Plant Optics Lab @ UC Davis

In Washington DC, at the annual American Geophysical Union Meeting - Francis Ulep presented his talk "Stressed Out? Zoom in to Investigate: High-resolution tower spectroscopy to understand crop response to water limitation" and Lily Klinek presented her poster: "Physiological Effects of Extreme Heat and High Vapor Pressure Deficit on Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) Photosynthesis"

Congrats to both!

Abstract: The seasonal timing and magnitude of photosynthesis in evergreen needleleaf forests (ENFs) has major implications for the carbon cycle and is increasingly sensitive to changing climate. Earlier spring photosynthesis can increase carbon uptake over the growing season or cause early water reserve depletion that leads to premature cessation and increased carbon loss.

The proportion of these isotopes, sensitive to environmental changes, has allowed the reconstruction of rainfall three centuries ago in the Andes Mountains of South America. These records correspond to climatic memories reflected in the thickness of tree rings, corals in the tropical Pacific and glaciers in the southern tropical Andes.

Franics Ulep, second year PhD student in Ecology, won an Outstanding Student Presentation Award from the Biogeosciences section at the annual American Geophysical Union this year for his poster "Disentangling Plant Structure Complexities and Sun-Sensor Geometry Induced Changes in Tower-based Remote Sensing Signals". Great work Francis!

https://www.agu.org/honors/ospa/past-recipients 

Evergreen needleleaf forests (ENFs) play a sizable role in the global carbon cycle, but the biological and physical controls on ENF carbon cycle feedback loops are poorly understood and difficult to measure. To address this challenge, a growing appreciation for the stress physiology of photosynthesis has inspired emerging techniques designed to detect ENF photosynthetic activity with optical signals. This Overview summarizes how fundamental plant biological and biophysical processes control the fate of photons from leaf to globe, ultimately enabling remote estimates of ENF photosynthesis.

Francis, Lily, Erica, Chris, Mili, Mukund, Jenny and Troy all attended the annual American Geophysical Union Conference in San Fransisco last week.

Lily Klinek won an award for Outstanding Forest Ecophysiology talk! Sponsored by Licor Biosciences. Congrats Lily on an amazing talk about redwood photosynthesis from the needle to the satellite!

Check out photos here! https://magneylab.ucdavis.edu/photo-galleries/agu-2023 

New lab paper by Logan (former M.S. student) was awarded Editor's Choice at AoBP Plants!

Paper abstract:

The Maloof, Magney, and Gremer labs, and science educator Jamison-McClung at UC Davis are recruiting a postdoctoral scholar for research and training as part of a collabo

This work started as Lily's undergrad thesis at Berkeley and uses longer time series to test the model across a broader range of functional groups, climates, and biomes.

The main take-aways are:

• Soil and air temperature can be used to predict start of growing season.
• Highest model concordance found in temperate mid-latitude deciduous forests.
• Altered dynamics exhibited in high latitude sites and extreme climate sites.

Paper abstract:

How long can trees tolerate drought before the forest dies?

by  Trina Kleist, August 10, 2023

Researchers from UC Davis can now predict which forests could survive despite future drought. Their new method links precipitation to tree growth, and it can help people decide where to put their resources as climate change affects patterns of snow and rainfall that impact the health of forests.