Light cues for plants in forest canopies and beyond

Robson, Matthew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8631-796X (2022) Light cues for plants in forest canopies and beyond. In: Leadership Centre Lecture, 19 October 2022, University of Cumbria, Ambleside, UK. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Senior Lecturer in Forestry and Woodland Ecology, Dr Matt Robson is giving a presentation on how forest canopies create heterogeneous environment supporting multiple species. Matt will show how canopies are formed by the sunlight they receive and take information from that sunlight to enact changes in the optical properties of leaves and their contingent species. This knowledge allows us to better model photosynthesis and ecosystem processes in forests and to gain a deeper understanding of their ecology. Climate change is driving plant species to higher elevations and to higher latitudes. How do plant species tolerate the resultant acute and chronic changes in exposure in their environment? By comparing leaf trait responses of a large set of taxa growing in two botanical gardens, in Helsinki and in the French Alps, we identified the constraints imposed on species by the relatedness of taxa and their climate of origin. Leaf traits segregate according to phylogeny for many high elevation species and their leaf flavonoid accumulation can by phylogenetically constrained.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Lecture)
Departments:	Institute of Science and Environment > Forestry and Conservation
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	03 Nov 2022 11:25
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2024 14:02
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/6662

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