Brief Descriptions of Group Projects
1: Hydraulics and water flux
mentors: David Woodruff and Rick Meinzer
We will be guiding students in a project that will involve investigating leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) in conifer and broadleaf evergreen tree species. The group will conduct Kleaf measurements using the timed-rehydration technique while manipulating different parameters that may affect Kleaf. The objectives of this work will be to obtain insights into environmental factors that influence the transport of water through leaves, and which can lead to unintended error when not taken into consideration during analyses.
2: Coupling transpiration and leaf temperature
mentor: Barbara Bond
Barb Bond’s group will design and conduct a study involving relationships between transpiration and leaf temperature. The group will use a new FLIR digital infrared camera to monitor leaf and/or canopy temperature, possibly in combination with measurements of transpiration such as porometry, sapflow, or mass flow of water through cut stems. The specific research questions as well as the temporal and spatial scales of the investigation and the species or life forms chosen for study will be determined by the group.
4: Pressure-volume techniques
mentor: Horacio Paz
We will study water relations of leaves by means of
the pressure-volume curves. The purpose is to discuss the value of this
classic technique to infer ecological meaningful parameters as loss turgor
point and osmotic potential. The particular system to study will be selected
according to students interests.
3: Light response of photosynthesis
mentor: Nadine Ruehr
The group will study the adaptation of plants to different light environments. The students will measure light response curves of photosynthesis using a state-of-the-art instrument and compare plants/leaves growing under different light conditions (e.g., sun/shade, overstory/understory).
5: Using the 3-PG process model to evaluate climate influences on physiological processes
mentor: Richard Waring
The Physiological Principles Predicting Growth (3-PG)
model calculates the carbon and water balances of forest stands at monthly
and annual time steps using data describing the climate, soils, and selected
biological variables. It is designed to predict variables that foresters
measure (e.g., stocking density, tree diameters, height, and wood volume)
as well as ecological variables (e.g., leaf area index, allocation of
carbon below-ground, leaf and root turnover).
It is particularly useful in assessing the implications of climatic
variation and management practices on plantations of a single species. The
model has been widely tested on more than a dozen species in North and South
America, Asia, Europe, S. Africa,