Plant environmental biology and functional ecology
About
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.
Groups
Atkin Group studies plant metabolic responses to environmental gradients, including how leaf respiration varies within and among biomes across the globe.
We study how physiological adaptations and responses to environmental stresses affect the structure and functioning of plant communities.
We study the genetic basis of Climate Adaptation in foundation plant species, using state of the art Genomic and Phenomic techniques
We use phylogenetic comparative methods to investigate the characteristics of lineages that influence the pattern and rate of genome evolution.
We investigate the structural organization of the thylakoid membrane; electron flow in leaves; quantification of Photosystem II; and photodamage.
We study relating photosynthesis to nitrogen; CO2 diffusion within leaves; analysing how plants acclimate to their light environment.
Our research includes: photosynthesis and growth with N2 and water use of plants; stomatal physiology; isotopic composition of plants & global change science.
The aim of our research is to understand the ecology and evolution of interactions between plants and animals in the Australian biota.
Our main research interest is in fungal-plant-interactions, both applied and pure research, on a range of important pathogens.
The Masle group's central interest is on the interplay between genetic and environmental determinants of plant development and adaptation to stress.
We are interested in phenotypic plasticity - the range of forms a given genetic individual can exhibit under different environments.
The overarching theme of our research is to determine the controls and regulators of communication between the chloroplast and nucleus.
The Price lab is presently focusing on the molecular biology and physiology of photosynthesis in cyanobacteria (blue-green photosynthetic bacteria) and plants
Rathjen group focuses on all aspects of plant immunity, characterising the fascinating interplay between host and pathogen.
We are investigating aspects of carbon acquisition by plants including the biochemistry of CO2 fixation and regulation of CO2 diffusion into and within leaves.
One of the most pressing concerns in biology is whether we can predict how plants and ecosystems will respond to climate change.
We focus on the development and use of synthetic tools to scrutinize the biology of the most abundant protein, the photosynthetic CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco.
Projects
News
The remarkable ability of mangrove forests to remember recent droughts could leave them more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Scientists from ANU are drawing inspiration from plants to develop new techniques to separate and extract valuable minerals, metals and nutrients from resource-rich wastewater.
ANU will lend its unique expertise in plant biology to an ambitious mission led by Australian space start-up Lunaria One that aims to grow plants on the moon by as early as 2025.
A team of researchers from the ANU Research School of Biology and CSIRO has been awarded more than $1 million to develop technology that harvests valuable resources from our wastewater.
How do you tell if your plants need water? Recently, I asked this question of a group of about 40 biologists at the Australian National University.
Death cap mushrooms don’t actually want to kill us. In fact, mushrooms don’t care about us at all.