Ph.D. in Plant physiology

This Ph.D. project was started in May 2005 with Ph.D.-student Christian Albert. The project is linked to WP2.1 (stress), WP3.1 and 3.4 (plant phenology and community structure) and WP 4.1 (gaseous exchange).

The project will include studies of short term acclimation of leaf physiology (photosynthesis, respiration, stomatal conductance, Jmax, Vcmax etc.) and morphological parameters (specific leaf area (SLA), biomass etc.) to climatic changes, seasonality and leaf stress buffering capacity of different species and changes in stomatal index, transpiration and water-use efficiency.

Also, a specific task will be to scale up responses at the leaf level to the canopy and ecosystem level and link alterations in physiological processes to changes in plant species abundance and community structure.