of illuminated leaves along nutrient gradients Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
    Pest resistance and sustainable plantation management of eucalypts Foley Group - Animal-Plant interactions
    PhD Scholarship top-up opportunity: Enhancing climate-resilience of ecological restoration Nicotra Group - Plant physiological ecology, plant evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology
    PHD STUDENT RESEARCH - Ecology and ecophysiology in Australian desert and alpine plant species Nicotra Group - Plant physiological ecology, plant evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology
    Photoprotective functions of xanthophyll pigments in avocado Chow Group - Thylakoid structure and function
    Photosynthesis, food security and global change Evans Group - Physiology of photosynthesis; interactions with nitrogen
    Physiological and molecular regulation of stomatal movement von Caemmerer Group - CO2 fixation and water loss of leaves
    Postgraduate projects with research support: Drivers of climate change responses in the Australian Alps
  • Borevitz Group - Plant genomics for climate adaption
  • Nicotra Group - Plant physiological ecology, plant evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology
  • Redefining metabolic schemes in plant respiration
    Salinity tolerance along an aridity gradient: linking physiological processes with morphological constraints on leaf function in mangroves Ball (Marilyn) Group - Ecophysiology of salinity and freezing tolerance
    Seed and seedling ecology Nicotra Group - Plant physiological ecology, plant evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology
    Student opportunites in the phenomic analysis of CO2 acquisition by cyanobacteria Price Group - The cyanobacterial CO2 concentrating mechanism and the use of synthetic biology to transfer it to C3 crop plants
    Student opportunities in molecular analysis of CO2 acquisition by cyanobacteria Price Group - The cyanobacterial CO2 concentrating mechanism and the use of synthetic biology to transfer it to C3 crop plants
    Student projects - additional topics for the future Atkin Group - Plant respiration in a changing world
    Student research projects in CO2 fixation and water loss of leaves von Caemmerer Group - CO2 fixation and water loss of leaves
    Studies on the biochemical regulation of C3 and C4 photosynthesis von Caemmerer Group - CO2 fixation and water loss of leaves
    SUMMER SCHOLARSHIPS: Thermal tolerance and response to climate change in plants from extreme environments Nicotra Group - Plant physiological ecology, plant evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology
    Testing environmental causes of population decline in an Australian song-bird (current PhD)
    The causes and effects of mortality in tropical Australian trees Meir Group - Tropical forest ecosystems
    The evolution and functional sigificance of leaf shape Nicotra Group - Plant physiological ecology, plant evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology
    The role of N-terminal post-translational modifications of the tobacco Rubisco large subunit Whitney Group - Synthetic Photosynthesis - bioengineering enzymes to adjust carbon fixation
    Tree water use, bushfires, and the implications for urban and rural water supplies Farquhar Group - Coordination of CO2 fixation and transpiration in plants
    Understanding how drought affects the risk of increased mortality in tropical rain forests Meir Group - Tropical forest ecosystems
    Understanding range limits and plant migration in response to climate change in Neotropical montane forests: moving from observational models to mechanisms Meir Group - Tropical forest ecosystems
    What are novel mechanisms for regulating transcription, RNA turnover and protein translation Pogson Group - Chloroplast to nuclear signalling: light, drought and carotenoids